2026 Annual Conference
O Sibling, Where Art Thou?
Searching the Shadowy Terrain of Sibling Bonds and Horizontal Relationships
REGISTER HERE
Saturday, May 2nd, 2026
9:00am - 3:30pm EST
Optional Post Conference Reception 3:30pm - 5:30pm
Fordham University School of Law
Speakers
Shari Appollon, LCSW
Johanna Dobrich, LCSW
Cynthia Medalie, LCSW
Co-Chairs
Allison Katz, LCSW
Michael Scheman, LP
NIP’s Annual Conference returns with another engaging program and a welcome opportunity to bring our community together for in-person dialog and exchange. This year, our program will foreground and reflect upon the sibling relationship, one of the most formative and impactful human bonds, yet one that has remained comparatively overlooked and under theorized in our field.
Siblings play a critical if not foundational role in many of our patients’ developmental histories. Shaped by the crucible of childhood, where experimentation with love and hate, kinship and envy, and compassion and aggression are often enacted in their most unmediated forms, siblings develop their own relational patterns that profoundly influence their psychic development. Even so, siblings remain a markedly under-explored subject in our field. All too often they act as shadowy figures in the consulting room—present yet unseen—as explorations of parent–child dynamics take center stage.
This year’s conference will center sibling dynamics within the context of relational treatment. We will explore papers offering complex clinical material, including the experience of sibling survivors and grief in the lateral realm. Through panel discussions, case presentations, theoretical explorations, and audience interaction, our three distinguished panelists, Cynthia Medalie, Johanna Dobrich, and Shari Appollon, will examine the varied roles that siblings play in our psychic evolution.
Attendees will gather in an invigorating new setting conveniently located in Central Manhattan. Sessions will feature our three panelists presenting brief papers and engaging in dynamic discussions with both one another and the audience, supplemented by a moderated roundtables to further examine and expand upon those discussions.
We are delighted to announce that NIP will be hosting a post-conference reception in a beautiful event space adjacent to the Fordham Law Center. This is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate with colleagues, connect with friends, and support the institute. Due to spacial restrictions in the adjacent venue, post conference reception tickets will be limited to 60 guests at an additional fee. Tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, so we encourage you to reserve your spot early to join us for this special evening with our community. The conference will be held at Fordham Law School, 150 West 62nd Street, New York, NY 10023, from 9am-3:30pm. The post conference reception will be held in the same building and will immediately follow the conference, from 3:30-5:30pm.
Personalized CE certificates will be distributed at the end of this event. Due to New York State requirements, persons arriving more than 15 minutes late or leaving more than 15 minutes early will not receive a CE certificate.
CE Learning Objectives
I. Analyze the foundational role of "horizontal" relationships in psychic development by identifying how childhood experiences of love, hate, kinship, and envy between siblings shape long-term relational patterns.
II. Evaluate the clinical impact of "shadowy" sibling dynamics in the consulting room, and the implications for clinical practice and technique.
III. Develop clinical techniques to address complex clinical material involving sibling loss, specifically examining the unique manifestations of grief and survival within the lateral realm.
IV. Differentiate between parent-child and sibling-based developmental stressors to deepen our understanding of how sibling transference/countertransference dynamics emerge and are enacted in a relational treatment.
Bios
Shari Appollon, LCSW is a Haitian-American psychoanalyst located in Brooklyn New York. She is a 2024 graduate of the National Institute for the Psychotherapies and a 2019 graduate of the OYP at The Stephen Mitchell Relational Study Center. She currently serves as the Associate Di-rector of Clinical Services at NYC Affirmative Psychotherapy group practice. Shari is the recipient of NIP’s 2020 Educator’s Award for her paper ‘The Triple Entendre’ and runner-up for Division 39’s 2020 Candidate Essay Contest for her paper ‘The Parable of the Sower’. She has since published ‘My Mother’s Haiti’, ‘My Mother’s Haiti, Redux’ and in progress ‘The Analytic Space’. Shari writes primarily about culture, psychoanalytic theory and enjoys engaging in herbal-ism in her free time. She is on faculty at The Stephen Mitchell Relational Study Center and supervises at NIP.
Johanna Dobrich, LCSW, is a psychoanalyst, author, and educator based in New York City. She teaches and supervises at ICP, NIP, PPSC, and the Certificate Program in Trauma Studies at MIP. Her work focuses on trauma, dissociation, and relational psychoanalysis. Her award-winning book, Working with Survivor Siblings in Psychoanalysis, explores sibling loss, disability, and psychic survivorship. Her forthcoming book examines the use of psychoanalytic practice to support social and collective healing.
Cynthia Medalie, LCSW, graduated from the Postgraduate Center for Mental Health Psychoanalytic Program in 1987. She is a faculty member and supervisor at the National Institute for the Psychotherapies and the Stephen Mitchell Relational Study Center. She is a former board member at NIP, as well as former Co-Director of Supervision for the Adult Training Program in Psychoanalysis and Comprehensive Psychotherapy. She taught a course in 2019 on sibling relationships at the Stephen Mitchell Center. She has a private practice in NYC where she sees individuals and couples.