Joint Conference
The Connecticut Society For Psychoanalytic Psychology
&
Western New England Psychoanalytic Society
presents
From Development to Therapy: Restoring Epistemic Trust as the Basis for Change
Peter Fonagy and Linda Mayes
Clinical Conference
In-person & Zoom
Clinical Conference
2 CECs (Division 39)
2 CECs, NASW/CT Social Workers, LPCs & LMFTs
Pending - 2 CMEs
Saturday December 6, 2025
Conference Schedule
In-person coffee hour and check-in 10-11
Zoom check-in 10:45
Presentation 11-1
Lunch 1-2
In Person Location
Albertus Magnus College,
Behan Community Room, New Haven, CT
Directions and Photo
Map of Albertus Magnus College
A Zoom link will be sent to all registrants the day before the event.
The Talk
Epistemic trust is rooted in early development: through attachment relationships and caregiver responsiveness, children learn when and from whom to take in knowledge. Trauma and adversity derail this mentalizing process, leading to mistrust, hypervigilance, or credulity, and with it, difficulties in learning from others and adaptation. Psychotherapy can be understood as a re-developmental process: a context in which trust, recognition, and openness to learning are re-established. This talk will trace the developmental origins of epistemic trust, its breakdown across the lifespan, and its reactivation in therapy, showing how clinicians can recreate the conditions for growth and change in adulthood.
Learning Objectives
1. Explain the developmental origins of epistemic trust and its role in social learning.
2. Identify how trauma and adversity distort epistemic trust across childhood and adulthood.
3. Explore how psychotherapy functions as a re-developmental process to restore epistemic trust and enable change.
Speakers
Peter Fonagy, CBE, Professor of Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Developmental Science, Head of Division for Psychology and Language Sciences, UCL. He is also Executive Clinical Director for UCLPartners Mental Health and Wellbeing Programme, and Senior National Clinical Adviser for NHS England on Children and Young Peoples’ Mental Health. Peter was Chief Executive of Anna Freud Center for over 20 years.
His clinical and research interests lie in early attachment relationships, social cognition, borderline personality disorder and violence. A central focus has been an innovative research-based psychodynamic therapeutic approach, mentalization-based treatment, which was developed in collaboration with a number of clinical sites in the UK and USA. Publishing over 750 scientific papers and 23 books.
Linda Mayes, MD, Discussant , is the Arnold Gesell Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Psychology and chair of the Yale Child Study Center in the Yale School of Medicine. She is also a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Sewanee: The University of the South where she teaches on child development in rural settings and on the impact of historical trauma on communities. A pediatrician and child/adult psychoanalyst, Dr. Mayes’ scholarly work focuses on the impact of early adversity on children and adolescents. She also studies how adults transition developmentally to parenthood with relevant psychological and neural adaptations. Her published work appears in both the developmental and psychoanalytic literature. In addition, she is the author of three books for parents and two for teachers focusing on understanding children’s development and fostering adaptive skills.
Recommended Readings
-
The Mentalizing Approach to Psychopathology: State of the Art and Future Directions. Patrick Luyten, Chloe Campbell, Elizabeth Allison, and Peter Fonagy.
PMID: 32023093
- DOI: 10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-071919-015355
-
Development and validation of the Revised Epistemic Trust, MiTstrust and Credulity Questionnaire (ETMCQ-R), Chloe Campbell, Henry Delamain, Rob Saunders, Michal Tanzer, Alberto Milesi, Tobias Nolte, Elizabeth Allison, Patrick Luyten and Peter Fonagy
- PMID: 40888372
- DOI: 10.1192/bjo.2025.10813
-
Culture and psychopathology: An attempt at reconsidering the role of social learning. Peter Fonagy, Chloe Campbell, Matthew Constantinou, Anna Higgitt, Elizabeth Allison, and Patrick Luyten
- PMID: 33766162
- DOI: 10.1017/S0954579421000092
Participants
The conference is appropriate for professionals interested in the practice of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy. The instructional level of this conference is intermediate.
Continuing Education
This conference has been approved for for 2 continuing education credits by Div. 39. Division 39 maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
Pending, 2 CECs (NASW/CT) social work, LPCs & LMFTs
Approved, 2 CMEs:
ACCME Accreditation Statement
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and Western New England Psychoanalytic Society. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
AMA Credit Designation Statement
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 2 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Disclosure Statement
The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME's identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.
To Register and Pay
All registrations must be made and paid for online.
You can pay with credit card and debit card.
If you are using a phone, you will need to register through the WildApricot app, which is designed for phone use and will allow you all the options. The app Wild Apricot for Members is available in your App Store for free. Just log in with your usual email and password.
Refunds will be given in full until the Monday before the conference. To receive a refund, cancel your registration online by going to your profile in the upper right corner, select "My Event Registrations," click on the event, then click on "Cancel Reservation." Questions/problems, please contact the registrar, Monique St. Paul.
Scholarship registrants: If you need the registration code, contact William Hartmann, MFT.
Members and Contacts - Need to update your information?
Please login to your profile, then click under your name at View Profile, to make any changes or additions, including changes of email addresses. If you have problems, contact Kelly Butler.
CSPP Membership: Membership is open to all mental health professionals ($85 annual dues); early career (10 years or less since degree, $50 annual dues); retirees ($30 annual dues); and graduate students ($20 annual dues). For further information on CSPP membership, please click here: CSPP.
Division 39 is committed to accessibility and non-discrimination in its continuing education activities. Participants are asked to be aware of needs for privacy and confidentiality throughout the program. If program content becomes stressful, participants are encouraged to process these feelings during discussion periods. If participants have special needs, we will attempt to accommodate them.
Please address questions or concerns to Ashley Warner, LCSW, BCD or Erica Weiss, MD
