Anna Freud Centre / Yale Child Study Center Bridge Programme
Yale's Child Study Center and the Anna Freud Centre have captured the imagination not only of some of the finest scholars in psychoanalysis and developmental science, but some of the finest practitioners as well. All involved have set standards for child psychoanalysis and mental health interventions for children and families.
Over half a century ago, Anna Freud established the Anna Freud Centre in London (first known as the Hampstead Nurseries) in order to care for the children left homeless by the bombing of London during WWII. Over the years, as the clinic grew in scope and size, Miss Freud established herself as an expert in child mental health, collaborating extensively with faculty members and other colleagues in the medical and law schools at Yale. Click here for more information about the history of AFC.
Her innovative collaboration with Dr. Albert Solnit of Yale's Child Study Center explored the state of children in the legal system. The partnership continued with the leadership of Dr. Donald Cohen who, like Dr. Solnit, was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Anna Freud Centre. A decade ago, Dr. Alan E. Kazdin, immediate past director of the Child Study Center, played a key part in planning the first retrospective study of child psychoanalysis based on accumulated data from the Anna Freud Centre.
The historical partnership remains vital through the Anna Freud Centre-Child Study Center program or the "bridge" that expands on the clinical tradition and research collaboration shared by the two organizations. The bridge is multidisciplinary, bridging basic and clinical science, bringing together psychoanalysts and therapists with other (such as systemic) trainings, and developmental, cognitive and neuro-scientists in order to address the most basic mind-brain, body and mind issues with shared perspectives.
At the core of the Program is the training of basic scientists, theorists, and clinicians each working at the interface of psychoanalytic perspectives and contemporary models of brain development.
Features of the program include:
- Exchange visits in which scientists and scholars spend blocks of time at both centers
- A Masters degree in Psychodynamic Developmental Neuroscience
- An international visiting scholars program
- A yearly psychoanalytic research training program bringing clinicians and young researchers together with expert faculty from around the world
- A continuing education program for clinicians and researchers in the US and UK, which will highlight the shared expertise of the two institutions and focus on new investigative methods and clinical perspectives.
- A publication series through Yale University Press that will feature books by leading clinical theorists and researchers seeking to integrate psychoanalytic perspectives with other disciplines
This partnership augments the tradition of a shared history and research collaboration and is intended to build a community of scholars who in many individual ways bridge psychoanalysis with contemporary developmental neuroscience and other social sciences.
This program brings to both the Anna Freud Centre and the Yale Child Study Center an exciting new model for how two institutions related in purpose and history can build an international program that combines the best characteristics of the two individual institutions and programs.
As is also true at University College London, the Child Study Center, the Yale School of Medicine, and Yale University itself are committed to building a global community. The even closer link between these two already connected centres is the perfect opportunity to explore these goals, through a renewed sense of international collaboration and ground-breaking research. There are many opportunities to get involved with this partnership. Your contribution of time, skills, or funds is vital to our success.
For more information, please contact info@annafreud.org