Our Mission is to provide support to existing psychoanalytic schools and those in various stages of development, as well as to provide a forum for individuals interested in promoting the interface of education and psychoanalysis. In so doing, the Alliance for Psychoanalytic Schools may disseminate psychoanalytic ideas and demonstrate the practical applications of psychoanalytic principles.

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The founding APS schools work closely with psychoanalytic organizations in their locales. Through key individuals whose psychoanalytic school positions overlap with national American Psychoanalytic Association professional activities related to child and adolescent psychoanalysis, cross-fertilization and spread of ideas occurs at local, regional, national and international levels.

Each school also works closely with local early childhood providers, both in regular consultation relationships with schools and centers and in major local and state task forces relating to children’s needs. While each of the schools differs slightly in program structure and target populations, they all share the psychoanalytic understanding that early childhood is the most critical period in development. The APS schools understand that parents are each child’s primary resource and the closeness of the parent-child relationship provides the setting for understanding and fostering healthy development.