About This Program

Donald Winnicott, a British pediatrician and psychoanalyst, made the famous statement in 1940 that has changed the way we think about infants. The Infant-Parent Psychotherapy (IPP) is an infant/child – parent relationship led intervention, developed by Elizabeth Tuters & Sally Doulis. This model emphasizes pregnancy, birth and the early development of the infant/young child within the context of relationships – past and present, family and culture. The model of IPP is called OUR – Observation-Understanding-Reflection – wherein play is the medium, and change occurs through the action of observation, understanding and reflection.

The participants will have the opportunity to learn about the treatment model of dynamic Infant-Parent Psychotherapy through selected reading materials and a presentation of clinical material.

This IPP model is a treatment intervention for parents and young children, as well as older children.

Learning Objectives

After completion of the 20 seminars, participants will:

Become aware of the impact of clinical work on their inner worlds;
Begin to develop a self-reflective capacity to inform their clinical work;
Experience the power of the relationship between infant/ young child and caregiver(s);
Understand the importance and meaning of the infant/young child’s hearing, verbal communication, gaze, movement and the use of play to inform the other about the inner world of the observed;
Begin to develop strategies for thinking about the importance of assessment, formulation and treatment of troubled infant/young child/ parent relationships;
Begin to understand the importance of the relationship having an effect upon relationship in the therapeutic situation.

About The Instructors

Ella Rogalska, RP, DTATI, Dip. TCPP, Cert. IMHS, ATPPP. Ella is a Registered Psychotherapist in private practice. Her graduate education is in psychoanalytic psychotherapy (infancy to adulthood). Ella has a special interest in infant mental health treatment and education. She was trained in the psychodynamic model of Infant Parent Psychotherapy in Toronto by Sally Doulis and Elizabeth Tuters, and is now the instructor and supervisor of Infant-Parent Psychotherapy, a Toronto based model. As well, Ella has an advanced training in attachment studies and a considerable part of her practice is dedicated to attachment based treatment, supervision, and education. Ella also enjoys teaching, and is an instructor in the Extension Program of TPS and of the CAPCT. Ella is an Affiliate of the Toronto Psychoanalytic Society (TPS) and the current President of the Canadian Association of Psychoanalytic Child Therapists (CAPCT).

Sandra Meyerovitz, MA (Social Work) RSW, Dip. TCPP, FIPA is a registered Social Worker, Child/Adolescent and Adult Psychotherapist, Adult Psychoanalyst, and Infant Parent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist. Sandra graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa with a Masters degree in Social work; the Toronto Child Psychoanalytic Program (TCPP), now Canadian Institute of Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (CICAPP); and is a graduate of the Toronto Institute for Psychoanalysis. Sandra teaches in the Extension Programme of the Toronto Psychoanalytic Society and Adjunct Faculty for the education programmes at St. Louis Psychoanalytic Institute,(Missouri USA). Sandra trained in the Advanced program of IPP (Infant Parent Psychotherapy) and teaches in the programme. Sandra presented a discussion paper on IPP at the Annual Conference of Canadian and American Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists held in Toronto in 2022. She also taught for the Toronto Art Therapy Institute. Sandra is a Clinical member of CAPCT (Canadian Association for Psychoanalytic Child Psychotherapists); and it’s past Vice President. Sandra is in private practice.