Benevolent and Toxic Aspects of Object Relationships

Saturday 4th, 18th October and 8th, 15th November 2025
10.00am - 1:30pm GMT
In Person at the Institute and Online via Zoom

These seminars have limited places in person. Please note this series will not be recorded.

Open to qualified psychoanalysts, child psychotherapists or psychoanalytic psychotherapists.
If you are unsure if you are eligible to attend please email [email protected]

Reading material will be provided to all attendees.

In person attendees must be willing to present detailed session material of work with a child or adolescent patient. 

Online attendees will be able to listen to the presentations and discussion but not actively participate. 

Gianna Williams and Roberta Mondadori offer eight clinical seminars over four Saturday mornings with in depth discussion of detailed material. The Saturday mornings will include two seminars, each of which will consist of a short and detailed presentation (maxiumum 30 minutes).  The presentation will contain essential background material and verbatim clinical material to enable a focus on the interaction in the session. Attention will be paid to transference and countertransference dynamics. Each presentation will be followed by a short 10 minute discussion in groups (in person attendees only), followed by a larger discussion with everyone (online attendees to observe).

10.00am – 11.30am: First seminar

11.30am - 12.00pm: Break

12.00pm - 1.30pm: Second seminar

Gianna Williams is an Adult and Child Analyst and member of the British Psychoanalytical Society. She has been a consultant psychotherapist at the Tavistock Clinic, where she is currently a visiting lecturer on the Clinical Doctorate in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy and co-chairs the Workshop on Narcissistic Structures including eating disorders. 

She teaches Infant Observation in two IPA European Societies and has developed and taught on Postgraduate Diploma/MA Programmes in London and Bologna for professionals working with eating disorders. In 1987, she founded the Eating Disorders Workshop at the Tavistock Clinic. 

She has been a consultant since 1999 to JUCONI homes for street children in Mexico and Ecuador. She has contributed to various IPA initiatives, including a 2020 webinar on British and French approaches to child analysis. Since 2022, she has been a consultant to the IPA's PACE Committee, supporting colleagues working with conflict, trauma, and emergencies. 

In 2025, on behalf of PACE, she taught in a worldwide series of lectures organised by the Psychoanalysis and the World Committee for IPA candidates. 

Gianna Williams is the author and co-editor of numerous publications in the area of her main interest (Eating Disorders and unhelpful internal alliances)

Key publications include:

Williams, G. (1997). Internal Landscapes and Foreign Bodies: Eating Disorders and Other Pathologies. London: Karnac.

Williams, G. et al. (Eds.) (2004). The Generosity of Acceptance.

• Volume 1: Feeding Difficulties in Children
• Volume 2: Eating Disorders in Adolescence. London: Karnac

"On Different Introjective Processes and the Hypothesis of an Omega Function." (1999) Psychoanalytic Inquiry Vol 19. N. 2.

"Reflections on Some Aspects of Eating Disorders: 'No Entry' Defences and Foreign Bodies." International Journal of Psychoanalysis. (1997) 78 (5). 

Roberta Mondadori is a Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist who trained at the Tavistock Institute in London. She worked in a NHS Service for Adolescents at Risk and taught in a number of Tavistock courses. She is now working in private practice and is a visiting teacher and supervisor at the Tavistock Clinic where she currently co-chairs the Workshop on "Narcissistic Structures including Eating Disorders". She is a member of the training committee and a visiting teacher of the clinical course at the Tavistock model "Centro Studi Martha Harris" in Florence. She launched a project to support school teachers in some areas of Zimbabwe, introducing a psychodynamic framework which has since been widely adopted across the country. 

She has published several articles in English and in Italian, particularly on Adolescence and Eating Disorders, including:

"Working with a family with a sleepless child" International Journal of Infant Observation (Routledge, 1999)

"Letting them go" Journal of Child Psychotherapy (Routledge, 2000)

"The uncovering of a lack of identity in an anorexic girl" in Exploring Eating Disorders in Adolescents (Karnak, 2004)

"What if I die without knowing why?" The Handbook of Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy (Routledge, 2009)

 We expect delegates to respect the confidentiality of clinical material discussed in our events. The content must not be recorded, conveyed or disseminated in any format and participants must not share access to the event with non-registered participants.

We have a limited number of bursaries available for this event. Please contact us at [email protected] to find out more. 

REFUND POLICY: Tickets are fully refundable until 14 days before the series begins, after which time no refunds will be issued.

Views and opinions expressed by speakers are their own and do not represent the views or opinions of the Institute, event organisers or other speakers.