Hierarchies and Fragmentations in Psychoanalysis: In-person Conference

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About the conference 

This in-person conference is jointly presented by the British Psychotherapy Foundation (bpf) and the Council for Psychoanalysis & Jungian Analysis (CPJA). It brings together clinicians, academics, researchers and trainees to discuss how the analytic professions can evolve and adapt. 

It follows three online workshops held between April and July 2026 as part of the Hierarchies and Fragmentations in Psychoanalysis project. The workshops asked: 

• Is there a standard analytic model in psychoanalysis and Jungian analysis? 

• Can theoretical divisions be divorced from institutional hierarchies? 

• Can psychoanalysis and Jungian analysis evolve to respond to contemporary life? 

The conference will draw on the themes and debates that emerged from those workshops. The day includes a keynote presentation, a panel discussion, lightning talks and time for audience discussion, with the aim of encouraging open exchange across theoretical traditions and professional divides. 

You do not need to have attended the workshops to come. Summaries are available below. 

Topics for the day 

• The future of psychoanalytic and Jungian training 

• Institutional culture, hierarchy and professional identity 

• Diversity, inclusion and social change 

• Dialogue across analytic traditions 

• The place of psychoanalysis and Jungian analysis within the wider mental health landscape 

• Technology, innovation and evidence-informed practice 

• Keeping analytic thinking relevant and influential in the 21st century 

Programme 

The programme is provisional and may be subject to change. 

Time	Session
09.15 – 10.00	Registration and coffee
10.00 – 10.30	Welcome and scene setting. Co-Chairs Dr Frances Gillies (bpf) and Gwion Jones (CPJA) introduce the project and the central questions for the day, and recap the themes from the workshops.
10.30 – 12.00	Keynote presentation: Darian Leader. Darian Leader, psychoanalyst and writer, speaks on the questions at the heart of the conference, followed by Q&A. Full details to be announced.
12.00 – 13.00	Lunch
13.00 – 14.30	Panel discussion. Professor Sue Kegerreis, Professor Jean Knox and George Taxidis, who each led one of the workshops, reflect on the themes that emerged, respond to the keynote and take questions from delegates. Chaired by Dr Frances Gillies and Gwion Jones.
14.30 – 15.00	Coffee break and refreshments
15.00 – 16.30	Lightning talks. Short presentations offering personal reflections and critical perspectives on the conference themes, followed by a facilitated discussion with delegates. Speakers to be announced.
16.30 – 17.00	Summing up. The Co-Chairs draw together the main themes from the day and consider how the conversation might continue.
17.00 – 18.00	Drinks and networking

Speakers 

Keynote: Darian Leader 

Darian Leader is a psychoanalyst working in London and a member of the Centre for Freudian Analysis and Research and the College of Psychoanalysts-UK. His books include Why Do Women Write More Letters Than They Post?, Stealing the Mona Lisa, The New Black, What is Madness?, Strictly Bipolar, Why Can't We Sleep? and Is It Ever Just Sex? He also writes about contemporary art. 

Psychoanalysis + or -?

Abstract: Debates about what constitutes psychoanalytic work have defined and divided traditions in the talking therapies, and only rarely generated agreements. Conceptual and intersectional hierarchies have played their part here, many of which are still present today. How can these issues be engaged with, and what kind of scope does psychoanalytic work have today? Do trainings need to rethink some of their basics, and what kind of dialogues with other traditions might be fruitful here?

Lightning talk speakers: Harriet Mossop, Kate Moss, Karolina Kalisz, Laura Douse

Karolina Kalisz, BA (Hons), MSc, GMBPsS

Trainee psychoanalytic psychotherapist, BPF North

In my ‘past life’, I worked as a qualified teacher in state and private education (I hold a qualified teacher status in Poland, England and Wales) and had a career of almost 20 years as a clinical research translator, conference interpreter and freelance medical writer. In my ‘more recent life’, I completed MSc in Psychology (University of Sunderland) and PgCert in Low Intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (Teesside University), after which I spent a few years delivering different psychological interventions across a range of NHS settings. In my ‘current life’, I am running a SEND consultancy firm, and training as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist with the BPF (BPF North). Outside the workplace, I am a fulfilled wife of a man who has not ceased to inspire me for 25 years, and a mother to 2 adult children in a family where all 4 of us are autistic and have ADHD.

An Alien Among the Flat-Earthers: Navigating Autistic Subjectivity Within Psychoanalytic Training

Freud (1923) wrote to R. Rolland:

“(…) if there is an illusion worth believing in, at least partially, this is the illusion: that we learn how to divert the impulse of destruction from our own kind, how to stop hating each other because of trivial differences (…) Without this illusion, what future awaits us?”

Based on demographic statistics, it is certain that autistic minds populate our seminars, consultation rooms and training institutions. We welcome autistic people as patients in psychoanalytic psychotherapy or psychoanalysis, offering them the opposite of ‘conversion therapy’: meaningful help to understand themselves and make sense of their experiences within their unique contexts. But what about being an autistic psychoanalytic psychotherapist?

In this lightning talk, I posit that our institutions fall prey to what Freud termed the “narcissism of minor differences”, directing aggression towards those who differ from them in structural ways. I share my experience of landing in a land wedded to a flat, two-dimensional map of normative psychology, quick to pathologise any mind that reveals the multi-dimensional curvature of neurological reality: a land of Flat-Earthers. And in this land, I happen to be an Alien.

Through asking poignant questions and sharing the irony (not lost on me) of the contrast between the origins of psychoanalysis and how late the psychoanalytic world is in acknowledging the value inherent in its very roots, I arrive at a dream which, through its analysis, provides a magnificent metaphor, offering some hope, containment, answers and a way forward.

The beautiful and rich fabric of psychoanalysis is ours to share, but each of us must be trusted to cut a garment from it that fits the unique silhouette of our mind, autistic minds included. Since our autistic differences are already seen in some circles as enriching and valuable, rather than as barriers to meaningful contribution, we can hope for this recognition to spread.

We need to expand our container, move beyond symbolic inclusion and embed an appreciation of neurodiversity (including neurodivergence!) throughout our training structures, selection processes and clinical thinking. When this becomes part of our institutional reality, autistic minds—with their radical honesty, freedom from conventional social illusions and unique perceptual depth—will prove to be immense clinical assets to psychoanalysis, rather than liabilities or nuisances.

I want to leave the audience with the following question:

What can we do, as a community, to ensure that neurodivergent people around us—patients, trainees and colleagues—feel safe enough to cut their own jumpsuit from our shared fabric, without fearing that we will reject or pathologise them for that (not so) trivial difference between us?

Laura Low-Douse (she/her)

I am a fourth-year IPCAPA trainee working within a generic CAMHS team.

I am a neurodivergent mother, wife and professional. My background includes working as a specialist teacher supporting children and young people who have been excluded from mainstream education. I have also supported senior leaders in education to develop a deeper understanding of the impact of developmental and relational trauma on the developing brain and psyche of the children in their care.

My particular interests include social justice, child development, psychoanalysis, neurodivergence, neuroscience and politics. I am especially interested in how these perspectives can be integrated to develop a more nuanced and holistic understanding of human relationships and our experiences of the world.

Square Pegs and Round Holes: The Cost of Belonging, with Difference, in a Fragmented and Hierarchical Community

This lightning talk will explore how psychoanalytic hierarchies can shape the sense of belonging for trainees, patients and qualified clinicians who bring an element of difference.

It will consider the historical harms associated with how difference has been conceptualised, and ask whether neurodivergence is the latest identity to be harmed by aspects of psychoanalytic discourse and its associated power dynamics.

Finally, it will reflect on what might be needed for our profession to remain relevant to a diverse population and representative of the real world, while exploring the barriers that may prevent this potential for growth.

Panel 

Professor Sue Kegerreis 

Emeritus Professor in the Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies at the University of Essex and Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal of Psychotherapy. A psychoanalytic psychotherapist, she has worked with children, adolescents and adults across CAMHS, hospital, school and private practice settings, and has contributed extensively to teaching, training and practitioner-led research. 

Professor Jean Knox 

Associate Professor at the University of Exeter and Academic Director of its doctoral and professional training programmes in psychodynamic and psychoanalytic psychotherapy. She is Chair of the Trustees of the British Psychotherapy Foundation and a former Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Analytical Psychology. She has written and taught extensively on attachment theory and developmental neuroscience in clinical practice. 

George Taxidis 

A Jungian analyst (BJAA) and clinical supervisor in private practice in East London, and a lecturer in psychosocial studies and psychotherapy at Goldsmiths, University of London. He co-founded the International Queer Jungian Initiative and is writing a book on queering Jungian psychology for the Routledge series Jung, Politics and Culture. 

Conference Co-Chairs 

Dr Frances Gillies 

CEO of the bpf, a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and counselling psychologist. Previously she developed therapeutic services, training programmes and clinical pathways at Devon Partnership NHS Trust, and was Senior Lecturer on the Clinical Psychology Doctorate at the University of Exeter. 

Gwion Jones 

A Lacanian psychoanalyst trained at the Centre for Freudian Analysis and Research, and Chair of the Council for Psychoanalysis & Jungian Analysis. He is Assistant Professor in Clinical Psychology at Coventry University and Clinical Director of the Worcester Therapy Group. His recent paper, "Does the standard model exist?", appears in Analytic Agora 4. 

Workshop summaries 

• Workshop 1 (23 April 2026): Is there a standard analytic model? Facilitated by Professor Sue Kegerreis. Read the summary 

• Workshop 2 (14 May 2026): Can theoretical divisions be divorced from institutional hierarchies? Facilitated by Professor Jean Knox. Read the summary 

• Workshop 3 (2 July 2026): Can psychoanalysis and Jungian analysis evolve to respond to contemporary life? Facilitated by George Taxidis. Read the summary 

Who the conference is for 

Clinicians, academics, researchers and trainees in psychoanalysis and Jungian analysis, and anyone with an interest in the future of the analytic professions, whatever their tradition or institution. 

Booking 

General Admission - £65 
Concession: £45.50 (Students and retirees)

There are 100 places available. 

 

 

*If you are a psychotherapist or counsellor residing in an active conflict zone, you are eligible to attend this event free of charge (regardless of whether you are a bpf member or not). Please email events@bpf-psychotherapy to enquire about a ticket.