Dialogues on the time of Covid-19 - Summer 2021

The pandemic has had an immense impact on all our lives. It has affected the way we go about our lives and relate to each other, how we work and our emotional well-being. It has impacted on the NHS, education, business and arts and culture, in an unprecedented way. With a further series of dialogues on some of these issues, the Institute of Psychoanalysis continues to offer a psychoanalytic angle on the challenges we are currently facing.

These dialogues will be held live on Zoom and will also be made available the following day for  24 hours to all registered participants. This is to allow for international attendees to enjoy the event at a more appropriate time in their time zone. After this, the recording will no longer be available. 

Registeration for each session will close an hour before the live event begins. 

**To book any individual event, please click the relevant section in the programme outlined below. The individual dialogues are priced at £25 each, the full series can be booked at £60**

24th June | Boredom – deprivations and emptiness in the pandemic - 8:15pm - 9:45pm 

Our lives have been very different in the last year. Deprived of social contacts, with visits to restaurants and pubs barred, the pleasure of concerts, theatre, art galleries suspended, and holidays only a distant dream, life has often felt emptier. Boredom has become a feature of our lives in a way not known before.

Josh Cohen, psychoanalyst, Professor of Modern Literary Theory and author of “Not Working: Why We Have to Stop” and other books, will be in conversation with Laura Salisbury, Professor in Modern Literature and Medical Humanities, whose wide ranging publications include a book on Beckett and papers on waiting and who is working on the cultural history of waiting in modernity. The dialogue will be chaired by Trudy McGuinness, psychoanalyst.

Past Event | Children in times of a pandemic - 8:15pm - 9:45pm   

While rarely affected by the disease directly, children have often been victims of the pandemic in other ways: frequently stuck within their families, deprived of the ordinary contact with peers and with their schooling restricted or barred, many children have lost out on precious time in their emotional and social development.

Margaret Rustin, child and adolescent psychotherapist and child analyst, co-author of “Narratives of Love and Loss – Studies in modern children’s fiction” and other books, will be in conversation with Anna Waddell, special needs coordinator and assistant primary school head, who supports parents, teachers and assistants with children with additional needs. The dialogue will be chaired by Bernard Roberts, adult and child analyst.

Past Event 20th May | NHS staff – working under severe distress and risk - 8:15pm - 9:45pm

Staff in the NHS, whether nurses, doctors, receptionists, cleaners and others, have been working in unprecedented conditions in the last year: with risk to their own health and life, contact with patients and colleagues restricted and altered, their work changed and the pressure on them often massively increased. This has led to severe distress, burnout and significant mental health problems in many.

Rob Harland, psychoanalyst and consultant psychiatrist in the NHS, who has been involved in his Trust’s Covid response and worked on a Covid ward for a while, will be in conversation with Maggie Bisset, Nurse Consultant in Palliative Care, who set up a rapid access response for NHS and social care staff needing to talk about what they were encountering in the pandemic, which analysts, therapists and counsellors volunteered time for. The dialogue will be chaired by Megan Virtue, psychoanalyst and consultant clinical psychologist in an NHS hospital, who has been involved in supporting staff working on Covid wards.

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

Concession tickets are available, for students, BPAS candidates and NHS trainees. Please email outreach@iopa.org.uk if you are unsure if you qualify for a concession ticket. 

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. 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.