Seminar Members Only - Dr Gerard Drennan

Service Description

The growth of restorative justice as a social movement in schools, communities and post-conflict societies has not been mirrored in mental health services. While there is considerable interest in the concept, the actual practical implementation of restorative justice has lagged behind the emotional appeal of the notion of giving a voice to victims and direct accountability for people who cause harm. This may be even more the case for forensic psychotherapy, where there may be a healthy scepticism for performative rituals, with religious connotations of morality and forgiveness, that have an uncertain connection to the development of mature guilt, remorse and the reparation of internal objects. This seminar will explore the emergence of new psychoanalytic thinking on the state of mind of being ‘unforgiven/unforgivable’. This will be linked to empirical evidence from the implementation of restorative justice interventions in forensic mental health settings to invite a psychoanalytic re-consideration of its role in treating violent states of mind. More About The Speaker Dr Gerard Drennan is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, who holds the post of Head of Psychology and Psychotherapy in the Behavioural and Developmental Psychiatric Operational Directorate of the South London and Maudsley Mental Health Foundation Trust. He is also an Honorary Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at Kings College London.