2025 Professional Psychology Newsletter
Message from the Program Director
Program Spotlights
Faculty Updates
Message from the Program Director
Dear Alumni from the George Washington University Professional Psychology Program!
In this newsletter, you’ll read about updates and happenings in the program and the Columbian College.
As a fairly new program director, I am continually impressed with the quality of training in the program, which, in my view, is connected to the dedication to maintaining the psychodynamic model of training and care.
We were pleased to receive 10-year accreditation status—the longest amount!—from the American Psychological Association (APA) this year, with the next APA site visit scheduled for 2034.
Moreover, from every interaction with alumni and our reports, I gather that many of you are involved in remarkable, diverse clinical work, which remains so needed in a world that is marked by many difficult conflicts, changes and tragedies. Our current students continue the tradition of offering excellent care as they train in psychodynamically focused approaches to therapy, assessment, scholarship and community work.
Certainly, the program, like the world and academia at large, has to continually face challenges. Our program and university received the news of the completion of the DOJ investigation, which re-emphasized the importance of ensuring that academic and training spaces remain fair and safe communities for all. I believe we all recognize how both vital yet challenging it is to maintain relational listening spaces for divergent views and experiences, whether in the academy, clinical practices or society at large.
As a scholar who is interested in the history of psychology and psychoanalysis, I am aware that generations before us also have had to navigate profoundly difficult events. Early psychoanalysis emerged during extreme social upheavals .I hope we are not just learning from their experiences but also adding our own new understandings to how we address complex human realities.
Freud also reminded us (in his essay “On Transience”) that being engaged with life and each other is very important even amidst difficulties. I believe that our shared commitment to show up for patients, communities and ourselves with (com)passion and genuineness builds on the best of psychology’s legacies. In my view, we as the program community (students, alumni and faculty alike) also contribute to this legacy.
Thank you to all of you as our program alumni for your support and involvement. Please stay in touch.
Sincerely,
Oksana Yakushko
Program Director
Program Spotlights
Coping with Post-Election Stress
Long after the 2024 presidential election, the emotional impact continues for many. In an interview with the CCAS Spotlight newsmagazine, Clinical Psychology Professor Dr. Katherine Marshall Woods offered practical strategies for managing post-election stress. She encouraged self-reflection to identify what you need to stay grounded—whether that means connecting with supportive communities, setting limits on media exposure or channeling anxiety into constructive action. Dr. Woods also reminded readers that “taking care of yourself, despite all that is happening around you, is most important.” For those celebrating or struggling with the results, she emphasized empathy and “support with kindness.” Remember: The world doesn’t end after any election and everyone still holds power over their own well-being and daily choices.
New Grant!
The Professional Psychology Program is proud to be the recipient of a multi-site Templeton Foundation grant, which focuses on various aspects of understanding how psychology can contribute to the well-being of individuals and communities. While other institutions are focusing on varied clinical processes, our program will examine ways of supporting our graduate students toward a greater sense of flourishing, community and self-understanding. Dr. Cheri Marmarosh is the leading program investigator, with other faculty and a group of advanced students serving as grant coordinators.
GW PsyD Program Going Global
In summer 2025, our program developed and hosted the first global class titled Cross-Cultural Psychoanalysis in London. A group of PsyD doctoral students, led by Drs. Karen Weise and Sarah Hedlund, participated in a remarkable opportunity to immerse themselves in historic and contemporary multicultural psychoanalytic work in Great Britain, which included studying in London’s Freud Museum and the Tavistock Clinic.
We are delighted to announce the development of another global course. Dr. Marshall Woods will be conducting her Psychodynamic Theory and Cinema class in conjunction with the Cannes Festival in France. This class offers a truly unique opportunity to work directly with leading creative individuals in the film industry focusing on ways that psychology and psychodynamic theory intersect and contribute to psychologically and culturally informed media.
Faculty Updates
Ale DeSilva has been selected as the president of the Mid-Atlantic Group Psychotherapy Society and the Council Representative-Elect, American Psychological Association Council of Representatives, representing APA Division 49 (Group Psychology).
Paul Gedo published “Omnipotent Delusions of Badness: Some Psychodynamic Meanings and Countertransference Challenges” in the American Journal of Psychoanalysis (March 2025), examining the treatment of character-disordered patients shaped by early neglect.
Cheri Marmarosh serves as the editor of the International Journal of Group Psychotherapy and is the author and co-author of numerous publications and conference presentations (many of them with students).
Katherine Marshall Woods published Black Film Through a Psychodynamic Lens (Routledge, 2025), exploring five decades of Black cinema and the healing power of authentic representation. She also received the 2024 Telly Award and was selected for the 2025 New Media Film Festival for Best Psychology in Film.
Visiting professor Linda McGhee serves as the president of the Assessment Psychology section of Division 12, the Society of Clinical Psychology, and continues her work on multicultural assessment competencies.
Alex Smith joins the Professional Psychology Program as full-time faculty. A longtime trainee and supervisor since 2016, he brings expertise in ethical practice, language and the fine arts, emphasizing creativity and depth in analytic training.
Karen Weise is serving as the president of the Section on Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis for Division 39, Psychoanalytic Psychology, APA.
Oksana Yakushko published peer-reviewed scholarly articles, special issues and books (forthcoming by Routledge) on such topics as Ukrainian psychologists’ response to war, Ukrainian psychoanalysis and the history of psychology.