The recipients of the 2021 Kravitz Award, Ayelet Barkai, MD and Ruth Drasin, PhD, talk about their work co-directing the Boston chapter of the national organization A Home Within in an interview to Patricia Potter, MD, recorded in the BPSI Library on Oct 1, 2021.
The mission of A Home Within is captured in the organization’s motto, “One Child, One Therapist, For as Long as It Takes.” In order to address the trauma and disruption inherent in the foster care system, the organization pairs a foster child (or adult who had been in the foster care system) with a volunteer experienced therapist, who makes a long-term commitment to the client. When it goes well, A Home Within provides these children with a much-needed space for reflection, and a stable, uninterrupted long-term attachment relationship with a therapist free of charge, something that treatment at public mental health facilities, with the frequent turnover of therapists, cannot provide.
Dr. Drasin founded the Boston chapter in 2010. Dr. Barkai joined her as co-director in 2016. The task of leading a chapter of A Home Within is complex and requires a long-term commitment to recruiting and supporting the family of clinicians who volunteer their time. As co-directors, they have established a professional home for these clinicians.
The Arthur R. Kravitz Award for Community Action and Humanitarian Contributions was established in 2008 to recognize Members of BPSI who have provided noteworthy psychoanalytically-informed service to our broader community. Click here to watch other interviews in this series.
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