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Working with children, adolescents, couples, and families presents a set of unique challenges and opportunities for the practising clinician. In Israel, we offer three years' advanced training, applying object relations theory to couple and family work. Our students enrol in IPI's certificate programme for psychoanalytic couple therapy, which requires six terms' foundational course work, three supervised clinical cases, attendance at two summer institutes, and a clinical presentation. Additionally, students must participate in their own psychotherapy or analysis at least twice weekly. The programme provides further outreach through seminars and conferences at worldwide locations and institutional partnerships with other associations, such as The Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships (TCCR) and the International Couple and Family Association.
There is no doubt that the highlight of the programme is the international video course, chaired by David Scharff and Janine Wanlass. Hosted by IPI and co-sponsored by TCCR, it first began in 2009. Israelis may join others living outside Israel for the course via phone, Skype, or video link at select locations, or their own computers. At an agreed time (perhaps early morning for some, and evening for others), the television screen is divided, so that in every square a different group from another part of the world enters a virtual room; people from Washington, DC, Indianapolis, Long Island, Omaha, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City, Panama, London, Tel-Aviv, and elsewhere.
Groups of qualified students throughout the world attend the two hour lecture, becoming involved in a lively discussion that transcends geographic boundaries. The lecturers are leading practitioners and theoreticians in psychoanalytic couple and family therapy, such as David Scharff, Jill Scharff, Christopher Clulow, Carl Bagnini, David Hewison, Norma Caruso, Christopher Vincent, Christel Buss-Twachtmann, Mary Morgan, and me. When clini