 | Mid-Atlantic Group Psychotherapy Society The Mid-Atlantic Group Psychotherapy Society (MAGPS) is a regional affiliate of the American Group Psychotherapy Association that serves group therapists in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. |
MAGPS FALL 2025 Conference
The Cultural Mother in Group Psychotherapy:
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Jill Peñaloza, MS, MA, MFA (also Co-Chair of the JEDI Committee at MAGPS) |
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The specter of difference is upon us--our bodies, our individual and collective psyches. The immense difficulty in discussing these incendiary topics, as well as the often-unrecognized complicated trauma undergirding differences, highlights the need for a nuanced, theoretically complex engagement. This workshop will present the Theory of the Cultural Mother as an engaging lens for understanding difference in our own lives, our patients’ lives and our experiences in group. We will discuss techniques that provide the group leader with effective tools to engage with “difference as hierarchy” (e.g., sex, gender, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical disability), enabling a fuller and deeper attunement to our members’ experiences.
CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
~10.5 CE/CEU PENDING
(NOTE: The Mentorship Meetup and SGL Meeting will also take place during this time)
(BIPOC and Affinity Group Dinners)
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Describe two components of the theory of the Cultural Mother.
- Explain how the Cultural Mother impacts group members’ transferences.
- Explain how the Cultural Mother impacts the group leader’s countertransference.
- List ways of building insulation for members when systems of oppression are stimulated and revived.
- Discuss modern analytic concepts and techniques that are useful in exploring difference in group.
Recommended Readings
Holmes, D.E. (2016) Culturally imposed trauma: The sleeping dog has awakened. Will psychoanalysis take heed?, Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 26:6, 641-654.
Spillers, H. (1996). All the things you could be by now if Sigmund Freud’s wife was your mother: Psychoanalysis and race, Boundary 2, 23(3), 75-142.
Zeisel, E. M. (2009). Affect education and the development of the interpersonal ego in modern group psychoanalysis. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 59(3), 421-432.
Presented by:
Paul LePhuoc, PhD, CGP
Paul LePhuoc is a licensed psychologist and a Certified Group Psychotherapist in Houston, Texas, where he maintains a full-time private practice that includes both solo and co-leadership of therapy and training groups. He is a graduate of the Center for Group Studies program in Modern Analytic Group Leadership. He is also Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine and has served on the Board of the Houston Group Psychotherapy Society and the International Board for the Certification of Group Psychotherapists for the American Group Psychotherapy Association. He has presented at the local and national level on the topics of race, difference and psychoanalytic group psychotherapy.
Paul and his husband, Jimi, stay very busy raising their seven-year-old son, Kai, who loves show tunes, art, Legos and martial arts.
Registration rates and information
Venue Information:
Renaissance Harborplace Hotel
202 E. Pratt Street
Baltimore, MD
Conference Fees:
MAGPS Member: $395
Non-member: $450
First-time Attendee: $270
New Professional: $250
Student/Retiree: $150
*Group rate: $325
Scholarship Recipients: Free
Small Group Leaders: Free
**CE/CME Processing Fee: $50
*Group rate available for 4 or more members from same organization. Please contact our Conference Chairs to receive the group registration code.
**Note: For attendees who are interested in obtaining continuing education credit for this activity, an additional CE/CME Processing Fee will be applied. Payment can be processed at time of registration.
Registration Deadline:
Friday, October 24, 2025
Cancellation Policy:
Full refund less $25 if cancellation made by Friday, October 17;
No refunds after that date.
For registration assistance, or to register by phone, contact our conference registrar at registration@magps.org.
Getting There:
Useful transit information coming soon.
Face-masks are encouraged to be worn by any / all attendees with symptoms of a cold or illness
(even if you suspect allergies) and
those who would feel more safe or comfortable doing so.
We thank you for being considerate of your fellow attendees during this extended time (indoors) together!
Disclosure of Commercial Support and the Unlabeled Use of a Commercial Product: No member of the planning committee and no member of the faculty for this event have a financial interest or other relationship with any commercial product(s) discussed in the program. The Washington School of Psychiatry is an independent non-profit organization. It is not affiliated with the government of the District of Columbia or the government of the United States. |