Review of the robust content generated during the diverse set of focus groups is underway—thanks to you! Our teams working on the Competencies Initiative have been making exciting progress since February 2022. The Focus Group Teams have conducted 13 two-hour focus groups with analysts across the country, each group coming from different training, theoretical, or demographic backgrounds and expertise. We appreciative the enthusiastic and enriching input from those of you who participated in this phase of the research.  

The next step is analyzing this extensive volume of data capturing the insights of many of you and your colleagues and organizing it into a core competency list. We’ve been grateful for the generosity of our donors, which has enabled us to have a skilled Research Team to analyze the data so that we may develop a cohesive and useful list of psychoanalytic core competencies.

In addition to the valuable information contributing to the development of the core competency list, the focus groups have helped to identify other related areas that we are able to address now. For example, to see how the Eligibility case requirements for child analysts have been modified, please see the <link to Website or announcement New Case Requirements>. Our Research Committee is also considering issues of frequency and remote treatment.  

We look forward to sharing our findings with you.