The seminar explores how organisations exposed to unbearable human realities can lose their capacity to think, tell the truth, and care. Drawing on psychoanalytic theory and clinical experience, it examines how unconscious anxiety hardens into organisational terror, giving rise to defensive cultures of blame, scapegoating, and ritualised accountability. Through case examples from healthcare and mental health services, the talk traces how organisational harm is produced by systems struggling to manage grief, uncertainty, and responsibility. It concludes by considering what makes mitigation possible.

Dr Rachel Gibbons is a consultant psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and organisational consultant with over 20 years’ experience across complex healthcare systems. Her work focuses on the impact of trauma, moral injury, and organisational dynamics in clinical settings. She is Vice Chair of the Psychotherapy Faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatrists and has led national work on the impact of suicide and homicide on clinicians, contributing to England’s National Suicide Prevention Strategy (2023). In 2024, she was awarded the President’s Medal by the Royal College of Psychiatrists for her outstanding contribution to mental health. Further resources and writing can be found at www.drrachelgibbons.co.uk.

Recordings are available for two weeks following each seminar

Discounted rate of $140 for both inc. GST

$88.00 single seminar 

Discounts are available for

IPA members & candidates, and for full-time students.

Contact apasconnect@outlook.com for details.