BPC Confidentiality Workshop

Description

Date: Friday, 9 June 2023

Time: 14.00 – 17.00

Online, Zoom Meetings

This event is for current BPC Registrants only.

The BPC’s statement of confidentiality observes that – “Assured and predictable neutrality and confidentiality are absolutely central to psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis without which the existence of these as available treatments is seriously compromised for all patients; and some practitioners would say that it is impossible”.

Confidentiality is central to psychoanalytic work and we are pleased to be delivering an online workshop on confidentiality. In this workshop we will consider some of the complexities of confidentiality and the implications of GDPR. By bringing together two experts, a psychoanalyst and a barrister, we aim to explore some of the dimensions of confidentiality that can create anxiety and concern for psychoanalytic practitioners. While we won’t be able to provide clear solutions to the problems we face in this area, we hope to increase awareness so that participants can become better informed of the realities and ways of responding when confidentiality might be under threat.

Both speakers will give a short presentation followed by discussion. There will be opportunities for questions and participation from attendees, as well as time for smaller break out group discussions.

This is an online only event with limited spaces and will not be recorded. 

The Speakers

John Churcher is a Member of the British Psychoanalytical Society. He was in private practice as a psychoanalyst in Manchester before retiring from clinical work in 2013. From 1979 to 2002 he was a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Manchester, where he taught various subjects including perception, developmental psychology, and psychoanalysis. Before moving to Manchester he conducted psychological research at the universities of Oxford, Edinburgh, and Warwick. Trained originally at Oxford in psychology and philosophy, his research interests have included visual perception, the development of communication and cognition in infants, Piaget’s sensorimotor theory, and computer-mediated communication. He has a long-standing interest in the nature of the psychoanalytic setting, or frame, and was co-translator and co-editor with Leopoldo Bleger of José Bleger’s classic monograph: Symbiosis and Ambiguity. A keen and experienced user of information technology, he is skeptical about its applications to psychoanalytic practice and concerned about its inherent risks to clinical confidentiality. A founder member in 2017 of the Confidentiality Committee of the International Psychoanalytical Association, he coordinated the drafting of its 2018 Report of the IPA Confidentiality Committee and chaired the Committee from 2019 to 2021.

Sam Thomas (of 2 Bedford Row Chambers) is the co-author of Cyber Security: Law and Practice (LexisNexis: 2019) and Blockchain and Cryptocurrency: International Legal and Regulatory Challenges (Bloomsbury: 2019). Sam sits on the Bar Council IT Panel and is the Vice Chair of the Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers. Sam’s practice encompasses advocacy and advice in cyber compliance and regulatory law, for which he was recognised by the Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners.