In 2007 the administration of the Greater Kansas City Psychoanalytic Institute initiated a series of meetings with the administration of the the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Missouri Kansas City to explore the possibility of an affiliation between the two organizations. Because psychoanalysis as a discipline has historically been a highly valuable tool in understanding and treating all forms of mental illness and emotional suffering, the discussions between the two organizations centered on the questions around how the two organizations might forge a collaborative effort, with the GKCPI contributing to the teaching and training of psychiatric residents and psychology post-doctoral residents. After many discussions over the course of nearly four years, in June of 2011, the organizations finalized an agreement in which it was decided that the Institute would move its administrative offices into the Center for Behavioral Medicine, the training hospital for UMKC psychiatric and post-doctoral residents.

Currently the GKCPI administrative offices are located within the administrative area of the CBM where we are now able to collaborate with UMKC psychiatric and psychology faculty and administrative staff. Additionally, psychoanalysts and candidates of the GKCPI now teach classes within the residency and training programs of UMKC, while many analysts in the GKCPI also hold academic appointments within the medical school. In addition, classes of the Institute are now held in spacious, well-equipped and modern classrooms within the CBM, where we also have excellent access to videos conferencing equipment, enabling us to participate in distance educational experiences around the world.

The GKCPI has recently developed a committee that is dedicated to furthering collaborative relations with the wider university (UMKC), as well as other colleges and universities within the metroplex. All these collaborations have been designed to expand psychoanalytic knowledge into other academic and professional training programs.