Growing Community & Psychoanalysis (GCAP)

OPC's donor-funded program, Growing Community & Psychoanalysis, celebrates its fifth year! The mission of GCAP is to increase the accessibility to psychoanalysis for our Oregon community members and to increase a psychoanalytic presence in the Oregon community by providing the necessary support and educational opportunities for community-based clinicians.

This is done through process groups and educational opportunities. We have partnered with various community mental health agencies, including Cascadia Behavioral Health and Central City Concerns.

If you are part of a community mental health organization, an academic institution, or a clinician interested in this project, please contact GCAP coordinator Tom Veeder or OPC's Executive Director Lindsey Stevens. We are looking for potential group members and group facilitators.

In addition, GCAP continues to host a yearly seminar entitled Bridging Psychoanalysis and the Community. This eight-week seminar brings local clinicians together alongside national faculty to explore how psychoanalysis and community can come together. We are planning a course in Fall 2023, so look out for more information!

Mission

Increase accessibility to psychoanalysis for our Oregon community members and to increase psychoanalytic presence in the Oregon community by providing the necessary support and educational opportunities for community-based clinicians.

Values

We value the community inside and outside the traditional psychoanalytic consulting room; the tent, stairs, garbage cans, and benches are all metaphorical couches.

Process Group Description

An every-other-week group (of approximately 8-10 individuals) geared towards supporting community clinicians and processing clinical cases. The goal is to learn, through experience, how to approach one's work from a psychodynamic/psychoanalytic lens. The group is intended to function in the style of Wilfred Bion's Working Group, where group participants work together to learn through the experience of the overall group process. Clinician participants of the group will learn how to utilize their own self-study process to get a solid clinical impression of what is happening with their clients/patients. Participants will often be provided with optional/additional reading materials and will receive CE credits for their attendance. Groups run for 6-month periods, and attendees can always continue to attend groups for a more extended period.