The Harlem Family Institute

12/08/2025

The Harlem Family Institute welcomes friends, neighbors and colleagues to our annual benefit evening.

Come celebrate the importance of mental health and wellness with the Harlem Family Institute on Dec 11 from 5:30pm to 9pm at the iconic Edwing D’Angelo Atelier, on 2231 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd New York, NY 10027.

The Institute trains aspiring psychoanalysts through affordable work in marginalized communities helping children, teens, parents and others.

The evening will feature an introduction to HFI's work, a discussion with HFI directors on mental health awareness moderated by Adesola Adeyemi of StylingTheMind, and a conversation with Pulitzer prize nominee author Lee Hawkins, discussing his new book "I Am Nobody's Slave" and the importance of mental health awareness and care for marginalized communities.

More info and registration here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/harlem-family-institute-2025-holiday-benefit-tickets-1975666035295?aff=oddtdtcreator

12/02/2025

On this Giving Tuesday, we would first like to express our gratitude for our many generous donors over the years. Your support has been crucial to the Institute and helped make our work possible.

The Institute trains aspiring psychoanalysts through affordable work in marginalized communities helping children, teens, parents and others. In an era in which our society seems more polarized than ever, we still believe in healing, fellowship, justice, and empowering the struggling and underprivileged.

All donations will go to supporting the Harlem Family Institute in its mission of providing affordable, culturally sensitive psychoanalytic training and clinical mental health care in underserved communities of New York City. Click here to donate on our website: https://hfi.nyc/hfi-support.php

12/01/2025

Come celebrate the importance of mental health and wellness with the Harlem Family Institute on Dec 11 from 5:30pm to 9pm at the iconic Edwing D’Angelo Atelier, on 2231 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd New York, NY 10027.
Enjoy music, cocktails and light refreshments.

The evening will feature an introduction to HFI's clinical psychoanalytic training programs and a conversation with Pulitzer prize nominee author Lee Hawkins, discussing his new book "I Am Nobody's Slave" and the importance of mental health awareness and care for marginalized communities.

The Harlem Family Institute welcomes friends, neighbors and colleagues to our annual benefit evening.

11/07/2025

Last Friday, WNYC's Michael Hill spoke to our colleague, author Lee Hawkins, on air about his new book, "I Am Nobody's Slave" and the scars that slavery still leaves on the contemporary Black psyche. HFI's own Sheila Johnson and Michael Connolly spoke about the Harlem Family Institute's efforts to respond to the generational trauma faced by Black communities by training culturally sensitive and community-based psychoanalysts and opening our new mental-health clinic, the Margaret Morgan Lawrence Family and Child Development Center. Listen here:

Mayor Eric Adams is directing $15 million to community kitchens and food pantries ahead of Saturday’s cutoff for SNAP benefits, as the Trump administration halts November payments dur...

08/01/2025

The application deadline for the psychoanalytic training programs at the Harlem Family Institute has been extended until August 20. Start an application here: https://buff.ly/xLE1Kmw

The Harlem Family Institute offers affordable and culturally sensitive training in psychoanalysis and psychodynamically informed psychotherapy, with the goal of empowering and strengthening mental health care for children and adults in underserved communities in our city. Our courses are open to aspiring clinicians with a master's degree in any field recognized by the NYSED, whether or not they are already licensed in a healthcare or mental-health profession. Unlicensed candidates pursue our Licensure-Qualifying Program in preparation to sit the NY State licensing exam, while already licensed candidates follow our full Program in Psychoanalysis.

06/11/2025

Applications for our psychoanalytic training programs are open through June 30. Click here to start an application: https://buff.ly/1lvvE08

04/23/2025

Join us on Friday, May 9 at the Schomburg Center to learn about the Harlem Family Institute at our annual Open House. Learn more about our training programs for aspiring psychoanalysts and our affordable clinical mental health care work in the Harlem community. As part of the the information session, journalist Lee Hawkins will discuss his critically acclaimed new book, I Am Nobody’s Slave: How Uncovering My Family’s History Set Me Free, with two leading psychoanalysts, Dr. Lee Jenkins and Dr. Kirkland Vaughans. Doors open at 6:30 PM for refreshments and the event begins at 7 PM.

Learn about our training of aspiring psychoanalysts and join a psychological discussion with journalist Lee Hawkins about his new book.

03/05/2025

The Harlem Family Institute will pay tribute to Stephen A. Kurtz, one of the Institute’s founders, on March 14, the first anniversary of his passing. A memorial Mass will be celebrated by Rev. Fr. Ted Parker, a psychoanalyst graduate of HFI and close colleague of Stephen, at 10 AM at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church (211 West 141st Street, New York NY.)
All are welcome, and all are encouraged to share any memories or photos of Stephen or commentaries on his work at the reception.

The Harlem Family Institute will pay tribute to Stephen A. Kurtz, one of the Institute’s founders, on March 14, the first anniversary of his passing. A memorial Mass will be celebrated by Rev. Fr. Ted Parker, a psychoanalyst graduate of HFI and close colleague of Stephen, at 10 AM at St. Charles B...

12/05/2024

This Saturday, December 7: Dr. Gil Kliman presents on the tragic consequences of institutional prejudice against children and its implications for clinical and forensic practice, in the fifth installment of our virtual discussion series "The State of the World." More information and registration on Eventbrite:

Dr. Gilbert Kliman speaks on entrenched institutional prejudice against children and its traumatic effects in the foster system

12/03/2024

On this GIVING TUESDAY, the Harlem Family Institute needs your tax-deductible support to continue our work supporting the mental health and well-being of our neighbors in underserved communities in New York.

The Institute trains aspiring psychoanalysts – mental-health professionals who provide the most in-depth psychotherapy. Since 1991, we have trained diversity-sensitive psychoanalysts in our small clinical sites in Harlem and elsewhere, where they offer free and low-fee clinical services to children, teens, parents and others through psychotherapy and play therapy.

Through play therapy, we offer youngsters a safe space to express their feelings, to learn to use their strengths to manage the challenges they face every day, and to discover new ways
to relate to the world. We have served hundreds of parents and children through our school- and community- based playroom treatment centers, where we offer consistent, long-term therapy and play therapy. Clients meet at least weekly with their therapist and work together to address difficult issues through play or talk.

The candidates who study in our programs - many of them clergy and other leaders and helpers from the same communities where we operate - are able to develop careers as advanced mental-health professionals. The Institute can admit suitable candidates, whether licensed or not, who hold an advanced degree in any field. Graduates of our Licensure-Qualifying Program may immediately sit the state exam to become Licensed Psychoanalysts.

Your generous contributions are essential to continuing our free/affordable psychotherapeutic work with children, adults, and families, and educating the diversity-sensitive clinicians of tomorrow. This year in particular, as we work to open our upcoming Margaret Morgan Lawrence Family and Child Development Center, we are counting on your support to help us establish this much-needed community resource.

PLEASE VISIT THE LINK BELOW TO DONATE! The Harlem Family Institute is chartered by the New York State Board of Regents and is a publicly supported organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. All donations are tax-deductible to the extent permited by law.

LINK TO DONATE: https://hfi.nyc/hfi-support.php

12/01/2024

Join us this Saturday, December 7, for the fifth installment of our online "State of the World" discussion series, as Dr. Gil Kliman presents on societal prejudice against children and offers case studies of some of its tragic results in the institutional foster system. More info and registration on Eventbrite:

Dr. Gilbert Kliman speaks on entrenched institutional prejudice against children and its traumatic effects in the foster system

09/13/2024

Coming up on Saturday, September 28: our online series "The State of the World" continues with an exploration of community psychoanalysis in Colombia. Clinicians Maria Cecilia Sanchez, Camilla Gutierrez Cardoso, and Silvia Rivera Largacha will present their own personal experience of subjects including the power of community psychoanalysis to help populations suffering from violence and conflict, and lessons to be learned from Indigenous resistance. More info and registration here:

Camila Gutierrez Cardosa, Silvia Rivera Largacha and Maria Cecilia Sanchez discuss the experience of community psychoanalysis in Colombia.