Board of Directors
Dr. Hilda Fernandez-Alvarez (President) is a Vancouver-based Lacanian psychoanalyst with over 30 years of clinical experience in public and private settings in both Mexico and Canada. Her doctoral research analyzes trauma and healing discourses in public mental health institutions. A co-founder of the Lacan Salon in 2007, she continues to serve as its president and has led clinical seminars since 2015. She is also an associate of Simon Fraser University’s Institute for the Humanities. Dr. Fernandez-Alvarez is an active speaker at international psychoanalytic conferences and colloquia, and her internationally published research explores psychoanalytic theory and practice, trauma, discourse, love, and politics. She is the co-editor of Lamella, a section of Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society. For more information, visit her website.
Alois Sieben (Vice-President) is an English instructor and researcher with interests in the internet, film and fiction. He has recently published an article on cyberstalking in Comparative Literature and Culture, a chapter on Inuit throat singing in Lacan and the Environment, reviews of Clint Burnham and Matt Flisfeder’s books in Psychoanalysis, Society, and Culture, and appeared on Vanessa Sinclair’s podcast Rendering Unconscious. He is currently producing a short film called Night Ferry.
Mandana Mansouri (Secretary) Mandana Mansouri is a psychoanalyst, writer, and artist in private practice, based on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples, colonially known as Vancouver. Operating through a Freudo-Lacanian lens, she has pursued theoretical and clinical training at institutes in Tehran, Toronto, Los Angeles, and Vancouver. A member of the Lacan Salon since 2020 and a board member since April 2023, Mandana is committed to the transmission of psychoanalysis in various forms and settings. She provides psychoanalytic services in both English and Farsi. To learn more about her practice, click here.
Christopher Dzierzawa (Director) is a counsellor and consultant working in Vancouver and on Gabriola Island. He has worked primarily with neurodiverse youth, young adults and their support networks for the past 25 years in Vancouver. He studied at the University or British Columbia, The European Graduate School, Heidelberg University and The Vancouver College of Counsellor Training. His interests include Philosophy, Mathematics, Visual Art and Psychoanalysis. He has been a member of the Lacan Salon since 2008 and previously served as Secretary. Find information regarding his private practice here.
Juan Luis de la Mora (Director) practices psychoanalysis in Vancouver, BC. He maintains a strong connection with Mexico City, where he studied and practiced before moving to Vancouver. He has been a part of Lacan Salon since October 2021. He has a BA in Clinical Psychology from Universidad Iberoamericana and a MA in Critical Theory from 17, Instituto de Estudios Críticos. In 2016 he published Pensar la nada (Casa Editorial Abismos), a book about addiction and its relation to anxiety and consumption in the context of hypermodernity and capitalism. He has published texts in journals and magazines such as Diecisiete and litoral, as well as a chapter in Lacan and the Environment (Palgrave, 2021). From 2017 to 2023, he was part of the editorial committee of Litoral Editores, where he collaborated in the publishing process of several books, as well as three numbers of litoral, a journal that explored the crossings between Lacanian psychoanalysis, decolonial praxis, feminisms, and contemporary art. He participated in the foundation of Comunidad Cooperativa litoral, of which he was a part from 2018 to 2023.
Désirée Jung (Director) is interested in video-art, experimental poetry, creative writing, film and psychoanalysis. Her academic background includes a Film Foundation course from Vancouver Film School, a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, and a Doctorate in Comparative Literature, both from the University of British Columbia. Her fiction and nonfiction works have been nominated to Pushcart Prizes, and video poetry has been awarded several awards and screened in different film festivals around the world. She works with subjects that involve imperfection, failures of language, miscommunication and any forms of nonsensical ‘madness.’ Originally from Brasil, she is a member of Corpo Freudiano Vancouver as well as EBEP-RIO (Espaço Brasileiro de Estudos Psicanalíticos). Her extensive list of publications and awards can be found here. For more information, please check her website.
Erik Larson (Director) is a psychoanalyst working in the US at the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute’s Treatment Center. He studied Modern Languages and Linguistics in university before receiving his MA is Counseling & Psychotherapy. His interests include clinical work with children, psychoanalytic work with autism and psychosis, and the intersections of psychoanalysis and politics. His involvement with the Lacan Salon started in 2020. To get in touch with Erik at the Treatment Center in Chicago click here.
Rachel Moxham (Treasurer): Rachel Moxham is a Vancouver-based psychotherapist who works with individuals and couples in private practice. She holds an MA in counselling psychology, and a BA in international studies and philosophy. Alongside her clinical work, Rachel has spent nearly ten years working in outreach and supported housing programs with Vancouver’s marginalized communities. Rachel found her way to the Lacan Salon in 2021 as she sought new vistas of theoretical discourse. Her clinical interests focus on sexuality, desire, feminism, queerness, and the spaces where the intimate and the social meet. Learn more about her practice here.
