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Russian Revival Project

Training in Jungian analysis in Moscow and St. Petersburg Working for mental health

Aims of the project

The Russian Revival Project was initiated by SAP members in 1998 and is an official programme of the International Association for Analytical Psychology (IAAP). It has been working in Russia since 1998 to train local psychotherapists and mental health professionals to work in psychological depth with both children and adults. Such psychological approaches were banned during the Soviet regime and were revived only with perestroika. Although Russian therapists were well read in psychological theory, they have long been deprived of the practical, skills-based training that in the West is the most essential requirement to qualify as a psychotherapist or analyst. A major goal of our work is to remedy this lack, through the regular provision of one-to-one personal analysis and the close training-supervision of their clinical work.

The project aims to build a self-sufficient group of Russian Jungian psychoanalysts who will in turn train others in the skills that are so urgently needed and in such short supply. The Project works to internationally recognised standards, with the aim of preparing the students for qualification as Jungian analysts, as Individual Members of IAAP. This primary aim is already being realised with the qualification of 16 Russian analysts, with more students still training. We now aim to support and guide the newly formed (2007) Russian Society for Analytical Psychology (whose membership consists of qualified analysts), so that in time we hope it will be recognised as an official training society of the IAAP, and we will no longer be needed there as trainers.

The need

The collapse of the Soviet system has brought not just opportunity but widespread social and economic insecurity. Personal stress and uncertainty have exacted a harsh toll of depression and anxiety, drug and alcohol abuse, suicide and domestic and other violence. Families are under great pressure and children may end up in orphanages because their parents cannot cope. There is a huge need for professionals trained to work in depth with these deprived, mentally disturbed and traumatised adults and children. It is only in the past decade that psychological treatments have begun to shake off the legacy of stigma and fear inherited from the deceptive system of Soviet state psychiatry. Now Russia is gingerly moving from exclusively drug-based treatments towards talking therapies.

Activities

The project sends a pool of 19 Jungian analysts from the four training societies in the UK to St Petersburg and Moscow to provide an ongoing ‘shuttle’ programme in Analytical Psychology that prepares Russian psychotherapists to achieve the professional standard of international membership of the IAAP. There is provision for 16 ‘routers’ (en route to Individual Membership) in each city. Each British analyst makes four visits to Russia per year. Some act as personal analysts to the trainees, and others as clinical supervisors of their work. Our work is all done on a pro bono basis, with a reimbursement of expenses and a nominal contribution to loss of earnings.

The activities of the project include the following:

Achievements

The first five Russian analysts qualified in 2004. Since then there has been a steady stream of routers passing the IAAP exams to qualify. There are now 16 qualified analysts in Moscow and St Petersburg and more students nearing graduation. As they graduate from the programme, new recruits are admitted as routers in their places, some from as far afield as Siberia, and the neighbouring republics of Belorusse and Ukraine. The qualified Russian analysts then become available in a more senior role for the group as a whole, as teachers and personal analysts to some of the new routers.

We organised a successful summer school in Kiev in 2006, which included participants from cities and countries across post-Soviet space. Following this, more networking activity and outreach work has flourished, with many of the new Russian analysts travelling to the regions to foster interest in Jungian ideas and to offer analysis.

Through the financial generosity of the Child Analytic Training Fund of the SAP, six SAP child analysts have made visits to Russia to teach and to supervise Russian therapists working with children. More visits and translations of key texts in child development and analysis are being planned.

Jungian analysts are gaining professional recognition both at home and abroad. The Russian Society of Analytical Psychology (RSAP), was inaugurated and accepted by the IAAP in 2007, and a Jungian Section has been established in the Russian National Federation of Psychotherapy. Annually, the Russians put on professional conferences about their analytic practice in both Moscow and St Petersburg and always attract international participants. Several influential books have been translated into Russian to aid their training.

Future plans

The programmes for routers in Moscow and St Petersburg will continue until 2010, and so the purpose of the present phase is to prepare for the gradual handover of responsibility to the Russian analysts through the RSAP. We have planned a course in clinical supervision for 2009.

For more information about the programme in St Petersburg,  please contact Jan Wiener jan.wiener@virgin.net or Catherine Crowther c.s.crowther@talk21.com and for Moscow, Penny Pickles penny.pickles@btinternet.com

Personnel

The London IAAP Jungian analysts visiting St Petersburg and Moscow on a regular basis for the project are:

Without the hard work and dedication of all the people mentioned above, the activities of the Russian Revival Project would be impossible. We are very grateful for their vigour and endurance, and pay tribute also to the determination of the students in Russia to secure a good in-depth psychological training for themselves and thereby to improve mental health provision for their patients.

The Russian Revival Fund Charity

Registered Charity: 1115533

The project became a charity, the Russian Revival Fund, in October 2006. For the previous 8 years the project had been undertaken under the auspices of both the IAAP and the Society of Analytical Psychology, to whom we are very grateful for their support and encouragement over the years.

The Russian Revival Fund raises charitable monies to support the training programme. In addition to applying for grants from the IAAP and other charitable foundations, the Russian Revival Fund appeals for personal donations and organises public fundraising events such as concerts, readings, talks, sponsored sporting events, auctions and raffles. We are indebted to the many supporters of the RR Fund who have consistently funded our activities, and in particular to a few especially generous individual donors.

On the fundraising side there is an energetic committee, which includes the trustees and the co-ordinators. We employ a paid consultant /events organiser on a sessional basis.

PLEASE DONATE TO THE RUSSIAN REVIVAL FUND

Our ambitious and innovative programme is ongoing and has been possible only because of the continued generosity of our supporters. We will need £60,000 over the next two years to continue our work.

Please send cheques payable to Russian Revival Fund to:

FREEPOST c/o Society of Analytical Psychology,
1 Daleham Gardens,
London
NW3 5BY

Please visit our website for further information www.russianrevival.co.uk
or contact the project coordinators, Catherine Crowther 020 7226 3112  c.s.crowther@talk21.com Jan Wiener 020 7328 6888 jan.wiener@virgin.net or Penny Pickles 020 7228 2384 penny.pickles@btinternet.com

 

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