CURRENTLY
Todd Essig is a NYC-based psychologist and psychoanalyst well-known for being a pioneer in the creative uses of mental health technologies. In addition to his full-time clinical practice he publishes, lectures, and consults internationally on creating best practices for making sure technology serves human purposes. His primary affiliations are Faculty and Training and Supervising Psychoanalyst at the William Alanson White Institute (WAWI) in New York City and memberships in the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA), the American Psychological Association (APA), the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA), the Society for Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Psychology (Division 39 of the APA), the NY State Psychological Association( NYSPA) where he was recently named a Distinguished Fellow, and the Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN) where he is a member of the Advisory Board.

His teaching includes both classes at WAWI and workshops and lectures at numerous institutes and societies, both here in the USA as well as in Japan and England. Current organizational and consulting work includes an IPA committee tasked with updating international standards for psychoanalytic training to make them appropriate for our emerging digital culture and an APsaA task force trying to update the design of meetings and conferences for the same purpose.

PREVIOUSLY
When the pandemic first began in March 2020 the APsaA administration invited him to form and co-chair a team to lead its response to the Covid-19 crisis. They rapidly developed resources to help colleagues with the forced transition from traditional in-person clinical work to working all online. As the pandemic progressed their focus evolved from the challenges of the forced transition to encompass the challenges of an enduring pandemic. They both developed didactic materials and created a network of clinician support groups, all designed to help with the stresses of providing ongoing care during the crisis. For these efforts he was awarded APsaA's Distinguished Service Award. His previous involvement with disaster mental health work was serving on the Board, eventually becoming Board Chair, of the New York Disaster Counseling Coalition (NYDCC), a non-profit formed in the weeks after 9/11 to provide free mental and behavioral healthcare for first responders and their families. 

An abiding interest throughout his career has been trying to describe and understand how emerging technologies influence our experience of ourselves and our relationships. While still a candidate in psychoanalytic training at WAWI he created The Psychoanalytic Connection, a service provider and early (too early!) social media network for his fellow members of the psychoanalytic community. It operated from 1993 until 2009. Among other achievements, along the way it provided the very first online psychoanalytic continuing education course, became the Internet "home" to over 500 colleagues, and supported multiple special interest listservs which reached over 7000 unique subscribers.

For more information on his clinical work and his writings  please see the Services and Writings sections of this website.