In-person attendance: $250; limited to 50 people at the Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, MA

Virtual/remote attendance: Free

CE/CME available: 6 hours (pending approval) 

Hope in Hard Times: Building Community is a hybrid conference designed for mental health clinicians and allied professionals seeking to think together about the ethical, clinical, and institutional challenges of practicing in a time marked by social fragmentation, political instability, and collective trauma. Drawing on psychoanalytic perspectives and interdisciplinary dialogue, the conference explores how transgenerational trauma, structural violence, and bureaucratic systems shape both individual psychic life and professional roles—while also attending to sources of resistance, responsibility, and hope. 

The conference opens with a framing panel on "Transgenerational Trauma, Resistance, and Radical Hope," featuring brief presentations by Marilyn Charles, PhD, ABPP; Morteza Modarres Gharavi, PhD, LP, PsyA; and Bindu Methikalam, PhD. This session situates contemporary clinical and institutional dilemmas within broader historical, cultural, and political contexts, establishing a shared foundation for the conference. 

Subsequent sessions invite participants to engage with two central questions: how clinicians and institutions can remain ethically grounded in the face of dehumanizing bureaucratic pressures, and how professionals can speak and listen across differences of identity, power, vulnerability, and role. Throughout the conference, brief didactic presentations are paired with facilitated large-group discussions to support reflection, dialogue, and application to clinical and professional practice. 

The conference concludes by turning explicitly toward action and connection, examining how psychoanalytic ideas and values can inform social engagement in clinical, educational, and civic arenas. Participants will be invited to identify shared concerns and areas of interest and to make collegial connections intended to support ongoing work beyond the conference itself. Rather than managing ongoing groups, the conference serves as a clearing-house for connection, emphasizing community-building, professional resilience, and ethical responsibility in difficult times. 

Conference Schedule 

Friday, October 2, 2026

6:00-6:30 p.m. - Registration  

6:30-7:30 p.m. - Plenary "Framing the Conference: How Did We Get Here?" (in-person + live virtual)

Theme: Transgenerational Trauma, Resistance, and Radical Hope 

Panel Presentations:

• Reclaiming Voices from the Margins: Finding Strength through Diversity 

• Radical Hope Under Totalitarianism: Sustaining Social Cohesion in Times of Collapse 

• Addressing Colonialism, Internalized Racism, and Defenses in Organizations 

7:30-8:00 p.m. - Hybrid moderated discussion 

8:00-9:00 p.m. - In-person welcome gathering, desserts, and coffee/tea 

Saturday, October 3, 2026

8:30-9:00 a.m. - Breakfast, late registration, and gathering for in-person attendees

Session I: Ethics, Responsibility, and Social Justice 

9:00-10:00 a.m. - Panel presentation (in-person + live virtual)

10:00-10:30 a.m. - Moderated discussion (in-person + live virtual)

Shared Learning Objectives: 

• Ethical decision-making under institutional constraint 

• Professional responsibility in dehumanizing systems 

10:30-10:45 a.m. - Break 

Session II: Talking Across Difference

10:45-11:45 a.m. - Panel presentation 

11:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. - Moderated discussion 

In-Person Track: 

• Brief presentations followed by facilitated dialogue 

• Emphasis on relational dynamics, power, vulnerability, and privilege 

Virtual Track: 

• Parallel facilitated discussion using breakout or moderated large-group format 

Shared Learning Objectives: 

• Clinical and professional communication across difference 

• Awareness of power and positionality in professional roles 

12:15-1:15 p.m. - Lunch 

1:15-2:15 p.m. - Plenary "From Psychoanalysis to Social Action"  (in-person + live virtual)

Panel: "Bringing Psychoanalytic Ideas into Social Action—Clinically, Educationally, and Politically 

2:15-2:45 p.m. - Large-Group Discussions 

In-Person Track: 
Facilitated large-group discussion inviting participants to speak about: 

• Challenges in their professional roles 

• Contexts in which they are attempting to intervene or create change 

Virtual Track: 

• Parallel facilitated discussion with identical prompts and structure 

2:45-3:00 p.m. -  Break 

3:00-4:00 p.m. - Closing Session: "Building Ongoing Community" (in-person + live virtual)

• Introduction of the conference’s clearing-house for connection 

• Participants (in-person and virtual) invited to: 

• Identify areas of interest 

• Opt into post-conference collegial connections 

Contact information and thematic interests will be collected electronically to ensure equal access across modalities. The conference will facilitate initial connections only and will not manage ongoing groups.