In the mid-seventies a number of graduates from Pratt Institute came together looking for a post-masters training program which would allow them to maintain their identity as expressive therapists while learning more about depth therapy. No such program existed. Dr. Arthur Robbins helped them form a membership organization which would fulfill those needs – IEA.
At first the Institute was entirely administered by student volunteers. They gradually ceded these responsibilities to Institute for Expressive Analysis faculty, which at that time was mainly drawn from NPAP. Though they had no formal training in expressive therapy, NPAP members understood the soul of the IEA students. After several years, IEA saw its first students graduate. Now, almost all board members, and many members of faculty are IEA graduates.
IEA’s student body is drawn from a wide base – including psychology, nursing, social work, law, teaching, as well as the many creative arts therapies. We remain the only post graduate training program in the country that is dedicated to combining depth oriented psychoanalytic treatment with options for the integration of creative arts techniques.
Notice of Policy of Nondiscrimination: The Institute for Expressive Analysis admits candidates of any race, color, sexual orientation, gender identity and national or ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to candidates at the Institute. IEA subscribes to NAAP’s Ethical Guidelines.
EXPRESSIVE ANALYSIS
Our philosophy is formed around the importance of integrating verbal, “talk therapy” with nonverbal work and communications – starting by locating feelings in the body and experiencing transference and countertransference in the here and now. It is rewarding that today neuropsychoanalytic research and infant studies show that empathy is a body experience, as IEA’s founder Dr. Arthur Robbins taught 35 years ago.
IEA is dedicated to the exploration and application of creativity in the processing and analysis of transference and resistance in depth-oriented psychoanalytic treatment.
Just as an artist’s technique is profoundly embedded in the person in order to fully exercise aesthetic abilities, an analyst’s methodology includes a deep and comprehensive knowledge of psychoanalysis and unconscious process. Integrating nonverbal techniques must be allied with a conscious awareness of the ongoing implications of transference and countertransference. This is something we address regularly in our coursework and supervision.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Founding Director: Arthur Robbins, Ed.D., ATR, NCPsyA, LP
Executive Director/President: Gail Elkin-Scott, ATR-BC, LCAT, LP
Director of Admissions: Meredith Glidden, LCAT
Director of Education: Vanessa Hannah Bright, LAc, LP
Dean of Training:
Membership Chair: Victoria Blumberg, LCAT, LP
Secretary: Michelle Rhodes, LCSW-R, ATR-BC, NCPsyA
By-Laws Chair: Karen H Senecal, LP, NCPsyA, M.Div.
Member-At-Large: Janet Sullivan, MA, LP, LCAT
Treasurer and Acting PR Chair: Kristin Long, DPsa, LCAT, LP, NCPsyA
Director of Consultation Center: Gail Elkin-Scott, ATR-BC, LCAT, LP
Student Representative: Natalie Ryan, LCAT, MT-BC
Public Member: Stephen Schnetzer, BA in French, Juilliard Drama Division Group III
