The Atlanta Foundation for Psychoanalysis
The Atlanta Foundation for Psychoanalysis, Inc., Atlanta's leading advocate for psychodynamic programs dedicated to improving the emotional well being of children, adults, families and communities, is one of three psychoanalytic/psychodynamic organizations in Atlanta. The Foundation supports the goals and aims of the psychoanalytic Institute at Emory University and the Atlanta Society for Psychoanalysis, a membership organization of graduate analysts and psychodynamic psychotherapists. The Foundation continues to help underwrite the costs of Movie Mania, the Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training Program and other special events sponsored by the Institute and Society.
The original purpose of the Foundation was to support
financially the Institute, but over the years it evolved its own goals,
programs and means. It is the community outreach arm of the
psychoanalytic movement in Atlanta. The board of the Foundation
consists of psychoanalysts and other mental health professionals,
business executives, attorneys, educators, and community leaders who
are interested in the mental health issues of people. The Foundation
has a special interest in improving the mental health functioning of
children but works cooperatively with other community groups to benefit
all citizens.
- Recently the Foundation co-sponsored "Staying Sharp" with
AARP to help senior citizens and their loved ones gain greater skills
to confront the challenges of aging.
- We sponsor an educational program for Americorps, a first
line of teacher-volunteers, working with some of Atlanta's most
disadvantaged children. Our aim is to enable them to recognize signs of
child abuse among their students, and how to access help for them.
- Foundation board members and analysts participated in a
consultation seminar to businesses struggling to recognize how cross
cultural issues and unacknowledged prejudices in hiring patterns
frustrate their own business goals.
- The Foundation has an on-going educational relationship
with the DeKalb County Public School system and the DeKalb County
Police Department and recently added more county and city schools to
the program. Teachers and police officers are often first responders to
family crises and asked for help recognizing symptoms of mental illness
and child abuse.
- Currently under construction by the Foundation is the Anna
Project which will help preschools and day care centers improve their
relationships and skills in working with children and families using
day care.
- The newly renovated website will clearly present the work of the Emory-Atlanta Institute, the Society for Psychoanalysis, and the Atlanta Foundation.
