The Making of Music: Enhancing Clinical Listening Skills with Black Men in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, by Huey Hawkins, Jr., PhD, LCSW
Virtual Lecture
Wednesday, December 2, 2026
7:30 PM 9:00 PM
Dr. Huey Hawkins, in his work, employs Winnicott's concept of "Adaptation to Need" to emphasize the importance of clinical listening in long-term psychotherapy with Black male patients to help reduce termination rates. His extensive experience with a patient who often incorporated music into the therapeutic space allows for an exploration of the critical need to be attuned to emotional tones, symbolic language, silences, and recurring themes. This approach to listening requires a consistent stance of curiosity and empathy, enabling the therapist to recognize how early relational patterns, internalized object relations, and cultural socialization influence the patient’s current emotional life and behavior.
Learning Objectives
1. Demonstrate how attention to emotional tone, symbolic language, silence, and recurring themes can deepen the therapeutic alliance and support long-term engagement.
2. Analyze the impact of early relational patterns, internalized object relations, and cultural socialization on the emotional and behavioral expressions of Black male patients in psychotherapy.
3. Evaluate how music, play, and other symbolic forms of expression can function as transitional phenomena that promote affect regulation, strengthen the True Self, and facilitate developmental repair within the therapeutic relationship.
References
Davids, M. F. (2011). Internal racism: A psychoanalytic approach to race and difference. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 80(1), 157–180.
https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2167-4086.2011.tb00064.x
De Witte, M., Spruit, A., Van Hooren, S., Moonen, X., & Stams, G. J. (2020). Effects of music interventions on stress-related outcomes: a systematic review and two meta-analyses. Health psychology review, 14(2), 294-324.
Hawkins, H. (2023). The Antisocial Tendency and the Role of Deprivation: Facilitating the Maternal Environment. Psychoanalytic Social Work, 30(1), 97-107. https://10.1080/15228878.2022.2115854
Hawkins, H. (2023). Maternal love in the warzone: Exploring how mothers socialize Black Sons to manage racism. Clinical Social Work Journal, 51(3), 283-293. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-023-00870-6
Watkins, D. C., Walker, R. L., & Griffith, D. M. (2010). A meta-study of Black male Mental health and therapy engagement: Implications for clinical practice. Journal of Black Psychology, 36(3), 303–330. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095798409353756
Winnicott, D. W. (1965). The maturational processes and the facilitating environment: Studies in the theory of emotional development. New York, NY: International Universities Press.
Virtual Lecture
Wednesday, December 2, 2026
7:30 PM 9:00 PM
Dr. Huey Hawkins, in his work, employs Winnicott's concept of "Adaptation to Need" to emphasize the importance of clinical listening in long-term psychotherapy with Black male patients to help reduce termination rates. His extensive experience with a patient who often incorporated music into the therapeutic space allows for an exploration of the critical need to be attuned to emotional tones, symbolic language, silences, and recurring themes. This approach to listening requires a consistent stance of curiosity and empathy, enabling the therapist to recognize how early relational patterns, internalized object relations, and cultural socialization influence the patient’s current emotional life and behavior.
Learning Objectives
1. Demonstrate how attention to emotional tone, symbolic language, silence, and recurring themes can deepen the therapeutic alliance and support long-term engagement.
2. Analyze the impact of early relational patterns, internalized object relations, and cultural socialization on the emotional and behavioral expressions of Black male patients in psychotherapy.
3. Evaluate how music, play, and other symbolic forms of expression can function as transitional phenomena that promote affect regulation, strengthen the True Self, and facilitate developmental repair within the therapeutic relationship.
References
Davids, M. F. (2011). Internal racism: A psychoanalytic approach to race and difference. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 80(1), 157–180.
https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2167-4086.2011.tb00064.x
De Witte, M., Spruit, A., Van Hooren, S., Moonen, X., & Stams, G. J. (2020). Effects of music interventions on stress-related outcomes: a systematic review and two meta-analyses. Health psychology review, 14(2), 294-324.
Hawkins, H. (2023). The Antisocial Tendency and the Role of Deprivation: Facilitating the Maternal Environment. Psychoanalytic Social Work, 30(1), 97-107. https://10.1080/15228878.2022.2115854
Hawkins, H. (2023). Maternal love in the warzone: Exploring how mothers socialize Black Sons to manage racism. Clinical Social Work Journal, 51(3), 283-293. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-023-00870-6
Watkins, D. C., Walker, R. L., & Griffith, D. M. (2010). A meta-study of Black male Mental health and therapy engagement: Implications for clinical practice. Journal of Black Psychology, 36(3), 303–330. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095798409353756
Winnicott, D. W. (1965). The maturational processes and the facilitating environment: Studies in the theory of emotional development. New York, NY: International Universities Press.