CASE CONFERENCE SERIES

April 10, 2026

1:30pm – 3:00pm via Zoom

When Care Has No End

Organizations as Psychological Scaffolding in Prolonged Crisis

 

What happens when care has no clear endpoint, when crisis is no longer an exception but the organizing condition of daily work? When urgency and heroics are exhausted, how can organizational structure allow care to continue while supporting the people who provide it?

This case presentation builds on the earlier conference, Trauma Demands a Living Container, which traced the spontaneous founding of the Świetlica Dębniki Community Center in Kraków during the first wave of displacement from Ukraine. That earlier case followed the Center’s evolution from an informal, emergency-driven network into an organization resilient and flexible enough to hold the ongoing trauma of displaced women and children. (Link to “Trauma Demands a Living Container”)

Turning the lens inward, this presentation focuses on what that transformation made possible for the people doing the work. It examines the psychic and relational costs of role confusion, over-identification, and informal power—and the profound shifts that occurred for the Founder/Director, staff, volunteers, and Board when roles, authority lines, and decision-making processes were intentionally introduced.

From a psychoanalytic systems perspective, the case argues that structure is not bureaucracy but psychological scaffolding: a living container that absorbs anxiety, protects relationships, and allows commitment to remain a strength rather than a liability. The presentation invites participants to reconsider how organizations function not only in the service of care, but as conditions of care themselves.

 

Presenters

Olga Piasecka-Nieć founded Fundacja Kocham Dębniki (soon Fabric Foundation) where she leads an international community center that has supported over 6,500 people facing the challenges of displacement. She works at the intersection of organizational and individual development, helping bridge the gap between structures and human needs. Her work combines psychoanalytical understanding, practical action, and a deep commitment to empowerment and social change, especially for women. Over the years, she has led teams and projects in international and local organizations using psychoanalytic insight to support both people and business goals. She holds an MA in Applied Psychology from Jagiellonian University; a postgraduate Diploma in HR Management at SWPS University, and received psychoanalytical psychotherapy training at Kraków & Lower SIlesia School of Psychoanalytical Psychotherapy.

 

Iwona Sołtysińska is an organizational consultant and a psychodynamic therapist. She serves as the Director of Development at the Jagiellonian University Extension. She has consulted for Save the Children to many organizations in Poland. Her professional interests include group dynamics—particularly board dynamics—and the role of containment in facilitating organizational culture change. She provides consultancy for Polish and international Group Relations Conferences and is a member of ISPSO, OPUS, and the Hanna Segal Institute for Psychoanalytical Study. She holds an MA from Jagiellonian University, trained at the Krako School of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, and holds an MA the Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation Trust.

 

Moderator

Frances Unsell, MDiv, LP, is a trained Psychoanalyst who has worked primarily as an Organizational Consultant for over 35 years, consulting to organizations and their senior leaders. She also designs and leads Organizational Role Conferences and supervises other consultants who wish to deepen and broaden their approach. A graduate of Union Theological Seminary with a concentration in Psychiatry and Religion (psychoanalytic orientation) where she was a Rockefeller Fellow; she received her primary training in groups and organizations through the working and training conferences of Tavistock Institute’s Leicester Conference and a four-year apprenticeship with The Grubb Institute. She is a member of the Steering Committee of the Gould Center at IPTAR, an Honorary Member of IPTAR, a member of ISPSO (International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations) and OPUS ( An Organization for Promoting Understanding of Society).

 

 

1.5 CE Credits

 

Learning Objectives

Explain how organizational structure and role differentiation can function as psychological containment in settings of prolonged trauma and ongoing crisis.

Identify the clinical and organizational risks of role confusion, over-identification, and informal power dynamics in mission-driven work environments.

Differentiate between reliance on individual heroics and the use of organizational systems to sustain care, emotional regulation, and professional functioning.

Apply psychoanalytic systems concepts to evaluate how authority lines, decision-making processes, and organizational design affect anxiety, relationships, and effectiveness in clinical and organizational settings.

Recognize signs of organizational strain and burnout that emerge when care is provided without adequate structural containment.

Assess how organizational interventions can support ethical practice, role integrity, and long-term sustainability for clinicians, social workers, and organizational consultants.

 

1.5 CE credits will be granted to participants who have registered, have documented evidence of attendance of the entire program and have completed the on-line evaluation form. Upon completion of the evaluation form a Certificate of Completion will be emailed to all participants who comply with these requirements.

 

The Gould Center Steering Committee:

Susan S. Berger, PsyD, FIPA, Director

Michael A. Diamond, PhD, Michael Moskowitz, PhD, FIPA, Frances Unsell M.Div., LP, Matthew Von Unwerth, Ph.D., LP, FIPA

 

 

The Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research (1651 3rd Ave, Suite 205, NY, NY 10128) is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Psychologists (#PSY-0026), and the State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Social Workers (#SW-0226) and the State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Psychoanalysts (#P-0011), Licensed Creative Arts Therapists (#CAT-0037) and Licensed Mental Health Counselors (#MHC-0112). This certificate is not applicable to any other New York State profession.

 

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