Attracting Commuting Candidates: One Institute's Experience Part 2

Editor's note: The second half of Debra Katz and Jacob Lindy's article on commuting candidates was erroneously dropped from the last issue of TAP. Here is the rest of the article, with apologies to all.

What Commuting Candidates can Do

Convince your workplace of the value of analytic training. The analytic training of a faculty member may attract applicants to a residency or graduate training program and may attract interesting patients to a practice. Leading a case conference or supervising trainees is a natural opportunity to demonstrate the usefulness of analytic training and often generates interest among trainees. Being extremely committed to your work; attending regular departmental functions; and demonstrating that despite analytic training, you do not compromise your investment in your primary place of employment, go a long way toward improving colleagues' support of analytic training.

Choose your training analyst wisely. A commuting candidate's training analyst must be aware of the special needs and hardships of commuting. It is essential to have an analyst who does not change his or her own schedule frequently and who is understanding about rescheduling an appointment to accommodate a mandatory event at your place of employment. Flexibility, curiosity, commitment to the work, and recognition of factors that may interfere with regular attendance at times (weather, travel problems) along with the extra expense of commuting are also important.

Stresses on the commuter may lead the candidate, the training analyst, and the institute to question the traditional four-or-five-day-a-week analytic schedule. If a waiver for two sessions on one day or some other arrangement is requested, the candidate's institute will review the request and then present it to the Committee on Institutes. It is important to recognize that there are benefits as well as difficulties in condensing an analysis, having double sessions or telephone sessions, and missing some sessions. For example, two sessions on one day may result in more concentrated analytic work and more time at one's workplace, but it may also mean more gaps between sessions and decreased continuity in the analysis. These are highly personal issues that may change during the course of an analysis and in relation to life stressors.

Actively seek control cases. It is often difficult to find analytic patients in a community without analysts. Beyond letting colleagues know that one is in psychoanalytic training and interested in referrals, it is often useful to give talks about psychoanalysis and the types of patients one is looking for to local mental health groups or referral sources. In addition, it may be very helpful to send out a letter describing what psychoanalysis is and the kind of person who would be an appropriate referral for psychoanalytic treatment to the mental health community, an academic community, or regional universities. This approach has resulted in a number of appropriate, interesting referrals for candidates at the University of Kentucky.

Assess financial issues. There is no question that analytic training for commuters is an expensive proposition. In addition to the usual tuition, supervision, and training analysis costs, there are lost time from work, car phone costs, car wear and tear, gasoline expenses, and child care costs. Candidates should make institutes aware of their additional expenses and explore ways to minimize them or obtain some financial aid if possible.

Consider tying psychoanalytic research in with your training experience. If you are in an academic position, it is helpful to tie research interests in to psychoanalytic training. Not only will psychoanalytic research bring funding and/or valuable academic contributions to your institution or practice, but it also increases the visibility of psychoanalysis in your workplace. Being known in a particular area of psychoanalytic research may also help generate referrals, establish your reputation within the community, and enable you to give talks to interested audiences.

Connect on a national level. Because commuters often feel isolated, it is important to connect not only with candidates at your institute but also with the affiliate membership of the American Psychoanalytic Association. Going to national meetings and attending work groups with other candidates can create a sense of collegiality when one does not exist at your workplace. Building relationships with other members of psychoanalytic organizations may result in wonderful opportunities.

For example, the American Psychoanalytic Foundation funded Otto Kernberg's visit to the University of Kentucky to give grand rounds and spend the day meeting with residents and interested faculty. Five regional universities were invited, and the grand rounds was a “standing room only” event. Having a psychoanalyst of Kernberg's stature attracted attention to the University of Kentucky and enhanced interest in psychoanalysis among trainees and mental health professionals within the community.

Attracting and keeping commuting candidates necessitates flexibility, creativity, and some reorganization within analytic institutes. If psychoanalysis is to thrive and serve patients beyond the cities in which analytic institutes are located, it is essential that candidates from distant sites be provided with the opportunity to train. We hope that the ideas presented in this article can begin to make this opportunity available to more potential candidates.