A group of psychoanalysts in Los Angeles has formed the Los Angeles Psychoanalytic Foundation. The foundation is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization, which began operating informally in November 1999 and was formally incorporated in March 2000. The foundation's mission is to provide consultation, teaching, supervision, and staff development for the mental health and social services staffs of community agencies and organizations that care for the social and emotional well-being of under-served populations in Los Angeles.
Although members of the foundation are in either the Los Angeles Psychoanalytic Society and Institute or the Southern California Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, it is a free-standing foundation. Our board currently consists of Maimon Leavitt, president; Helen Desmond, vice president and temporary treasurer; Regina Pally, secretary; and Elizabeth Galton, board member at large. We hope eventually to have community members on our board. Other members of the foundation are Mike Gales, Leon Kaplan, Elyn Saks, and Harvey Weintraub.
Many analysts and candidates are involved in the foundation's projects. Here are a few of them:
At the Venice Family Clinic, a free clinic providing mental and physical health care, we have held workshops for staff social workers to help them set up parent education classes and have given seminars on “Emotional and Developmental Needs of Children” for the family practice medical staff.
For the Los Angeles Superior Court, Family Services Division, whose staff psychologists do the custody evaluations for court judges, we held two workshops, “Special Needs of Very Young Children in Custody Evaluations” and “Thinking about Autism Spectrum Disorders and Child Custody Issues.”
At the Edelman Mental Health Center, run by the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, and the Valley Community Clinic, we conducted supervision with the clinical social worker staff and doctoral trainees who treat the patients at the clinic.
We offered a workshop in the Winter 2002 semester at the USC Law School: “Trauma in the Caregiver Secondary to Treating Trauma Victims.” This was part of the clinical law student program, which includes the Post-Conviction Justice Project and the Immigration Law Clinic.
We offer several services to the Blythe Street Neighborhood Community Project of Immaculate Heart Church's “Casa Esperanza” program. The Blythe Street project is a community center in the San Fernando Valley providing social and medical services to a mostly undocumented, Mexican immigrant population. We have offered monthly staff consultation since 2001 for the staff of community workers. In the winter of 2002, we presented a workshop on “PTSD and Response to Terror Attacks” for them. Upcoming services include consulting with the staff on the development of a prospectus for fathers' groups and a three-hour in-service on conflict resolution and anger management.
Regina Pally, M.D., a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, is a member of the Los Angeles Psychoanalytic Society and Institute.