Training Institute in Mental Health (TIMH)

The Training Institute for Mental Health (TIMH, also referred to as TI) is a nonprofit psychoanalytic training institute and low-fee treatment center in New York City ^[5][1]. Founded in 1961, it provided training programs in psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic psychotherapy, couple therapy, group therapy, and supervision, alongside a sliding-scale clinical service operated as the Sarah A. Meehan Center ^[5][4][6][1]. The institute states that it is chartered by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York and is a member of the Council of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapists and the Association of Autonomous Psychoanalytic Institutes ^[5]. The institute announced that it would cease operations and stop accepting new patients after 2025 ^[3][1].

History

The institute was founded in 1961 and is headquartered in New York City ^[1]. Its own materials described more than 50 years of providing therapy services in New York City ^[5], and the Sarah Meehan Center was described as having operated for more than 60 years before its announced closure ^[3].

A TI Psychoanalytic Society was established in 1997 as a professional and collegial body for graduates, students, instructors, and supervisors ^[7]. In 2005, The Women’s Center was founded at the institute by Anna Keefe and Wilma Cohen Lewis ^[7].

In 2020 the institute announced several social justice initiatives, including a faculty reading group, a curriculum committee charged with identifying and implementing social justice and anti-racist content in the training tracks, and a new Center for Social Justice and Diversity ^[8]. The Coalition for Social Justice at TIMH, a committee of staff and candidates, was announced in February 2021 ^[9][7].

In 2025, the institute announced on its website that the Sarah Meehan Center would cease operations and would no longer take on patients after 2025, directing formal inquiries to a general email address and referring prospective patients to a list of alternative affordable therapy providers in New York City ^[3][1].

Training programs

The institute offered training for professionals in individual psychoanalysis, couple therapy, group therapy, and the supervision of the psychoanalytic process ^[4]. Its curriculum encompassed drive theory, object relations theory, ego psychology, self psychology, and relational psychology ^[4].

Individual training comprised three tracks ^[4][10]:

• Basic Concepts in Psychotherapy — a one-year program whose students attended the same academic classes and group supervision as students in the longer programs, without seeing patients at the Sarah A. Meehan Center, receiving individual supervision, or being required to be in personal analysis; a Letter of Completion was granted to those who finished the year ^[4].
• Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy — a three-year program in which students traced the development of psychoanalytic thought, were required to be in personal analysis and individual supervision, and could elect to see patients at the Sarah A. Meehan Center ^[4].
• Psychoanalysis — a four-year program with the same class and supervision structure as the three-year program but with more advanced coursework, centered in the fourth year on a 35-page case presentation of one client seen three times weekly for at least one calendar year and analyzed from at least two schools of psychoanalytic thought ^[4].

Other programs included:

• Couple Therapy Training Program — a two-year certificate program with a core curriculum in psychodynamic theory and couple therapy technique, a caseload of at least three treatment hours weekly, individual and group supervision of couple cases, and engagement in personal individual or group therapy; advanced training in couple therapy supervision was available beyond the certificate ^[4].
• Group Program and Supervisory Program — training tracks directed by George Lynn, PsyD ^[4].
• Internship Program — a clinical placement program described by the institute as emphasizing substantial clinical work supported by didactic seminars and case seminars ^[11][4].
• Continuing Education — one-day workshops and ongoing courses for physicians, psychologists, social workers, psychiatric nurses, guidance and rehabilitation counselors, teachers, and related mental health professions ^[7].

Supervision and personal analysis

Students in the Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy program received one individual hour of supervision per week in the first year; in the second and third years, and in the fourth year of the Psychoanalysis program, they received two individual sessions per week, one of overall supervision covering the full caseload and one of intensive supervision (analytic control) focused on one or a few cases ^[4]. A minimum of 30 months of supervision was required for graduation in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and a minimum of 40 months for graduation in Psychoanalysis ^[4]. First-year supervisors were assigned and thereafter selected by the student under institute guidelines ^[4].

Students in the three-year Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy program were required to be in personal analysis twice weekly for three years, and students in the four-year Psychoanalysis program three times weekly for two years; the requirement could be completed after coursework ended, with the certificate issued once all requirements were met ^[4].

Tuition and fees

• Students in the Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis programs who donated nine patient hours per week at the Sarah A. Meehan Center were not required to pay for supervision or tuition ^[4].
• Such students paid an annual registration fee of $200 and paid for their own personal analysis ^[4].
• Annual tuition for the Couple Therapy Training Program was listed as $0 with a fellowship, which required three hours per week of couple treatment in the institute’s clinic ^[4].
• Membership in the TI Psychoanalytic Society was $65 for professionals, entitling members to attend three events ^[7].

Clinical hours worked at the Sarah A. Meehan Center counted toward advanced licensure, and supervised clinical hours in the couple program counted toward licensure and professional requirements ^[4].

Clinical services

The institute’s counseling program operated at the Sarah A. Meehan Center, where therapists practiced psychoanalytic psychotherapy ^[6]. The institute reported that the center had treated presenting problems including low self-esteem, career difficulties, relationship conflicts, depression, and anxiety ^[6]. Appointments were offered on a virtual basis only, and the center accepted Aetna insurance; its sliding scale began at $75, and cancellations required 24 hours’ notice or the session fee was charged ^[6].

Associated centers and programs included:

• The Women’s Center (TWC) — founded in 2005 to study women’s development from relational, cultural, and psychoanalytic perspectives and to offer treatment and public education through groups, workshops, seminars, and symposia ^[7].
• Teen Talk Center — a referral source for a youth-serving nonprofit agency, whose clinicians provided individual and collateral family psychotherapy to middle school, high school, and college students at the institute ^[7].
• Coalition for Social Justice — a committee of staff and candidates that offered programming including a monthly Sustaining Dialogues group and an AAPI support group conducted by Zoom ^[7].

Couple therapy appointments were arranged through a patient coordinator reached at the institute’s main telephone number ^[12].

Affiliations and accreditation

• New York State Education Department Office of the Professions — approved entity, waiver number 305 ^[2][13][14]
• Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York — charter, as reported by the institute ^[5]
• Council of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapists — member, as reported by the institute ^[5]
• Association of Autonomous Psychoanalytic Institutes — member, as reported by the institute ^[5]

The institute holds New York State waiver number 305, with a current waiver period running from October 10, 2023 to October 31, 2026, permitting professional services to be offered by qualified individuals in licensed master social work, licensed clinical social work, licensed mental health counseling, licensed marriage and family therapy, licensed creative arts therapy, licensed behavior analysis, certified behavior analyst assistance, licensed psychoanalysis, and psychology ^[2][13][14].

Three additional settings are registered under the waiver ^[2][13][14]:

• TIMH-Annex, certificate number 8029, at 135 East 83rd Street, New York, NY 10028 ^[2]
• TIMH – Supervision, certificate number 7267, at 150 East 56th St. #2C, New York, NY 10022 ^[13]
• TIM H – Satellite, certificate number 6713, at 138 West 25th Street, Suite 801 – Office A9, New York, NY ^[14]

Governance

The institute is governed by a Board of Trustees ^[15][16]. Reported officers and program directors have included:

• Fred Aiese, LCSW — Executive Director, and a director of the training program ^[4][17][1]
• Karen Senecal Davis, LP, NCPsyA — Director ^[4]
• Karen Nelson, LCSW — Director of Training ^[18][10]
• Alan R. Steinberg, PhD — Individual Programs; also identified as Director of Admissions ^[4][19][1]
• Delverlon Hall, EdD, LCSW — Couple Program ^[4][12]
• George Lynn, PsyD — Group and Supervisory Programs ^[4]
• Rebecca Liebmann-Smith, LCSW — Internship Program ^[4][1]
• Joan Erdheim, PhD — President, TI Psychoanalytic Society ^[7]

Howard Kogan and Jason Kurtz are identified as former holders of the offices of Executive Director and Director of Training respectively ^[20][19]. Jamie Lacy previously directed the internship program ^[11].

Finances

Company-data records list the institute as a nonprofit with 15 employees ^[1]. In 2021 a trustee described negotiations that lowered the institute’s rent in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and noted that plans to move to a larger space had been suspended when operations moved to remote working ^[16].