ACAP Sept. 2023 NEWSLETTER

We’re in a World of Hurt—but There’s Hope

The COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath revealed a devastating mental health crisis in this country and around the world. Headlines reference an epidemic of loneliness and social isolation, and the impact of social media negatively influences the behavior of young people in ways we are only beginning to comprehend. Violence is becoming synonymous with American culture; our once-trusted institutions and leaders are failing us. This is a pivotal moment in time—a time in which people and communities need the support, education and resources that prioritize mental health.

As a global network of trained, skilled, and compassionate mental health specialists, you, our ACAP and BGSP alumni and students, are working on the front lines of this crisis. Leveraging your training and expertise, you allow patients to give voice to their feelings in a safe space, helping them to feel known, heard and valued. In this inaugural issue of The Quest, you’ll learn about the ways in which the ACAP community is meeting the challenge, bringing healing to those in pain and the communities we serve.

ACAP’S MISSION AND VISION

To promote and prioritize optimal mental health in communities through teaching, training, and treating, as we apply the transformative power of talk and listening therapies.

Through their training in the application of effective interventions and acquired clinical skills, ACAP’s students and graduates work toward a future in which issues of mental health will be addressed with the deepest empathy, respect and compassion and resolved in ways that meet unique individual needs.

A MESSAGE FROM Executive Director Vicki G. Semel

Dear Alumni Community,

The launch of this first edition of The Quest marks a special milestone: Our 40th anniversary. With a storied history that began with weekend courses taught in a small church, to our first clinic, to our current expansive location in Livingston since 2008, we have surmounted many obstacles and adapted to unforeseen changes while aligned with our mission.

ACAP’S journey to the present should make us all feel proud. Our leadership mounted a successful campaign that resulted in the certification of psychoanalysis as a separate and legitimate mental health profession in New Jersey. Our affiliation with the prestigious Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis (BGSP) bolstered our enrollment, attracting students focused on earning master’s degrees. Our commitment to the communities we serve has created new programs and partnerships.

But of all the challenges we have faced, the period that began with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 forced us to pivot, innovate and accommodate, almost overnight. From a primarily in-person student body with but a few remote learners, by advancing our technological capabilities we quickly evolved into a community of active distance learners. Today, ACAP’s students log in from Texas to Colorado, from the Netherlands to Cyprus.

In response to the pandemic, Judy Ashworth, Annette Vaccaro and Judy Lapides worked collaboratively to create SafetyNet, a remote telehealth program designed to meet the mental health needs of clients with limited financial means. ACAP adds value to our communities and is committed, more than ever, to serving as a source for information and support.

I am deeply grateful to each of you and to ACAP’s resourceful, resilient, and inspired faculty. Let us know how we can be of help. Stay in touch; share stories of your work in the field. You, our alumni, BGSP and committed, generous donors have fueled the growth and success of ACAP. Thank you!

Warm regards,

Vicki G. Semel, PsyD Executive Director and President, ACAP, Program Director, ICPS

New Clinical Track Proposed

To help meet the post-pandemic needs of children and adolescents and foster their ability to meet essential developmental milestones, ACAP/ICPS is developing a child- adolescent track, through which both ICPS master’s degree students and post-master’s psychoanalytic certificate students can gain the knowledge, skills, and professional dispositions necessary for appropriate interventions.

The track is designed for students interested in earning a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling or a psychoanalytic certificate while also gaining a specialization in working with children and adolescents.

The coursework will feature interactive classroom experiences that integrate real-world issues faced by children and adolescents interwoven with to developmentally appropriate strategies and interventions. Coursework can be taken to enhance one’s practice; the fieldwork portion requires prior coursework as a prerequisite.

Fieldwork provides a highly mentored opportunity for students to engage in observation and/or treatment of children and adolescents while participating in a reflective practice model of supervision and case discussion, including the dimensions of the clinical relationship, self-development, transference, counter transference, and socio-cultural factors.

For more information, please contact Eva Silver, Director of Admissions and Advisement: silvere@bgsp.edu, (973) 629-1001.

Dr. Semel at the 40th anniversary celebration

Innovations in Field Training

In March of 2020, when the World Health Organization officially recognized the COVID-19 pandemic, faculty member Dr. Judy Ashworth was thinking about ACAP’s student interns and a new challenge: finding clients for them. The solution to this conundrum gave rise to Safety Net, a service program operated by ACAP as an extension of ACAP’s North Jersey Consultation Center (NJCC.)

Working with students, Ashworth developed a program that provides no-cost therapy for those experiencing stressors such as job loss/interruption and isolation/the social impact of COVID-19, among other problems, and who are underinsured and/or lack

financial resources. Ashworth quickly had more than 20 students enroll and thought the program would be virtual for one year, but it remains solely virtual. To date this group of students has worked with more than 200 clients. As part of the criteria for ACAP’s student interns, who work under the supervision of an ACAP certified psychoanalyst, and must accrue both clinical and indirect hours as one of the criteria for graduating. In September of 2020 there was a large influx of students who enrolled in the master’s program; students without their own private practice took on clients through Safety Net.

Greetings, ACAP Alumni!

Ashworth says that although it was stressful when everything became virtual, the students and their clients bonded together. Students were exposed to difficult cases involving suicide, domestic abuse and other issues yet they “had each other’s backs,” she said and experienced accelerated professional growth while working together.

ACAP’s Safety Net program and the North Jersey Counseling Center (NJCC) are both accepting clients. For more information, please call (973) 629-1004 or (973) 629-1005.

Kia Ora, I’m Leanne Sim, currently live in New Zealand and am enrolled in Level B of the Certificate program at ACAP.

After I completed the requirements to become an art therapist, Dr. Annette Vaccaro, who had been my supervisor, knew that I missed the learning environment. Over the course of time, she casually suggested that the one-year program might be a good fit for me: I was hooked after my first course! Since my time at ACAP I started a family and moved back, during the pandemic, to my native New Zealand.

Becoming a mother was such a transformation for me that I was drawn to specializing in Perinatal and Maternal Mental Health: I’ve worked with a midwifery group, helping new mothers adjust and connect in a supportive environment. When returning to New Zealand, I was able to transfer my qualification to art therapy and counseling; although I have not finished the certificate in psychoanalysis, I was able to gain a psychotherapy license through a comparative qualification assessment.

I’m so grateful for the ACAP community and look forward to continuing my journey with you all.

Ngã mihi

Leanne Sim

Coping Skills Help Reduce Regression

step-grandfather, who is of Chinese descent, Chiu learned that her client

In Memoriam

and presented no danger; for example, for this client’s progress: Optimistic.

The ACAP community mourns the loss of our friend Gordon Ashworth, husband of Dr. Judy Ashworth, on December 28, 2022.

Dr. Ashworth says, “I’ve been a lifelong student with careers as an RN, a psychiatric nurse, a social worker and ultimately a psychoanalyst who earned a doctorate while maintaining a private practice for the past 30 years. Gordon was my biggest supporter: We had three children and he kept the home fires burning so that I could pursue my dreams. When I was working on my doctorate at the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis, (formerly BGSP, now ICPS) he drove me to Boston and back, every other week. He loved psychoanalysis and everyone at ACAP.”

A scholarship will be named in Gordon’s memory: To make a gift, please mail your check payable to ACAP—G. Ashworth Memorial Scholarship and mail to ACAP, 301 S. Livingston Avenue, Livingston, NJ 07039.

Gordon and Judy Ashworth with their granddaughter, August 2022

iStrive: An Innovative Program Supports Autistic Youth

According to the research and advocacy organization Autism Speaks, the following statistics paint a sobering picture for parents and families of autistic youth:

n Over the next decade, an estimated 70,700 to 111,600 young people will each year enter adulthood and age out of school-based autism services.

n More than half of young adults with autism remain unemployed and unenrolled in higher education in the two years after high school—a lower rate than that of young adults in other disability categories, including learning disabilities, intellectual disability and/or speech-language impairment.

n Nearly half of 25-year-olds with autism have never held a paying job.

Yet, promising research demonstrates that activities encouraging independence reduce autism symptoms and increase daily living skills. These emerging adults need time and professional mentoring to learn the communication skills, self-advocacy, and appropriate interpersonal behavior that will sustain them, both in an employment setting as well as in relationships.

iStrive, the brainchild of ACAP director and faculty member, Dr. Patricia Bratt, was launched, pre-pandemic, to help foster growth and support achievement in young adults on the autism spectrum. The program, held on Saturday mornings, is a safe space for these young people to gather, socialize, and learn important skills together. Stress management and mindfulness activities, emotional literacy assistance, and the practice of yoga are integral parts

of the program, as well as developing job-seeking skills. Other topics emphasized in the program include:

• Community

• Identity

• Self-Assertion

• Coping Skills

• Decision-making

• Making Choices

• Teamwork

• Stimulation Regulation

• Social Skills

• Workplace Behavior

• Relationship Rules

iStrive works in close collaboration with parents and families, providing relevant seminars, guest speakers, and opportunities to share with other parents.

For more information, please call (973) 629-1002.

A Former Architect, Now Focused on Rebuilding Lives

“Psychoanalysis is in my DNA,” says ACAP graduate Rafe Sharón. His mother was a therapist and an artist; his grandfather, the author Immanuel Velikovsky, knew both Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung personally. Sharón’s mother encouraged her son to become a therapist, but when he was a young man, he had a different plan for his future. After graduating from Cornell with a degree in architecture, he opened an architectural firm in Princeton that quickly grew, from a staff of three to 50. But in the background, always, was his lifelong interest in human behavior.

Sharón is aware of the fragility and precious nature of life. Tragedy has visited him several times: His brother died at the age of nine; his newborn daughter contracted E. coli in the hospital and died; his wife passed away six years ago after grappling with MS. After the

death of his infant daughter, Sharon says he went into a deep depression, left the firm he established, and began working in real estate development.

One fateful day he received a flier from ACAP. He had known Dr. Semel for many years and told her he was considering taking one course— the proverbial toe in the pond. With Dr. Semel’s encouragement, over time he took on additional classes and committed to earning certification in psychoanalysis.

Becoming a student at ACAP was, he says, “… like an immersion in a new language. The first time I read what we all call The Red Book (H. Spotnitz),

I didn’t know what to think.” He decided to reread the book, which he did many times, highlighting passages with different colors. By the time he had read the entire book, it was time to graduate from ACAP.

Now with a thriving practice in which he sees ten to 12 clients daily, both in-person and virtually from around the globe, he also models the art of building a practice for ACAP’s students. “ACAP is unlike any educational institution; it is a unique environment,” he says, proudly adding that he recruited three new students who are now on the path to becoming analysts—a great example of “paying it forward.”

Rafe Sharón

Help for Those Who Serve and Protect

ACAP faculty member Dr. Demetria

Delia believes in the power of community education and has witnessed the ways in which it can change lives and save lives, especially through her work with the Full Recovery Center in Fairfield, New Jersey, an organization that provides support for law enforcement, medical and first responder professionals confronting substance abuse and/or behavioral health challenges.

Working in tandem with other therapists and social workers, Dr. Delia employs ACAP’s psychodynamic approach in working with firefighters and police officers whose experiences with trauma led them to harmful addictions.

“We all work together in a collegial environment, allowing clients to know we are listening to them. We let the therapist-clients relationship unfold. It’s a different approach than “Freud on the couch.”

To learn more visit: recoverywellnesscenter.com.

This World Class Musician

Listens with an Analyst’s Ear

As her psychoanalytic studies progressed, she says there was a shift in her dialogues with her students, eliciting a surprising response: Her music stu

another angle. Are there any thoughts about the different possibilities?” These interactions bring forth more collaboration with her students, whose egos are strengthened when their ability to find solutions is acknowledged and respected —support that is music to their ears.

“WHY I GIVE”

Over the course of its forty-year history, ACAP has attracted many career changers and, most notably, many entering an “encore career,” after retiring from a long-held profession. Notable among this cohort is The Honorable Carla Craig, now retired from her position on the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of New York. Craig, on track to becoming a psychoanalyst through ACAP, will begin her field work this fall. It’s interesting to think about the role reversal: Someone who once judged now works at listening without judgment.

Craig says she has had a lifelong interest in psychology and human behavior but didn’t consider a career in the field when she was younger. Finally, after working for forty years as a lawyer and judge, she enrolled in a class called Women and Psychology at ACAP, after which she was hooked.

Craig is a staunch advocate for ACAP’s analytical approach and appreciates that the faculty model this method. “ACAP

is a unique place, with a focus on collaboration, mutual support, and building each other up,” she says, adding that her classes have been “…very engaging, great experiences.”

Analysis helps clients to eliminate defenses and gain an understanding, both emotionally and intellectually, of their own destructive, repetitive patterns of behavior: Craig finds great fulfillment in seeing her clients progress and move on to a deeper level of understanding. “Psychoanalysis is a holistic approach that has benefits for every area of a person’s life; it has been a tremendous benefit for me and my family,” she says.

As an ACAP student and member of the Board of Trustees, Craig sees firsthand the challenges ACAP faces in its ability to grow a diverse student body, expand current programming, and provide counseling to those who cannot afford to pay for care. Her third level of engagement is as an active, sustaining donor, one whose philanthropic support will help ensure the vitality of ACAP and its future.

ACAP’s graduates are always evolving! Here are a few alumni updates:

“I’ve been building a strong practice, here at my new home in the Berkshires, under the supervision of Dr. William Sharp from BGSP. My family has seven young chickens that will begin producing eggs this fall, a buzzing beehive, and we are adopting a new puppy in a few weeks.”

ELIZABETH JUVILER, ICPS ‘22 ejuviler@gmail.com

Charles Pumilia

Marcia Pumilia

David Rosenthal

Vicki Semel

Eva Silver

Lisa Thomas

Annette Vaccaro

FACULTY EMERITUS

Gerald Fishbein

Maurice Lovell

THE QUEST

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1

A Publication of ACAP | Academy of Clinical & Applied Psychoanalysis

Christina Hall, Writer/Editor

Lynne DeLade, Graphic Designer

301 South Livingston Ave., 2nd Floor

Livingston, NJ 07039

Phone: (973) 629-1001

Fax: (973) 629-1003

Email: acapnj@acapnj.org

Website: acapnj.org

Listen Up!

A unique partnership with Bethany Baptist Church is spreading the word: We all can improve our listening skills.

Established in 1870 in Newark, New Jersey by people of African descent, the church is the city’s first Baptist church and congregation. Now approaching its 150th year of ministry and service, Bethany is facing the challenge of providing support to members of its congregation who are grappling with mental health issues made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath.

ACAP launched a program of workshops on listening skills which were initially attended by church deacons and subsequently have been offered to members of the Bethany community, including children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly. A goal of this program is to attract students who will take the training and use what they have learned to support their peers, improve communication with their family members, and ultimately to use their new-found awareness to enhance the cause of diversity and inclusion in their community.

Working collaboratively, ACAP student, Rev. Glenmore Bembry, and faculty member, Dr. Demetri Delia, developed a study guide for parishioners to help guide them in the process of effective communications. Making eye contact, staying on topic, asking questions, reflecting, and setting aside personal opinions and agendas are among the characteristics of adept active listening. Ultimately, by modeling the appropriate listening behaviors, those who have taken the training will be equipped to teach others these skills, which can improve their relationships with family, friends, employers, and others.

Rev. Bembry notes, “In May of 2023, Dr. Delia and I provided a first-rate training experience for the Bethany Baptist Church. Our goal is teaching parishioners in Black and Brown faith communities the various methods for improving listening. We worked hard to break down complicated psychoanalytic concepts and saw positive results from our efforts.”

ACAP Celebrates an Author Among Us

Nancy Gerber, PhD, an advanced candidate in clinical training at ACAP, is a published author of five books; her most recent is Burnt Toast, a memoir. It tells the story of Gerber’s search for her immigrant grandmother, who fled antisemitism in the Ukraine at the age of fifteen during the early years of the 20th century. Gerber’s grandmother maintained an air of stoicism with respect to the trauma she experienced in leaving her mother and homeland, never to return, and in encountering antisemitism, isolation, poverty, and despair in her new home country.

“A heartbreaking remembrance written in powerful, poetic language.” —KIRKUS REVIEWS

Marguerite DeRosa, ATR-BC, LCAT-NY, LPAT-NJ ’22

mderosa415@aol.com

(908) 838-5093

Work Affiliation: Art Therapist, Livingston, Ridgefield, NJ; New York, NY

Accepting Referrals: Yes

Nancy Gerber ’19

nancygerber79@gmail.com

(973) 902-1509

Work Affiliation: ACAP Faculty

Accepting Referrals: No

Joan Hess ’08 joanhess10@gmail.com

(201) 857-0319

Work Affiliation: ACAP

Accepting Referrals: Yes

Work Affiliation: Teva Pharmaceuticals

Accepting Referrals: Yes

Rosemary S. McGee ’16, MAMHC ’21, ACAP

dr.rosemarysmcgee@gmail.com

(201) 874-1172

Work Affiliation: Private Practice, 301 Livingston Ave., Suite 205, Livingston, NJ

Accepting Referrals: Yes

John T. Miele ’19

drmiele99@gmail.com

(973) 464-9639

Work Affiliation: 1605 John St., Suite 314, Fort Lee, NJ 07024

Accepting Referrals: Yes

Abigail Miller ’09

drabigailmiller@yahoo.com

(917) 848-2038

Accepting Referrals: Yes

kimtrainanolan@gmail.com

Office: (973) 259-6670

Personal Cell: (973) 462-8584

Work Affiliation: The Art in Therapy, 550 West Main St., Boonton, NJ 07005

Accepting Referrals: Yes

Dr. Annette Vaccaro ’09, ACAP Psychoanalytic Certificate

vaccaroaj@aol.com

(201) 953-0337

Work Affiliation: ACAP

Accepting Referrals: Yes

We regret any errors.