ICSW Research & Community

The Joseph Palombo Center

An interdisciplinary center integrating neuroscience and psychoanalytic social work to maximize the effectiveness of mental health services for children, adolescents, & adults.

Our Foundation

Vision, Mission & Values

Mission

Maximizing mental health effectiveness

To maximize the effectiveness of mental health services to children, adolescents, and adults through the integration of neuroscience and psychoanalytic social work, offering educational opportunities to professionals and the lay public.

Vision

Enhancing mental health through integration

To enhance the mental health of children, adolescents, and adults by integrating neuroscience and psychoanalytic social work — building a bridge between cutting-edge research and compassionate clinical practice.

What we do

Contributions to mental health

Browse our distinguished faculty members who bring expertise in psychodynamic practice, research, and clinical education.

Clinical Education & Practice

The Center promotes clinical education as Joseph Palombo inspired generations of clinicians to question and deepen their clinical work, offering new ways to understand human development.

Research Translation

The Center provides a forum to push academic and neuroscience research findings into the mainstream of the helping professions translating discoveries for all mental health disciplines.

Neuro-atypical Advocacy

Palombo's contributions to understanding neurocognitive challenges and necessary accommodations have increased empathy and understanding for the neuro-atypical person across professions.

Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Programs and communications serve many disciplines, encouraging all helping professions to engage in critical thinking about their fields while fostering collaboration and innovation.

Educational Programs

Clinically focused programs encourage rigorous thinking across professions stemming fuzzy thinking and insufficient information while pushing cutting-edge knowledge into practice.

Community Outreach

Educational opportunities extend beyond the profession to the lay public making depth-oriented mental health knowledge accessible to all who seek to understand the mind and human development.

FOR PHD STUDENTS

Fellowship Progranm

Est. 2021

Palombo Center Fellowships

Created in 2021 for PhD students enrolled in ICSW's clinical social work program. Through a competitive application process, selected students become Palombo Center Fellows pursuing original research at the intersection of neuroscience and psychoanalytic practice.

The inaugural fellow explored how a somatic focus on complex trauma may contribute to a more profound understanding of race, diversity, and equality practices in clinical social work.

Apply for a Fellowship

2021-22 FELLOW

Doranna Tindle

Palombo Center Fellow - ICSW PhD Candidate

Doranna Tindle is a clinician, educator, and transformational leader dedicated to helping individuals heal through their lived experiences. Her work focuses on supporting communities impacted by poverty, trauma, and addiction, fostering dignity, growth, and meaningful change.

Fellow: 2022 - 2023 & 2023 - 2024

Alexia Camfield, LCSW-S

Palombo Center Fellow - ICSW PhD Candidate

A psychotherapist with 26+ years of practice in Houston and The Woodlands, TX. Currently in her third year at ICSW, she researches detachment in affect regulation, weaving neuroscience together with psychodynamic theory to deepen clinical understanding.

Fellow: 2024 - 2025

Julie Swensen, LCSW

Palombo Center Fellow - ICSW PhD Candidate

Owner of a group practice in Logan, UT specializing in trauma, ADHD, and OCD. With roots in hospice care, Julie brings a holistic, integrative lens to mental health and a deep passion for helping clients recognize, process, and heal from the lasting impact of shame.

Fellow: 2025 - 2026

Sharon M Berlin

Palombo Center Fellow - ICSW PhD Candidate

An experienced psychotherapist trained at Columbia University and the University of Chicago. Her published research bridges psychodynamic theory with the lived experiences of neurodivergent children, adults, and families, with a focus on parenting and identity development.

OUR LEADERSHIP

Advisory Committee

William D. Gieseke

Ph.D., Director

William Gieseke is the Executive Director and a founding member of the Palombo Center Advisory Committee. He is a Core Faculty member at the Institute for Clinical Social Work and has led many of the Palombo Center Conferences. He is a 2006 graduate of the Institute for Clinical Social Work. In addition, he is on the faculty of the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute, where he graduated from the Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Training Program.

Who keeps this network connected

Meet the Alumni Committee

Carrie Torgerson, PhD, LCSW

Carrie Torgerson, PhD, LCSW is the Associate Dean of Students and the Director of Student Counseling and Academic Support Services…

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Bill Singerman

Bill Singerman is the Associate Director of The Kedzie Center, a community-funded mental health center that serves residents of the…

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Myrna Orenstein, PhD, LCSW

Myrna Orenstein, PhD, LCSW is an author and psychotherapist who earned her Ph.D. from the Institute for Clinical Social Work…

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Leah Harp, LCSW, Ph.D.

Chair

Leah Harp, LCSW, PhD received her undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago and her Master's in Social Work from…

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Freda Baron Friedman, Ph.D.

Board Chair Emeritus & Core Faculty

Freda Baron Friedman, PhD works in Chicago’s Streeterville area and suburban Northfield, Ill., providing psychotherapy for adults, utilizing individual, couples,…

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