IAPSP Early Career Professional Scholarship Program 2020

Deadline for applications has been extended to June 15, 2020

“…the biggest highlight of 2018, personally and professionally … a tremendous learning opportunity and fun experience… I came away with the feeling that I had found a community I could relate to and continue to engage with on many levels.”
– R.E., 2019 ECS award winner.

The International Association for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology (IAPSP) is pleased to announce our fifth year of opportunities for individuals in psychoanalytic and psychotherapy training as well as graduate students in Psychology, Psychiatry, Social Work, Counseling, Psychiatric Nursing and other mental health disciplines. Also eligible to apply are those who have completed graduate school or training programs within the past 5 years. Applicants should have a strong interest in Self Psychology and Intersubjective Systems Theory and wish to learn more about these psychoanalytic/psychotherapeutic theories and to participate in their advancement and proliferation

EARLY CAREER PROFESSIONALS will be awarded:

1. complimentary registration at an IAPSP annual conference;
2. $750.00 for expenses related to attending the conference;*
3. attendance at the Kohut Memorial lecture;
4. a 1-year subscription to IAPSP’s Journal, Psychoanalysis, Self and Context;
5. monthly meetings (via phone or Skype) with an experienced IAPSP member during their Early Career Scholar year;
6. Early Career Professionals will become members of IAPSP for that scholarship year and will be entitled to participate in all “members only” activities.

* Early Career Professionals must attend the IAPSP conference.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

Submission guidelines: Graduate students in mental health disciplines and candidates in psychoanalytic and psychotherapy training are invited to apply as well as individuals who have completed graduate school or training programs within the past five years. Send a statement (maximum one page single spaced) describing your interest in pursuing further studies in Self Psychology. Pertinent graduate level coursework, conferences, or workshops attended, and/or books or papers read are all relevant. Please attach a Curriculum Vitae. Two letters of recommendation, to be sent separately, are also required.

The letters of recommendation are important in helping us determine which of our applicants best reflect the goals of the IAPSP Early Career Professionals award. A strong letter will contain detailed information about your strengths as a person and as a clinician as well as information about how you have faced particular challenges. Please discuss the following with those you choose to write your reference:

1. How has the writer of your reference seen you develop as a psychoanalytic clinician? How does she or he see you contributing to Self Psychology and Intersubjective Theory?
2. How do you deal with challenges? Your reference should give an example of the way you’ve dealt with a particular struggle.
3. What have you done to warrant receiving this award? Examples may include particular work with a patient, writing that sheds new light on a problem or contributions to a specific community, etc.
4. Your reference writer should also describe you personally: What has been unique to your relationship? Are there specific incidents or actions that give insight into your relationship?
5. What personal qualities make you a thoughtful, empathic clinician and scholar?

HOW TO APPLY:

Please send your materials to iapsp.ecp@gmail.com. Please indicate “ECP Application” in the subject line of the e-mail. Reference letters should be sent directly to the same address with the applicant’s name in the subject line of the e-mail.

Start date for receiving applications is January 1st, 2020, and all applications must be received by the new deadline of JUNE 15th, 2020.

The announcement of winners will be July 15th, 2020.

Download this announcement as a PDF

Hear what past winners are saying about their experiences as IAPSP Early Career Scholars!

“I had an extremely positive experience with being an Early Career Professional. Starting with being welcomed into the IAPSP community at the conference and having the opportunity to meet the other participants. However, the aspect of this experience that had the most profound impact on me was the relationship I was able to develop with my mentor over the year. To my great surprise, my mentor was willing to meet with me once a week via Skype, and fully engaged in the process of discussing theoretical ideas, clinical material and career issues. It truly provided me an opportunity to question and learn from a respected member and contributor of the IAPSP community and deepen my appreciation for the idealizing transference.”
– Josh Burg, PsyD

“It has been a great honor for me to be part of this Scholarship and i’ll be always thankful to you for this opportunity. This has been a long year of growth for me and i feel that this experience helped me thinking about this growth. Something great about this experience has been of course the relationship with my wonderful mentor, that followed me professionally during this year. I will always be thankful to her for giving me insight on theoretical perspectives and a strong sense of how to work intersubjectively. During this year I faced important events both professionally and personally and i felt her gentle guide and support always with me. And that has been very important for me.”
– Alessia D’Alterio, PsyD, Rome, Italy

“I can’t begin to communicate how helpful I found my experience as an Early Career Scholar (ECS) through the IAPSP. My mentor really helped me deepen my understanding of self psychology. It was great to have such focused mentoring from a well versed self psychologist! Over the course of the year we worked on improving my writing style (with help consulting Suzi Naiburg’s book on clinical prose), better understanding Jim Fosshage’s writings on different listening perspectives, and even exploring Maxwell Sucharov’s writings on complexity. My mentor really gave me the flexibility to guide our meetings and discuss everything from theory to my own clinical work and experience as a budding self psychologist. As a student, joining the IAPSP community sometimes felt daunting, but through my ECS experience I’ve come to feel more connected and a part of the IAPSP as a whole. It was an honor and a privilege to be a part of the ECS program, and my only hope is that we can get many more people to have an experience similar to mine!”
– Bruce Ervin, MDiv, MA