Psychoanalytic Organizational Study and Consultation

The Gould Center* is grounded in a broad Psychoanalytic framework — the work of Freud, Klein and her followers, and, most importantly, Bion on group dynamics. Bion’s work was further developed in what became known as the Group Relations approach at the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations. Along with the Open Systems perspective that grew out of Field Theory and Social Systems research, The Gould Center incorporates central aspects of Contemporary Psychoanalytic theories in Object Relational, Interpersonal and Intersubjective perspectives. The understanding of transference and countertransference experiences and unconscious dynamics at the individual, group and organizational levels (and their reverberation and intersection), is viewed at The Gould Center as an overall framework to understand group and organizational life and its vicissitudes.

The purpose of The Gould Center is to provide a space for the ongoing study of these streams of thinking and experience on group and organizational life. From this framework, we consider the dynamics at play in the Roles that we occupy in human systems of all sizes (from the psychoanalytic dyad to the group and organization), and in all manner of work endeavors (from clinical psychoanalysis to psychoanalytic organizational consultation). In terms of Clinical Consultation, The Gould Center seeks to understand and address the organizational challenges, discontents, and the creative potential for persons in their Roles within the groups, organizations and systems they inhabit, and that inhabit them. These templates (sets of images and fantasies about  groups, organizations and systems), guide the thinking and experience of each person, and represent powerful internal dynamics that can operate outside of conscious awareness, impacting the capacity for creative, collaborative work.

(*) The Gould Center is named for Laurence J. Gould, PhD, FIPA, a Psychoanalyst, Psychologist and Organizational Consultant who was an international figure in the discipline and one of the  founders of the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations (ISPSO). Dr. Gould was instrumental in designing and implementing a Psychoanalytic Organizational perspective and training at IPTAR.

Meeting mid-day on the third Wednesday of selected months from October through May, the Series provides an opportunity to hear organizational consultants speak about their Consultancy work or Coaching engagements. The format is interactive and informal. The combination of presentation and group discussion fosters development of ideas relevant to a Psychoanalytic Organizational perspective that arise from presenters’ diverse backgrounds in Psychoanalysis and Organizational Training. This experience is open to all who are interested — graduate students, Psychoanalytic Candidates, graduates of the IPTAR Program, Consultants and Coaches, and those interested in Organizational Psychodynamic clinical presentations of consultative work.

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The Center has many resources available for its Clinical and Organizational offerings. Faculty and Supervisors from within IPTAR and also invited national and international Guest Faculty and Supervisors, all come to the work from various backgrounds in Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Organizational Consultation.

To be notified of upcoming Case Conferences and our periodic Workshops and Course offerings, contact The Gould Center Co-Chairs.

The Gould Center Administration