Certificate in Psychoanalytic Thought and Practice Program
Certificate in Psychoanalytic Thought and Practice Program
The Western Canada Psychoanalytic Society & Institute is pleased to announce a new educational initiative: the Certificate in Psychoanalytic Thought and Practice.
With this program, we aim to fill a gap that currently exists in Western Canada and beyond for those seeking foundational-level training in psychoanalytic thought and clinical methods.
There are two parts to the program, both offered online:
1. Foundations of Psychoanalytic Thought Course (open to clinicians, graduate students, and professionals from a range of disciplines)
This 12-week course aims to help those from a variety of professional and educational backgrounds engage with the psychoanalytic perspective. This perspective can be of value whether you are seeking to better understand and empathize with those you help as a clinician (such as a counsellor, social worker, psychologist or physician), or as a professional practicing in a non-clinical discipline (such as education or law).
Questions we will explore include:
- What are the hidden factors that motivate us?
- What should we think of Freud’s legacy?
- What are the different ways we can be of help to others emotionally?
A certificate of completion is available based on attendance and completion of a short written reflection assignment.
Registration: Opening spring 2026 (for the upcoming fall 2026 Foundations course).
2. The Clinical Consultation Group (open to currently practicing clinicians)
This group is an 8-week seminar series for clinicians interested in deepening their practice through a live, experiential exploration of their current clinical work from a psychoanalytic perspective. The functional use of fundamental analytic concepts such as free association, unconscious communication, transference-countertransference, and analytic process will be demonstrated through the free associational process of the group as it explores clinical material together.
Each seminar, a participant reads an anonymized transcript of a recent session. Members of the group associate to the material and share related experiences that come to mind. The group’s free thoughts form the basis for developing a deeper sense and wider view of the expression of unconscious content in the transference-countertransference.
The exploration of our individual metapsychologies (conscious and unconscious) and of the unique ways in which each clinician works technically with psychic material and with analytic process are related topics central to this course.
Registration: Clinical Consultation Groups are planned for spring 2026 and spring 2027. Registration is currently open for the April 2026 group
Program Certificate
Participants may enroll in one or both courses in the program, and may take courses in any order. The Certificate in Psychoanalytic Thought and Practice is available to those who (i) have completed the Foundations of Psychoanalytic Thought Course, and (ii) have completed a Case Consultation Group, including submission of a short reflection paper on how the Clinical Consultation Group content and experience relates to, or has influenced, their clinical work.
Program Coordinator: Bradley Murray, DPhil, MEd, FIPA.
If you have any questions, please send a message to Bradley Murray at info@wcpsi.org