San Francisco Foundation for Psychoanalysis is an outreach organization providing financial support and publicity for community projects. The Foundation recently helped create a Therapeutic Pre-School as a collaborative project between the Child Development Program of SFPI and the San Francisco Board of Education.
Mission Statement
The purpose of the San Francisco Foundation for Psychoanalysis (SFFP) is to develop, publicize and underwrite public service and educational programs that utilize the expertise of psychoanalysts and to increase the community's awareness and understanding of psychoanalysis.
Organization and Function of SFFP
SFFP works under the auspices of the San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute and Society, (SFPI), an affiliated society of both the American Psychoanalytic Association and the International Psychoanalytic Association that provides training in psychoanalysis. The Foundation serves as a catalyst or spark for community service projects, bringing together public need and the interests of our members. It forms the connections which create opportunities so that projects can flourish. The Foundation is the link, providing the administrative services, advertising, and funding needed to get the undertaking moving and to assist later if support is needed- SFFP is developing a well-qualifed Board of Directors taken from the diverse leadership of the Bay Area, particularly wishing to draw on those whose resources and abilities are outside of psychoanalysis.
Current Activities
Theater on the Couch
-- WELL by Lisa Kron
Friday, March 4, 2005 at 8:00 pm
A.C.T. 's Geary Theater
Community Service
The Foundation works with other charitable organizations as well as SFPI to Provide services to the people of the San Francisco Bay Area. Our major focus centers on the emotional needs of children, particularly those from vulnerable families, who are at risk from cycles of poverty, neglect, and violence.
The Foundation engages in publicity and fundraising for the Child Development Program and many of its exciting projects, notably a therapeutic classroom in the Burnett Children's Center in Hunter's Point, funded by a grant from the Miriam and Peter Haas Fund.
SFFP has been instrumental in members' working with the legal community. Together with the San Francisco Legal Services for the Poor Program we have provided psychological evaluations for families at risk. We also hope to obtain funding to set up a therapeutic nursery at the Salvation Army Gateway Childcare Program for children of the homeless.
In concert with the Juvenile Justice System of San Francisco, and as a result of our collaboration with Judge Donna Hitchens, we have helped in starting a family mediation project. This program allows family members to participate in deliberations with attorneys and social workers, deliberations which cover a large spectrum of family crises. This has resulted in families being much more influential in necessary changes and more accepting of them.
The Foundation has offered educational hotlines on local radio and TV stations concerning such topics as holiday stress and teenage depression.
Community Resource
Public Information Committee
This committee sponsors a number of media outreach activities, including a Speaker's Bureau which furnishes psychoanalysts to speak to community groups. It also sponsors media training sessions in which SFPI members receive training in making TV appearances so as to be able to make an appealing, even-handed presentation.
News Room
News Room, a special service of the Public Information Committee, is a newsletter which is written for and distributed to the media to inform the press about mental health issues and to encourage media representatives to obtain a psychoanalytic slant on health news stories.
Community Programs
Erik Erikson Memorial Program: January 15, 1994. A program that celebrated the life and work of Erik Erikson, an extremely well-known and influential psychoanalyst. Six distinguished scholars spoke on Erikson's contributions.
The Good Marriage: October 15, 1995- Presented by the Foundation in conjunction with the Junior League of San Francisco, the Friends of SFPI, Parents' Place, and Jewish Family and Children's Service, this program featured Judith Wallerstein, Ph.D. discussing her research and writings on happy, lasting relationships .
A Conversation with A. Alvarez: April 21, 1996, A reading and discussion of his works by A. Alvarez, noted novelist, literary critic, and non-fiction author. This was co-sponsored by SFPI's Extension Division, the Foundation, and the Friends of SFPI.
