PPNow 2024
We are pleased to announce the date for the British Psychoanalytic Council’s flagship conference, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Now 2024. The event will run on the Saturday 23 November only, and both online and in-person tickets will be available.
Attendance is both in-person and online. In-person tickets must be booked by midnight on 12 November. Further information and tickets are available here: Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Now 2024 – British Psychoanalytic Council (bpc.org.uk)
Each year the PPNow conference looks further into a topic relevant in today’s climate and will be open to all; BPC Registrants, clinicians from other organisations, trainees, members of the Scholars’ Network, kite marked practitioners and anyone with an interest in psychoanalytic thinking.
We look forward to welcoming you to this year’s PPNow!
About PPNow 2024
Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Now 2024 Psychoanalysis, ethics, regulation & the law; tensions and interactions
This year’s PPNow conference marks the culmination of several years of concerted effort by the BPC, focusing on its role as a regulator for the psychoanalytic community in the UK. It also coincides with the launch of the BPC’s revised Standards of Conduct, Practice and Ethics, which will replace the Code of Ethics, setting out the minimum requirements expected of BPC Registrants in order to protect members of the public and maintain confidence in the profession.
But how is it possible to provide standards and guidance for practitioners of this ‘impossible profession’ without becoming superego-ish and formulaic? Can guidelines be constructed that are helpful when confronted with the unconscious, and avoid killing the spontaneity and freedom so fundamental to this method? Might it be possible that proper regulation can actually enhance psychotherapeutic training and practice, to the benefit of both therapists and patients?
Our speakers will help us to explore an ethical stance as a state of mind rather than simply a set of rules, and how we can make this state of mind an integral part of our approach to the work.
Meet this year's speakers
David M. Black (Psychoanalyst), is a Scottish poet and psychoanalyst. He studied philosophy at Edinburgh University and later studied Eastern religions at Lancaster, in the department headed by Ninian Smart.
From 1972 he has lived in London, training first as a psychotherapist with the Westminster Pastoral Foundation and later as a psychoanalyst with the British Psychoanalytical Society, of which he was later Hon. Secretary and of which he remains a Fellow.
In 2006 he published an edited collection of papers, Psychoanalysis and Religion in the 21st Century: competitors or collaborators? He published a collection of his own work, Why Things Matter: the place of values in science, psychoanalysis and religion (Routledge) in 2011 and a translation and commentary on Dante’s Purgatorio (NYRB Classics) in 2021.
In 2024, David published Psychoanalysis and Ethics: the Necessity of Perspective, (Routledge New Library of Psychoanalysis), an attempt to look deeply into the relationship between psychoanalysis and ethics, and in particular into the absence in traditional psychoanalysis of a base from which to recognise the foundational character of ethical values. An issue that he discussed further in a New Associations article this summer (page 7).
David will be discussing his work to do with psychoanalysis and ethics at this year’s PPNow conference in tandem with the event’s theme of ethics, regulation and the law.
Fellow of the British Psychoanalytic Society and Chartered Clinical and Counselling Psychologist, is a Visiting Professor in the Psychoanalysis Unit, University College London and Consultant, Anna Freud Centre and Visiting Professor, Centro Winnicott, Rome. For 16 years she worked at the Tavistock Clinic where she was, at different stages, Head of Psychology and Professor of Psychological Therapies in conjunction with Essex University. She was a recipient of the 2022 Sigourney Award in recognition of her theoretical and clinical contributions to understanding body modification practices, the impacts of technology on psychic functioning and transgender identities as well as for her efforts in developing and disseminating worldwide a brief psychoanalytic intervention for mood disorders. She is the former General Editor of the New Library of Psychoanalysis book series and is the current Chair of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis’ Management Board. She has published on psychoanalysis, trauma, the body, transgender and ethics. Her latest book is “First Principles: Applied Ethics for Psychoanalytic Practice” (OUP, 2023).
Ria Lina (born 4 March 1987) is a touring comedian, actress and writer and has been named as one of The Evening Standard’s ‘Hottest Comedians You Should Be Watching Now’. Her extensive list of credits includes guesting and hosting Live At The Apollo (BBC), Have I Got News For You (BBC), QI (BBC), Mock The Week (BBC), The News Quiz (Radio 4), The Now Show (Radio 4), Late Night Mash (Dave), and star of Lovestruck High (Amazon Prime).
Ria is a regular co-host of Pointless (BBC), winner of Celebrity Mastermind (BBC) (Topic: Rosalind Franklin), cohost of Yesterday, Today & The Day Before (Comedy Central), cohost of Richard Hammond’s Brain Reaction (Comedy Central) and has been seen on occasion in Countdown’s Dictionary Corner (Channel 4). She is also a regular pundit on Sky News, BBC News, and Times Radio and is in demand for her scientific insight, confident delivery, political satire and biting wit.
Ria is the only Filipina comedian in British stand-up and has a BSc in Experimental Pathology, an MSc in Forensic Science and a PhD in Virology under her belt, so it’s not only Ria’s comedy that’s highly intelligent.
Ria has taken six shows to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with her work tackling topics such as autism, motherhood, political correctness, feminism and racial identity. Her career stretches from stage and screen to radio and the occasional ukulele – all in a unique style described by ‘The Scotsman’ as ‘fearless, provocative and very funny’.
Ria completed her debut UK and IRE tour, Riawakening, in 2024, which the Telegraph selected as one of the ‘10 best comedy shows and stand-up tours to book tickets for in 2024’. Her next tour, Name TBC, is due to start in Autumn 2025 around the UK and IRE.
‘Fearless, provocative and very funny’
Scotsman
‘Engaging, endearing and eye-opening’
Time Out
‘She’s like a Filipina Sarah Silverman’
Dusty Limits
Susie Orbach psychotherapist, psychoanalyst, writer and co-founder with Luise Eichenbaum of The Women’s Therapy Centre in London (1976) and The WTCI in New York (1981).
She is the author of many books. Her first book Fat is a Feminist Issue has been continuously in print since 1978. Bodies (which won the APA Psychology of Women’s Book Prize in 2009) was updated in 2019. Her most recent In Therapy: The Unfolding Story is an expanded edition of In Therapy (an annotated version of the BBC series listened to live by 2 million people).
For ten years, she was Visiting Professor of Psychoanalysis and Social Policy at London School of Economics. She was Academic Visitor at Hertford College, Oxford. She is the recipient of many honorary doctorates from the Universities of Roehampton, Westminster, East London, London Metropolitan and Essex and has lectured and supervised worldwide.
She is the recipient of the Inaugural British Psychoanalytic Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award. She was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL) in 2019.
She continues to help many individuals and couples from her practice in London.
Sam Thomas is a Barrister and the Chair of the Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers. Sam’s practice encompasses advice to professional regulators and advocacy on behalf of regulated professionals, including psychiatrists, psychologist and psychoanalysts. He has been recognised by the Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners as a Leading Junior Barrister in relation to Regulatory Law and Professional Discipline, and has written two books on information management and regulation. Sam sits on a specialist advisory group of the Bar Council, and writes a quarterly article for Counsel Magazine.
See below for the rough schedule, timings may be subject to slight change:
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