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Universality is inherently dialectical. It lets us see what particular identity hides—connection in the midst of division. Universality allows for a response to a catastrophe like climate change that is equal to the magnitude of the event. Our particular identity, in contrast, leaves us with only a series of responses that can never add up to being adequate to the problem. The stake of the struggle between particular identity and universality is now existence itself. (McGowan, 2020, p.205)
The impetus for this essay is a growing set of concerns regarding transformations in the social field and their effects on how we think about and conduct our clinical work, particularly in relation to “community psychoanalysis.” By way of introduction, we want to provide some context for the experiences that led us to formulate the questions we bring forth in this essay. In addition to our work as psychoanalysts, we draw extensively from attempts to carve out a space for psychoanalysis in the university via our teaching and the clinical training of graduate students at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). The central conduit of this transmission has been the Community Mental Health program, a Master's level course of study designed for the express purpose of social justice-oriented clinical training1—this primary objective has been accomplished by placing emphasis on maintaining a polyphony of voices within a diverse student body in conjunction with upholding a curriculum grounded in liberation and community psychology. Closely connected to this academic program is the clinical training site called The Clinic Without Walls (TCWOW).
From its inception in 2009, TCWOW aimed to address major gaps in the treatment of marginalized populations within the San Francisco Bay Area and to provide clinical training specifically in relation to community-oriented praxis. To this end, TCWOW has followed in the genealogy of Freud's free clinics (Danto, 2007) and has operated without