“Psychotherapy takes place in the overlap of two areas of playing, that of the patient and that of the therapist”
– Winnicott, Playing and Reality

Few psychoanalytic thinkers speak as directly to the immediacy of clinical encounter today as Donald Woods Winnicott, British pediatrician, psychoanalyst, and theorist. He was the master of the middle, the in-between. His deceptively simple yet profound ideas—holding, play, potential space, and the true and false self—continue to shape how clinicians listen and respond to patients across modalities and levels of disturbance.

This new course invites both clinicians and non-clinicians into Winnicott’s living language, where therapy is not merely interpretation but an experience created in the shared space between patient and therapist. Through vivid clinical examples and careful attention to technique, participants will explore how Winnicott’s insights illuminate contemporary challenges: working with fragility, rage, emptiness, and the collapse of meaning. At a time when psychic life is increasingly pressured by speed, disconnection, and technological mediation, Winnicott’s vision of play as the foundation of aliveness and creativity feels not only relevant, but essential.

Seminar 1

What is so special about Winnicott? The roots of Winnicott’s thinking. Discovering Winnicott’s theories through glimpses of the infant who remains and manifests in the adult patient, using case examples. What is a Winnicottian analysis?

Seminar 2

Potential space in clinical work. The analytic setting as transitional phenomena, paralleling the mother’s holding function. Clinical examples. Implications for technique.

Seminar 3

The clinical application of play and creativity. The negotiation of fantasy and reality in one’s move towards independence. Bringing patients from a state of not being able to play to being able to play.

Seminar 4

Fear of Breakdown and the Psychology of Madness. Factors leading to the collapse of a potential space. Clinical examples and summary.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of the course, participants will be able:

1. To better understand the developmental role of environmental “holding”
2. To better understand the meaning of “play” and “potential space.”
3. To better understand the analytic setting as transitional phenomena
4. To better understand the distinction between the true self vs false self

Karen Dougherty, MA, RP (CRPO), FIPA

Karen Dougherty, MA, RP (CRPO), FIPA is a Psychoanalyst and Registered Psychotherapist in private practice in Amaranth, Ontario, a writer and documentary filmmaker, and a mental health consultant for film and television. She is also a clinical supervisor who teaches at the TIP, ATPPP, the FPP, and the Extension Program of the Toronto Psychoanalytic Society, of which she is also Chair. Member TPS&I.

Ella Rogalska, RP, DTATI, Dip. TCPP, ATPPP

Ella Rogalska, RP, DTATI, Dip. TCPP, ATPPP is a Registered Psychotherapist in private practice in Toronto. Her graduate education is in psychoanalytic psychotherapy (infancy to adulthood). A considerable part of her practice is dedicated to attachment-based treatment, supervision, and education. In addition, Ella was trained in the psychodynamic model of Infant Parent Psychotherapy (IPP) and is now an instructor and supervisor of the, Toronto based, model. She is the current President of the Canadian Association of Psychoanalytic Child Therapists (CAPCT) and an Affiliate of the TPS&I.