Workshop – Mapping Melancholia: The Geography of Loss

About the Workshop

In this experiential workshop, Dr. Sanjay Nath invites participants to explore the intersections of grief, trauma, and the social world. Drawing from psychoanalytic and socio-political perspectives, the workshop will examine how melancholia extends beyond individual experience into shared histories, systems, and collective realities. Through the lens of concepts such as racial melancholia, participants will consider how experiences of alienation, loss, and belonging are shaped by the broader social context.

The workshop will also create space for personal reflection and group dialogue, inviting participants to explore both individual and collective experiences of mourning. Together, we will reflect on what it means to practise psychotherapy with an awareness of the reciprocal relationship between inner worlds and the societies we live in.

Who is this workshop for?

This session is designed for practising psychotherapists and postgraduate psychology students who are interested in integrating social, political, and cultural perspectives into their clinical thinking.

By the end of the workshop, participants will:

• Develop an understanding of individual and social melancholia and their relevance to psychotherapy.
• Explore the relationship between trauma, loss, alienation, and broader socio-political realities.
• Reflect on their own experiences of individual and collective mourning and how these shape their therapeutic work.
• Consider the role of psychotherapy in engaging with both personal healing and social change.

Register and RSVP here:

https://forms.gle/1BmKeeQ9oMAjHVfa6

Please note that this event is free to attend, but registration is required.

Meet The Expert

Sanjay R. Nath, PhD is a clinical psychologist who is the founder/director of Many Rivers Collective, LLC in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a professor at Widener University’s Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) program from 2005-2022, as well as the Associate Dean and Director of the program from 2011-2019. He is interested in practicing with a socio-political angle via psychoanalytic psychotherapy, with an acute interest in relational processes, supervision, and countertransference related to intersectional identity dimensions.