Co-Creating Narratives- Transforming lives

 

Programme

Monday 30^th June

The Second Cognitive Revolution and the Advent of Discursive Psychology with Rom Harré.

Outline of recent developments of the idea of Psychology as a Human Science: Causal, Discursive and Hybrid Forms as ways of linking discursive psychology and neuroscience non-reductively – the taxonomic priority principle and the task-tool model.

Applications of the `discursive’ approach to understanding such leading concepts as `Person’, Self’, based upon the conversational model using Speech Act analysis.

Introduction to the idea of psychology as a moral science with a sketch of Positioning Theory and some of its applications.

Moods, Emotions as Discursive Acts: Cross cultural Dimensions and Pathologies

Emotions as discursive acts

Some References: Harré, 2002, ‘Cognitive Science: A Philosophical Introduction’ (Sage) and Van Langenhove and Harré, 1999, ‘Positioning Theory’ (Blackwell) and Parrott and Harré, 2000, ‘The Emotions’ (Sage)

ROM HARRÉ

studied mathematics and physics and then philosophy and anthropology. His published work includes studies in the philosophy of the natural sciences such as "Varieties of Realism and Great Scientific Experiments". He has been among the pioneers of the `discursive' approach in the human sciences. In "Social Being, Personal Being and Physical Being" he explored the role of rules and conventions in various aspects of human cognition, while in "Pronouns and People", he and Peter Mühlhäusler developed the thesis that grammar and the sense of self are intimately related. His most recent work, "One Thousand Years of Philosophy" follows the philosophical enterprise in India, China, Islam and Europe since 1000 AD.

He is Emeritus Fellow of Linacre College, Oxford, Professor of Psychology at Georgetown University, and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at American University, Washington, D.C. He holds honorary doctorates from the universities of Helsinki, Brussels, Aarhus and Lima. Professor Harré has worked with a growing understanding of the place of neurology in emotions and in discursive psychology.

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Tuesday 1^st July

Knowledge, Style and Grace in the Performance of Practice with Jim Wilson.

How do we keep our interest and our spirit alive at times when the demands and challenges of practice , can threaten to extinguish the creative potential between us and the children and adults we meet in therapy ?

This practice based workshop will attend to those features of Therapy that can either keep alive our creative endeavours or close them down.

Video clips from family sessions, anecdotes from practice ,skills practice and discussion will be included in the presentation.

Modes for engaging the creativity of the child , parent and therapist will be illustrated and address the following three dimensions of practice :

1) Playing with the Context of Therapy :

* reflecting team as theatre

* parents and children as consultants to the therapist

* family focus days ~ therapy as a " workshop "

2) Playing with The Role of the Therapist

* revisiting our personal style ~ living with creative discomfort

* therapist as a Transitional Performer ~ therapy as a theatre of possibilities

* therapist as the child's Inner talk ~ when the family members become the interviewers

3)Playing with language ;

* therapist as storyteller~ spontaneity and planning in developing useful stories for children and their parents

* future imaging ~ colouring questions and future possibilities

* re-imaging ~ amplifying lost resources

JIM WILSON

Jim Wilson is a UKCP registered Systemic Therapist . He works as a Consultant Psychotherapist with Foster Care Associates, Consultant Family Therapist ( sessionally ) with Llwyn Onn Child and Family Psychology Service in Gwent , and is Co- Director of Partners For Collaborative Solutions , an international training and consultancy service .

He has published and taught widely in the field of family therapy and his publications include; "Child Focused Practice ; A Collaborative Systemic Approach" ( Karnac 1998 ) and "The Performance of Practice : Enhancing the Repertoire of Therapy with Children and Families" ( Karnac 2007 ).

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Wednesday 2^nd July

Overcoming Estrangement: Helping Family Members to Re-connect with Sallyann Roth.

Family members become disconnected from each other in many ways; sometimes one person makes a unilateral decision; others want to re- connect but feel powerless to do so. Other times there has been ongoing rancor or continuous erosive misunderstanding and people move away from each other believing that separateness will be easier than

continuing painful or flat, non-contactful, exchanges. Sometimes a difficult one-time event is experienced as creating damage that cannot be undone. The form and history of the cut-off or withdrawal does not have to shape the form for re-connection.

This experiential workshop will show and offer practice with an approach that Sallyann has found effective in many such family situations. Its cornerstones are careful and collaborative preparation—explorations of each person’s story, each person’s fears of re-connection, and desire to reconnect; collaboration between therapist and each separate family member on content and process of meeting designs; and actions that provide opportunities for meeting each other anew.

SALLYANN ROTH

was co-director of and a core trainer at the Family Institute of Cambridge for over 16 years, taught for many years in the graduate programs in social work at both Smith and Simmons Colleges, and is an Associate of the Taos Institute. A member of the Public Conversations Project (PCP) since its inception, she has presented PCP’s work and her therapeutic work widely in the US and abroad. Her published work has focused on narrative inquiry, communication issues, couple therapy, and the work of PCP.

The aesthetic to be seen in all her work is a commitment to design, cultivate, and support ways for people who have been disconnected to connect. The connection develops and grows through family members finding ways to speak what has seemed too difficult to speak and through hearing what has been difficult to hear. Her current writing and training focuses on working to engender and facilitate inner and outer dialogue (encouraging a deeply experienced connection with sometimes censored dialogues and freshly emerging ones), the discovery of choice where none was apparent, and helping people work toward their constructive enduring purposes.

 

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Thursday 3^rd July Morning 9.00am to 1.00pm

JOHN SHOTTER

Professor John Shotter is a member of the KCC Foundation on a part time basis as a Principal Consultant. John Shotter is a leader in the field of social constructionism. He has close connections with the therapy world as well as with the world of organisations.

He brings with him an enormous treasure of knowledge and experience to inspire and enable therapists to engage with families transforming their problems into meaningful possibilities. Drawing on his huge knowledge of Wittgenstein, Vygotsky and Bakhtin he will present methods for therapists to work with their clients through creating a space of "withness" as compared with "aboutness". He will give us understanding to show how "withness" can help families and their members grow and flourish.

John will present his recent work on "Listening" which he is very excited about.

 

Thursday Afternoon 2.00pm to 5.00pm

Connections with the KCC Foundation Doctorate School

A chance to connect with some of the exciting Research developments being undertaken by current students working towards their Professional Doctorates.

WORKSHOP ONE

Slobodanka Popovic and Helen Mahaffey are both family therapists currently working in the context of CAMHS in different London NHS Trusts. Their work frequently involves working between different contexts such as: health; schools, education, youth offending, social services and others

From within their practice they developed an interest in exploring ways of communicating that might provide opportunities to enhance connections and open more enabling ways forward in the relationships. From this position they chose to focus their research on exploring a collaborative approach to relationships in different fields. In practice at the moment they are developing different projects in inner London schools.

This workshop will start with an account from the facilitators’ position of the research journey, opening up space for the discussion of some key unfolding areas of collaborative practice that have emerged within the process.

They would like to share their curiosity and enthusiasm about joining in the collaborative development that they have experienced through their participation in this process thus far. The aim is for the exploration and emergence of new ideas to be interwoven within the fabric of both the experiences of the facilitators and workshop participants to create a rich tapestry of ideas for us all to go on in our practice.

WORKSHOP TWO

Writing with Clients

One could say that the first language of counselling is the spoken word. But is that the best or only language in which to be conversing? Some people find writing offers them more expansive ways of expressing themselves and creates opportunities for a different kind of listening and a different kind of being heard. It can empower people to make a shift from feeling like a reader of their own and other’s lives to feeling more of an author.

Gail has been experimenting with ways of writing with clients and has found it enriches the spoken side of the work too. Her experience is that the process of writing with clients makes for a more collaborative way of working and changes the stories about the therapeutic relationship for counsellors as well as clients.

In this workshop, Gail will introduce some literature about writing, talk about some of her experiences of writing with clients and invites participants to share their interest or experience in this topic.

Gail Simon works as systemic practitioner in the areas of training, supervision, writing and therapy. Gail co-founded The Pink Practice with Gwyn Whitfield, a lesbian and gay systemic therapy practice in London in 1989. She lives in Yorkshire and works all over the place enjoying the time on trains to read, reflect, write and listen to the radio. Currently, Gail is having a very exciting time in the second year of the KCC Practice Doctorate in Systemic Practice with KCC and the Uni of Bedfordshire.

WORKSHOP THREE

Anne-Hedvig Vedeler is a family therapist, and teaches at the Master Program in Family Therapy and Systemic Practice at Diakonhjemmet University College in Oslo, Norway. From within her practice she and her colleagues are developing ways of increasing student’s interest in and sensitivity towards their relational responsibility. She wish to focus on how the systemic therapist can remain open to developing themselves as a person in relation to the other. This work interacts with her private practice as a therapist and supervisor in other contexts as well.

This workshop will invite participants to join in on her journey towards more understanding of this theme. She will share experiences from practice, showing how the use of resonance groups, have developed. Leaning heavily on the concept of reflecting team, she and her team haves been experimenting with ideas about how they can encourage students to connect more explicitly emotionally to the others. A resonance group tries to be responsive at an emotional level; listen and respond with their whole body, to the whole body of the other.

Taking as a point of departure Mikhail Bakhtin’s ideas, that all responses are answers to previous impressions; she wish to inspire the systemic practitioner to explore these answers. She believes that being open to resonance in oneself, evoked by the others in their relationships, will make therapists more responsive in their encounters. This means encouraging students to postpone closure, dare to stay in a curious uncertainty and to sense and respond to emotional vibrations.

Thursday evening Conference dinner

Join us in a chance to gather and socialise after all the great work we’ve achieved during this week.

For more information, please contact Charles Bell about your reservation.

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Friday 2^nd July Morning 9.00am to 12.00 midday

Systemic Narrative Appreciative Practices SNAP linking therapy and connections to neurology.

Working with emotions

with Elspeth McAdam and Peter Lang

  

ELSPETH MCADAM

Elspeth has so much experience of working with adolescents and young adults and their families. Be it school, family or parents who are concerned Elspeth has ways of engaging, for example, with situations of conflict, violence, sexual abuse, suicidal behaviour to give a voice to the child or adolescent and develop the connections with significant others so that real possibilities for a better life are created. Elspeth will share experiences of working in really challenging situations using dream work, linguagrams and other skills to transform people’s lives.

PETER LANG

Peter Lang is especially interested in the stories that people tell and live. He finds it fascinating to explore with families, couples and individuals, how they can be liberated from the power that stories and labels can have over them. He is interested in the resources that we have in our own experiences as individuals through the many things that families have taught us in our work with them. He works with individuals, families and the wider networks around people.

 

Friday Afternoon 1.00pm to 4.30pm

John Shotter Sallyann Roth Elspeth McAdam Peter Lang Martin Little inspiring us AND DRAWING IT TOGETHER Curiosity of future connections

MARTIN LITTLE

Martin Little is a Systemic Therapist & Co-Director of the KCC Foundation in London. Martin has been working with professionals in uniquely interesting projects affecting the frameworks and possibilities in therapy. In this exciting dimension he has been bringing together professionals from many different settings in counties and communities in different parts of Sweden in "network Projects" . Through the understandings created in these network projects new therapeutic possibilities are created for clients. He has been developing the notion of storytelling in the therapeutic context to facilitate growth for families.