17th October 2026 Talk

On Losing and Finding a Home, How the external object world facilitates psychic growth - Clea McEnery West 

To be held online from 10.00am to 12.00noon on Saturday 17th October 2026, by Zoom. Attendance is free of charge for all FPC members and will count as 2 hours CPD. The talk will not be recorded. To book a place please email admin@thefpc.org.uk 

The idea for this paper came to me after a close family bereavement: I found myself grieving whilst trying to sort through, with my sibling, the house where our mother had lived for over 30 years. It was not exactly my childhood home, but the closest thing to it as we had moved there when I was in my late teens and in the process of making the transition to adult life. It became the home that I would return to visit, time and again, throughout my adulthood.

My mother’s unexpected death and the impending sale of her house set me wondering about the significance of home, and of the things-in-the-world that one gathers through the course of one’s life. When loss occurs, these seem inextricably entwined with the work of grief and mourning, as if it is not just the lost loved person themselves with whom, according to Freud (1917) we need to break our emotional ties, but their home and possessions as well. We are tasked with deciding what to keep and how to dispose of that which is no longer needed, which can feel like a betrayal.

Clea McEnery West is Director of the Birkbeck Centre for Counselling where she oversees and teaches on the masters-level clinical programmes. She trained as a psychodynamic psychotherapist at WPF, has worked in various public and 3rd sector counselling settings, and is currently a supervisor and psychotherapist in private practice. She has published articles and book reviews and has an interest in Independent theory and practice.