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Educational Series
Would you like to be included on our Educational Series mailing list? Just contact us at admin@womenstherapy.org with your mailing address and we will let you know about future events.

Spring 2010 Event:
On Desire
Saturday, May 8th, 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Preservation Park, 1233 Preservation Park Way, Oakland. (Directions)
(6 CEUs for MFTs/LCSWs. MCEP approval pending for Psychologists.)

Registration Form (PDF or Word doc)
Pre-register by Friday, April 23 and receive the early-bird discount. Either fax your registration to (510) 524-8292, email admin@womenstherapy.org or send it via post to: Women's Therapy Center, 501 Kearney Street, El Cerrito, CA 94530.

Description
Sexual desire is often viewed by clients as a mysterious impulse, necessary to drive all romantic and erotic behavior and soulful connections. But what impacts sexual desire? What creates it and what inhibits it? How does it change over the life span and how can desire discrepancies be negotiated between partners?

The On Desire conference will provide an expanded view of sex and desire. In the morning, we will examine desire through a cultural lens and discuss the complexities of the social, biological, emotional and historical constructions of desire. We will look at the history of the treatment of so called "desire disorders" and propose new models with a view towards helping clients feel more enlivened.

During the afternoon sessions, we will cover work with couples and erotic transference and countertransference. Working with couples’ issues of sexual desire can be particularly challenging as differences come into play. Open communication about sex can be difficult. Cultural messages which dictate how frequent, how passionate and how romantic sex should be can affect how couples feel about their relationships. Case examples will illustrate the impact of these messages on couple relationships and offer ways to work with difference.

Sexual desire often finds its way into the therapy setting, sometimes subtly, sometimes with great force. While at times unsettling, erotic transference and countertransference can be important links to what is alive for the client and can be a transformative aspect of the clinical work. The final session of the day will help clinicians work with sexual desire as it emerges in therapy.

Through presentations, an examination of current research, question and answer periods, and small group discussions, we hope to encourage clinicians to think broadly and to gain greater ease in helping clients address concerns about sexual desire.

On Desire Schedule
8:30-9:00am - Registration and coffee
9:00-9:15am - Welcome & Introduction
9:15-10:00am - Keynote, Presenter: Gail Wyatt, PhD
10:00-10:45am - Models of Desire, Presenter: Mary Ann Leff, MFT
10:45-11:00am - Break
11:00-11:20am - Questions & Answers
11:20am-Noon - Small Group Discussion
Noon-1:00pm - LUNCH (Box lunches provided.)
1:00am-1:45pm - Clinical Work with Couples, Presenter: Carol Jenkins, PhD, LCSW
1:45-2:00pm - Break
2:00-2:45pm - Erotic Transference & Countertransference, Presenter: Betsy Kassoff, PhD
2:45-3:30pm - Questions & Answers
3:30-4:00pm - Wrap-up 

PRESENTERS
Gail Wyatt, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, sex therapist and professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA. She was an NIMH Research Scientist Career Development Awardee for 17 years. Her research examines the consensual and abusive sexual relationships of women and men, the effects of these experiences on their psychological well-being, and the cultural context of risks for sexually transmitted diseases and HIV. Dr. Wyatt is Director of the UCLA Sexual Health Program, an Associate Director of the UCLA AIDS Institute and coordinates a core of behavioral scientists who consult with other researchers to recruit underserved populations and conduct research that effectively incorporates socio-cultural factors into HIV/AIDS research. She was the first African-American woman to be licensed as a psychologist in the state of California.

Mary Ann Leff, MFT, has had a private practice in Berkeley seeing individuals and couples for almost 30 years. She is a consultant and supervisor and is known for her work with sexuality. Using an approach that integrates sex therapy with couples therapy and relational theory, she teaches at the Women’s Therapy Center, and taught at Santa Clara University, CSUH East Bay, California Institute of Integral Studies, New College, and JFK for many years. She is currently interested in the concept of Desire--our expectations around it, and its place in what was once known as  “the Sexual Response Cycle.”

Carol Jenkins, PhD, LCSW, has been in private practice working with individuals and couples for over 30 years. Her presentations and publications address issues of cultural bias, sexual communication, the interactive potential of individual and couple therapy, and the interlocking vulnerabilities underlying repetitive conflict in relationships. She has a special interest in helping psychotherapists talk about sexuality with their clients since it is a vulnerable topic for almost everyone.

Betsy Kassoff, PhD, teaches, writes and consults about the intersection of queer theory, gender studies, and relational psychoanalysis. Her work has been published in a number of journals and anthologies. She was formerly the Clinical Director of Operation Concern/New Leaf, an outpatient mental health clinic for the GLBT community, and the Department Chair of the Feminist Psychology MA Program at New College of California. She currently works full time as a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice in San Francisco, California, specializing in individuals, couples and families dealing with gender and sexuality issues, in addition to supervising and training for several Bay Area graduate schools. Dr. Kassoff was recently featured in the New York Times Magazine in their cover article on marriage and marital therapy.

PREVIOUS WTC EVENTS:

  • Koen Baum, MFT, Mary Bradford, PhD, Stephanie Brill, Kim Hraca, MA, MFT, "On Gender"
  • Mary Ann Leff , MFT, "Feminist Ethics & the Law "
  • Colleen West, MFT, "Adjunctive EMDR: How to Work Collaboratively with an EMDR Therapist"
  • Betsy Kassoff, PhD, "Whose Ethics? Law and Ethics in Psychotherapy"
  • Shelley Nathans, PhD, "Psychoanalytic Couple Therapy"
  • Janet Linder, LCSW, BCD, "Lesbian Parenting in the Bay Area"
  • Jane Burka, PhD, "The Therapist's Body in Fantasy and Reality"
  • Robin L. Fine, PhD, "The Lost Art of Intimacy: Revisioning Couples Therapy "
  • Susan H. Sands, PhD, "The Subjugation of the Body in Eating Disorders: A Particularly Female Solution "
  • Jane Ariel, PhD, "Separation and Divorce Among Lesbians"
  • Ellen Zucker, PhD and Elsa Johnson, DMH., "Neutrality And Its Place In The New Relational Paradigm"
  • Betsy Kassoff, PhD, "The Impact Of Queer Theory On Psychodynamic Practice"
  • Nina Ham, LCSW and co-founder of WTC, "Women’s Collaborative Relationships In Work"
  • Beverly Burch, PhD and Carol Jenkins, PhD, "The Interactive Effect Of Individual and Couples Therapy: An Intersubjective Perspective"
  • Ellen Zucker, PhD, "Psychotherapy Supervision: A Relational Approach"
  • Judith Flory, LCSW, "Trauma and Memory: A Workshop on Dissociative Processes"
  • Daniel B. Wile, PhD, "Collaborative Couple Therapy: Turning Fights Into Intimate Conversations"
  • Zonya Johnson, PhD, "Relational Therapy Through A Cultural Lens"
  • Jane Ariel, PhD, MFT, and Sandra Butler, MA, "ReImagining the Family: The "Family Of Choice" in the Lives of Lesbians"
  • Jane Reynolds Conger, PhD, "Shame: The Disavowed Affect"
  • Carol Jenkins, PhD, "Emotional Tangles and Sexual Knots: Working with a Couple's Physical Bond"
  • Betsy Kassoff, PhD, "Who Is Having Sex With Whom: Eroticism in the Clinical Hour"