This Program WILL BE Recorded.

In work with abandoned, neglected, and troubled children in play therapy, one can encounter the vast and deeply expressive archetypal domain of the orphan. In play, the natural and emergent soulful images that children express and reveal capture in-depth their pain, as well as their enduring hope for connection and care. Here, it is possible to move toward the timeless and the sacred, radically. As James Hillman observes, moving play and play therapy, “outside our culture into other times and places, and into another myth beyond humanism.”

While preparing for this evening program, I have been reflecting on the distinction between the archetype(s) of the child and the orphan, as they may express themselves through dreams, fantasies, and relational patterns of adults, and an actual child’s experience of being embedded in the archetypal “field” of the orphan. How will the psyche spontaneously emerge in play, story, and creative or destructive action, to reveal or illuminate that child’s psychic (inner and unconscious) experience in the present caregiving process of psychotherapy?

The psyche is a self-regulating system, purposeful and healing in its intent and expression (images, metaphors, symbols, behavior), no different in humans of any age, only different perhaps in its individual, personal expression, with varying conscious facilitation or ego interference. It is possible to imagine that from a developmental vantage point, a less sophisticated ego structure is naturally conducive to more pure or “raw” psychic expression. It follows, of course, that part of the work with children has a consciousness-supporting aspect by helping a child link his or her play, images, story, and affect -- bit by bit -- to an emerging conscious awareness of the world and reality. Thus, one can incrementally help the child to expand conscious control of and facility with their emotional and interpersonal experiences, as well as learn to grapple more and more successfully with the tasks of life.

The images, stories, and creative constructions in a play therapy context that is reliably safe, private, and contained often clearly reveal both the child’s current and past pain, as well as point toward present movements toward repair, health, and hopefulness. Children’s images and play are very much like the dreams of older people, packed with affect and unconscious information. They are novel, emergent, living expressions of psyche and must be handled with respect and great care. Not only that, often as with dreams, there seems to be a guiding, purposeful orientation, a message or mandate, a way to proceed.

In the context of a safe therapeutic relationship, these living expressions of the child’s psyche shape and inform the work as it progresses. In this program, one central example will be employed to demonstrate the therapeutic amplification and use of images as they occur in the context of the therapeutic process.

Suggested Readings

The Way of the Image by Yoram Kaufmann

Animal Presences by James Hillman

The Child by Erich Neumann

Inscapes of the Child’s World by John Allan

The Psychology of the Child Archetype by C.G. Jung

Prices:

Non-Member:  $40 per ticket

Individual Member:  $30 per ticket

Senior Member:  $20 per ticket

Student Member:  $15 per ticket

Edward Porter Eagan, PsyD, has been in private practice in Newburyport, MA, for 25 years, working with individual patients of all ages. Porter’s clinical approach with all patients has been shaped by years of experience working with neglected and abandoned children prior to his doctoral degree, in his training, during his predoctoral internship at the Astor Home for Children in Rhinebeck, NY, and subsequently at a public mental health clinic and in private practice. Porter’s clinical approach has also been deeply informed by the works of C.G. Jung and those who followed, elaborating upon Jung’s ideas, such as Yoram Kaufmann, James Hillman, Marie Louise von Franz, and Michael Conforti. Porter teaches as an affiliate faculty member in the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program at Antioch University New England in Keene, NH.

DETAILS OF THE PROGRAM

Registration closes at 12:00pm EST the day before the program begins. 

RECORDINGS:  The recording will be sent out 24-48 hours after the session has concluded. You will have 14 days to watch the recording.  

ZOOM LINKS: Zoom links can be found in your registration confirmation email. They will also be shared about 24 hours before the program start time. Registration closes before Zoom links are shared. If you do not receive your link 24 hours in advance, please reach out asap directly to support@jung.org

CANCELLATION: You may cancel your registration up to 1 week prior to the program.

By agreeing to enroll in an online program offered by the Jung Society of Washington, you are also agreeing to comply with our terms. This means that you cannot record (through internal or external devices) the audio, visuals (photos), or  any videos of the program. The intellectual property belongs to the presenter, and we ask you not to violate this policy. Also, we highly value the anonymity of the content of the program, of the presenters, and of individuals present in the program, and hope that everyone can contribute to a respectful and trust-building online environment. Thank you!