Program of Studies 2026
THEORETICAL SEMINARS
All seminars delivered via Zoom
To enrol please contact the seminar leaders
The BCPS offers a three-year seminar program in psychoanalytic theory that follows the following cycle:
Year 1: Reading Freud
Year 2: Psychoanalytic Theories of Object Relations
Year 3: Contemporary Psychoanalytic Theory
The cycle offers a comprehensive introduction to psychoanalytic theory and ideas, and participants are encouraged to consider completing all three years.
It is possible to join at any stage in the cycle. No previous experience is required.
Enrolment in Theoretical Seminars
The process for enrolling in BCPS theoretical seminars is changing in 2026
- Enrolment opens four weeks prior to the commencement of term
- Interested participants should contact the seminar leaders to enrol
- Enrolment is on a term-by-term basis
- Priority is given to current participants, but current participants also need to confirm their intention to continue their enrolment four weeks prior to the next term
2026 Reading Freud
This one-year course offers a detailed introduction to the work of Sigmund Freud, with a thorough reading and discussion of Freud’s most important writings. Subjects to be covered include the discovery of the unconscious and infantile sexuality, topographical and structural models of the mind, dreams and their interpretation, female sexuality and sexual difference, case histories, and papers on technique and the process of psychoanalysis. Throughout, but particularly in Term Four there will be a focus on considering implications for contemporary practice and thinking within psychoanalysis.
The course consists of four terms, with each term running for eight weeks. Participants are encouraged to attend for the whole year. No previous experience is required.
Term 1: Introduction to Freud (Immaterial Facts – Robert Caper)
Time: Mondays 6.30pm to 8.00pm AEST (on Zoom)
Dates: Monday 2nd February to Monday 23rd March 2026
Seminar Leaders: Murray Heath and Dr Robyn Leigh
Fee: $500 per term
In this introductory series of 8 seminars, we share with Freud in his discovery of psychic reality and of an inner world. With Robert Caper as our able guide, we hope to understand some basic concepts of Freud’s formulations of the mind such as the infantile impulses and fantasies underlying the dreaming mind, neuroses and transference, the nature of his discovery of psychoanalytic technique and psychoanalytic thinking from his earliest physicalist models to his progress to psychological ones. Caper also gives us perspective to see how Freud’s ideas developed and changed as he outlines for us Freud’s twists and turns in his thinking, which allows for easier reading of Freud’s papers. We will complement Caper’s writings with original texts of Freud and also with other contemporary secondary sources.
It is our recommendation to obtain the book Immaterial Facts (Robert Caper, 1988, Routledge). There will be weekly reading from this book as well as a second reading that will either be a primary source from Freud or a further secondary source. These readings that are additional to the Caper readings will be sent a few weeks in advance.
Enrolment opens four weeks prior to the commencement of term.
Interested participants should contact either of the seminar leaders to enrol:
Dr Robyn Leigh – leighrobyn67@gmail.com or 0404 499 044
Murray Heath – murrayheath1@gmail.com or 0400 773 074
Term 2: Theories on Sexuality
Time: Mondays 6.30pm to 8.00pm AEST (on Zoom)
Dates: Monday 20th April to Monday 15th June 2026 (not including 4th May)
Seminar Leader: Dr Yaser Baqir and Miriane de Toledo Heinrich
Fee: $500 per term
In this term we will examine Freud’s early theories of sexuality beginning with “The Fragment of an Analysis of a Case of Hysteria” and the “Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality” (1905) and the case of ‘Little Hans’ (“Analysis of a Phobia in a Five Year Old Boy”,1909). We will then move onto the controversial papers on female sexuality of the 1920s and early 1930s – “Some Psychical Consequences of the Anatomical Distinction between the Sexes” (1925) and “Female Sexuality” (1931).
Enrolment opens four weeks prior to the commencement of term.
Interested participants should contact either of the seminar leaders to enrol:
Dr Yaser Baqir – dryaserbaqir@hotmail.com or 0438 990 201
Miriane de Toledo Heinrich – mirianetoledo@gmail.com or 0452 672 724
Term 3: Freud and the Development of the Psychoanalytic Method
Time: Mondays 6.30pm to 8.00pm AEST (on Zoom)
Dates: Monday 20th July to Monday 7th September 2026
Fee: $500 per term
Seminar Leaders: Dr Jaime Yasky
In this term we will read key technical papers to accompany Freud through the initial development of the psychoanalytic method, the attempts he made to innovate technique, and the mature view he gained at later stages of his work. Based on this we will discuss applicability of these ideas in contemporary practice.
Enrolment opens four weeks prior to the commencement of term.
Interested participants should contact the seminar leader to enrol:
Dr Jaime Yasky – jaimeyasky@gmail.com or 0468 571 140
Term 4: The Ego and the Id – 100 Years Later (Edited by Fred Busch and Natacha Delgado)
Time: Mondays 6.30pm to 8.00pm AEST (on Zoom)
Dates: Monday 12th October to Monday 30th November 2026
Seminar Leaders: Dr Thea Van Hees and Sigrid O’Callaghan
Fee: $500 per term
In this final term of studying Freud’s psychoanalytic ideas and concepts, we will explore this fundamental text of Freudian metapsychology in the context of contemporary psychoanalytic developments. Freud’s paper “The Ego and the Id” and its connection with contemporary psychoanalysis gives us access to the later Freud, whose papers are hard to read as he intuited but could not fully formulate to what present psychoanalysis has nowadays become.
We recommend that you purchase the book The Ego and the Id –100 Years Later (Eds Fred Busch and Natacha Delgado, Routledge, 2023) prior to the commencement of term.
Enrolment opens four weeks prior to the commencement of term.
Interested participants should contact the seminar leaders to enrol:
Dr Thea van Hees – dvanhees@bigpond.net.au or 0418 871 936
Sigrid O’Callaghan – sigridoc@aapt.net.au or 0421 802 809
CLINICAL SEMINARS
Term 4: Contemporary Ethics
In this term we will examine contemporary ethical challenges in our practice as
psychotherapists. Alessandra Lemma’s book First Principles: Applied Ethics for
Psychoanalytic Practice (Oxford UP, 2023) will be used as a working model for how therapists can reflect on their daily practice and engage with it with ethical stance and listening.
Time: Thursdays 6.30pm to 8.00pm AEST (on Zoom)
Dates: Thursday 8th October 2026 to Thursday 26th November 2026
Fee: $500 per term
Seminar Leaders: Sally Young and Dr Yaser Baqir
Enrolment opens four weeks prior to the commencement of term.
Interested participants should contact either of the seminar leaders to enrol:
Sally Young – yngs@bigpond.com or 0407162674
Dr Yaser Baqir – dryaserbaqir@hotmail.com or 0438 990 201
INFANT OBSERVATION
Infant Observation (Reflective group)
Time: Wednesdays 6.30pm to 7.45pm AEST (on Zoom)
Seminar Leader: Dr Robyn Leigh
Fee: $75 per weekly seminar
This is a one- or two-year course of weekly seminars where participants bring detailed accounts of their weekly observations of an infant in his or her home environment from birth onwards. The course aims to develop observational skills and an understanding of the infant’s emerging relationships. This course is one of the best ways of learning about the observer’s own involvement in clinical situations.
This is an ongoing weekly seminar of 11/4 hours. Participants are expected to enrol for at least one year. There is no prerequisite for this course.
The infant observation seminar is limited to four participants. New participants join when a space becomes available. To express your interest in joining the seminar or for further information, please contact the seminar leader:
Dr Robyn Leigh leighrobyn67@gmail.com or call 07 3832 5159 or 0404 499 044