"Use of the Racial Self in Clinical Encounters"

Panel Discussion with Harold Kudler, MD, and Phuongloan Vo, MSW, LISW-S

Dorothy Holmes, PhD, Discussant

Program Description

As clinicians, our use of self can be a catalyst for growth in the client and within ourselves. One’s race and culture and the ways we perceive and are perceived by the other provide a rich analytic backdrop for our work, if we let them. All too often, however, these aspects remain unexplored and undiscussed. Our anxieties in approaching these aspects of ourselves as they come forward within the therapeutic relationship reflects a broader cultural taboo against talking about race in our society. Such avoidance has historically left many clinicians and clients adrift and bereft without opportunities to process and utilize critically important thoughts and feelings.

In this panel discussion, Phuongloan Vo, LISW-S, and Harold Kudler, MD, will share clinical experiences in interracial dyads and consider how an openness to the issue of race has proved essential in meeting the needs of the client and in enlarging the clinician's capacity for use of self as a therapeutic tool. Dorothy Holmes, PhD, PCC member and national leader in addressing the importance of recognizing and engaging issues of race and ethnicity in psychoanalysis, will serve as discussant.

Please join us to talk about issues of race and culture in psychoanalytic clinical treatments. Together we can work through cultural taboos and formulate better ways to serve our clients and profession.

ReGister Here for the Presentation

About the Presenters:  Dr. Harold Kudler received his MD from SUNY Downstate, trained in Psychiatry at Yale, and is Associate Consulting Professor at Duke. He reported to Congress as co-chair of VA’s Special Committee on PTSD, served on the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies Board of Directors, co-led development of joint VA/DoD Guidelines for Posttraumatic Stress, and advised Sesame Street’s Talk Listen Connect series for military families. He co-founded VA's Mid- Atlantic Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center on Deployment Mental Health and the North Carolina Governor’s Work Group on Service Members, Veterans and Their Families and was appointed to the NC Institute of Medicine. In 2014, he joined VA Central Office as Chief Consultant for Mental Health and served as Acting Assistant Deputy Under Secretary for Patient Care until his retirement in 2018. Dr. Kudler is currently working to integrate mental and public health efforts on behalf of service members, Veterans and their families.

Phuongloan Vo, MSW, LISW-S, is a PhD student at Smith College School for Social Work. She is an adjunct instructor at University of Cincinnati School of Social Work and Smith College School of Social Work. She has a private practice, focusing on mental health, trauma treatment, and needs related to life transitions and multicultural concerns.

Dorothy Evans Holmes, PhD, is a Teaching, Training, and Supervising Analyst in the Psychoanalytic Center of the Carolinas, Professor and PsyD Program Director Emeritus at the George Washington University, and Teaching, Training and Supervising Analyst Emeritus at the Washington Baltimore Center for Psychoanalysis. Dr. Holmes is widely recognized for her examination of the impact of race and gender on the psychoanalytic treatment process. Her most recent of many journal articles include, “Our Country ‘tis of We and Them: Psychoanalytic Perspectives on our Fractured American Identity” (American Imago, 2019) and “Feminism revisited: A rejoinder to Arlene Kramer Richards’ examination of the impact of feminism on psychoanalysis” (International Journal of Controversial Discussions, 2020). In addition, two of her papers examining whiteness will be published later this spring in The Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association. Dr. Holmes has served on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis and The Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association. She continues to be involved in national psychoanalytic organization leadership, including currently serving as the eponymous Chair of the Holmes Commission on Racial Equality in the American Psychoanalytic Association. She is also a member, emeritus, of Black Psychoanalysts Speak. Dr. Holmes practices psychoanalysis and psychotherapy in Bluffton, SC.

Leaning Objectives: By the end of the session, learners should be able to:

1. Identify ways in which racial dynamics are at play in the room in cross-cultural dyads.
2. Discuss some key aspects of racial disparities and the impact of racism on psychoanalytic work.
3. Describe ways to apply concepts of "racial selves" to facilitate change. 

Register Here for the Presentation

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and Psychoanalytic Center of the Carolinas. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this Live Activity for a maximum of 2 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE INFORMATION FOR ALL LEARNERS: None of the planners and presenters of this CME program have any relevant financial relationships to disclose

The Psychoanalytic Center of the Carolinas is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Psychoanalytic Center of the Carolinas maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

The Psychoanalytic Center of the Carolinas has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6518. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. The Psychoanalytic Center of the Carolinas is solely responsible for all aspects of the program.

Social workers receive a letter of attendance documenting 2 hours of continuing education, which may not be accepted by all states to document continuing education credits.

If you have special needs or want information about our cancellation policy, please contact the Programs Manager at [email protected], or leave message at 919-490-3212.