Therapeutic Assessment Institute
10:00 AM - 2:00 PM CST
Location: Online Event
PLEASE NOTE: This webinar is only available for live participation. A recording will not be available for asynchronous participation.
Overview:
The Early Memories Procedure (EMP) offers clinicians a powerful, narrative-based approach to understanding clients’ attachment defenses, unspoken conflicts, and adaptations in psychotherapy and psychological assessment. This advanced workshop will demonstrate how the EMP can illuminate deactivating defenses that protect clients from emotional pain while limiting emotional access, self-understanding, and growth. Grounded in attachment theory and the Adult Attachment Projective Picture System, participants will explore common defenses including intellectualization, rationalization, minimization, compartmentalization, emotional numbing, and overemphasis on independence. Through clinical cases, videos, role-play, and discussion, participants will learn to use the EMP to identify defenses, formulate attachment-informed hypotheses, and enhance therapeutic change.
Presenters:
Dr. Filippo Aschieri, Ph.D.: Filippo is Associate Professor of Psychology at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, Italy, and Fellow of the Society for Personality Assessment. Certified in Therapeutic Assessment with adults, families, children, adolescents, and couples, he serves as Vice-President of the Therapeutic Assessment Institute and directs the European Center for Therapeutic Assessment. His research focuses on Therapeutic Assessment, multicultural assessment, and self-curiosity, with more than 50 peer-reviewed publications. He is Editor-in-Chief of Rorschachiana, the official journal of the International Society for Rorschach and Projective Methods. He has received several awards for his contributions to personality assessment research.
Dr. Serena Messina, Ph.D.: Serena is a licensed psychologist in Austin, Texas, specializing in Therapeutic Assessment and therapy with children, adolescents, families, and adults. She is certified in the Therapeutic Assessment model with children, adolescents, and adults and provides services in English, Spanish, and Italian. She earned doctoral degrees in Clinical Psychology from Sapienza University of Rome and School Psychology from The University of Texas at Austin. Her expertise includes attachment theory and assessment, with training in the Adult Attachment Interview, Reflective Function System, and Manchester Child Attachment Story Task. She has taught, conducted research, published scholarly work, and presented nationally and internationally.
Dr. Diane Santas, Ph.D.: Diane has maintained a full-time independent practice in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1987, specializing in collaborative assessment with children, adolescents, and adults. For nearly fifteen years, she supervised graduate students conducting assessments at UC Berkeley, where she served as an Assistant Clinical Professor. She has also supervised assessment students and provided training in collaborative therapeutic assessment at The Wright Institute in Berkeley as Adjunct Clinical Faculty. Her practice includes psychoeducational evaluations, neuropsychological testing, and social-emotional assessment using a collaborative therapeutic approach. Dr. Santas began her career providing intensive psychodynamic, attachment-focused therapy and continues to maintain a small therapy practice.
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