On June 30, after nearly sixty years of service as a distinguished site for education and training and patient care, the Karl Menninger School of Psychiatry and Mental Health Sciences in Topeka, Kan., closed its doors. Simultaneously, the Topeka Institute, which was affiliated with Menninger, shut down operations. Negotiations for a planned relocation of Menninger to the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston fell through in late July. The Menninger School will continue to operate a residential hospital in Topeka until further options are explored. The fate of its unparalleled psychoanalytic library and archives is still in question.
Meanwhile, some faculty, including Glen Gabbard, have taken positions at Baylor. A few candidates had already relocated there, anticipating the Menninger move. Numerous faculty and candidates of the institute have affiliated with the nearby greater Kansas City Psychoanalytic Institute, a new training facility.
Photo by Mervin Stewart
The Committee on Institutes of our Board on Professional Standards worked closely with Topeka during the process of its shutting down its activities, including formulating plans for safe record storage, assisting candidates with arrangements for continuity of training, and helping with faculty accreditation and development opportunities. The Committee on New Training Facilities, meanwhile, has been working closely with the Kansas City group, which is developing under the direct sponsorship model, to integrate Topeka faculty and candidates who wished to affiliate there.
The next issue of TAP will include an article on the history of the Menninger School and the Topeka Institute.