Transference-Focused Psychotherapy for Adolescents

What is Transference-Focused Psychotherapy for Adolescents (TFP-A)?

TFP-A expands upon TFP, an evidence-based psychodynamic treatment for personality pathology, to address the unique developmental challenges of adolescents, extended to patients in their early twenties. TFP-A is designed to help with problems in personality functioning in adolescents and emerging adults across the range of severity, with special attention to forms of borderline and narcissistic pathology frequently encountered in clinical practice. The goals of the treatment are ambitious: personality change, as reflected in improved functioning and satisfaction in interpersonal and school/work life and achieving appropriate developmental milestones, in addition to symptom change.

The Columbia TFP-A Training Program

• Is open to those who have completed the standard two-year TFP training program
• Encompasses one additional year of seminar study, reading, and clinical work
• Meets once weekly for 90-minute meetings
• Is offered fully online

The curriculum covers basic theory, strategies, tactics, and techniques of TFP-A and proceeds to presentation of faculty videotapes and group supervision of students' videotaped treatments. After completing this additional one-year course, participants will have the fund of knowledge and clinical abilities to be a skilled TFP-A therapist.

Instructors

Joanna Bird, MD
Alexander Sheppe, MD
Eve Caligor, MD

Core Text

Normandin L, Ensink K, Weiner A, Kernberg OF. Transference-Focused Psychotherapy for Adolescents with Severe Personality Disorders. Washington, DC, American Psychiatric Publishing, 2021.

Training

The educational program consists of 32 weekly online seminars, running September through June of each academic year.  Courses are co-sponsored by the Columbia Psychoanalytic Center and TFP New York. Attendance at no less than 75% of the program’s sessions is required to qualify for the Center's continuing education certificate of completion.

Application

The training will be open to licensed Psychiatrists, PhDs, PsyDs, and Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSW). Applicants must have completed the standard two-year TFP training program. Course participants should have some experience working with adolescents and/or emerging adults and be prepared to present videotaped treatments of patients of these ages for group supervision. Applications will open on October 1, 2026, and will remain open through April 15, 2027.

TFP-A Training Program Application Form:

• The form requires you to upload a digital photo, your CV, your current license, and proof of liability insurance, so please have these documents ready before you begin. 
• We require a letter of recommendation from the director of the residency training program or internship from which you graduated, and two additional letters from previous psychotherapy supervisors. Please ask recommenders to send their letters directly to psychoanalysis@cumc.columbia.edu.
• Recommenders should be able to offer an independent, professional evaluation of your clinical work. Letters from individuals with close personal relationships to the applicant (e.g., family members, partners) are not appropriate.
• Please pay your non-refundable $150 application fee using our secure payment form.

The deadline for submitting application materials is April 15th. We will make final acceptance decisions by the end of May 2027.

Tuition

Tuition for Psychotherapy Division students in the 2026-27 academic year is $4100, payable in two installments at the beginning of each term. Tuition increases annually at an incremental rate.

In addition to the professional growth, collegiality, and intellectual enrichment our program provides, participants may claim a maximum of 48 continuing education credits (see below).

Tuition and fees listed here and elsewhere throughout this website are subject to change without prior notice. 

Please review the Refund and Cancellation Policy.