The idea for general dynamics Sydney formed one sunny April afternoon in 2012 on Observatory Hill, The Rocks in Sydney. Lorraine Rose and Henry Luiker were enjoying the sense of a “reunion” of sorts taking place among a small but emotionally activated group of mental health professionals attending the Sydney meeting of the Australian Association of Group Psychotherapists (AAGP) at the SH Ervin Gallery. Many questions bounced around the room and inside their heads. Where in Sydney, a city notoriously shy of group psychodynamics, could one further develop – or is it revive? resuscitate? mourn? – the ideas and methods introduced here by the Australian Institute of Socio-Analysis (1983 – 2004) and the Group Analytic Society (Sydney) (1986 – 2003). And who is interested in both individual and group psychodynamics, surely two parts of a whole, but leading separate, aloof, existences in Emerald City?
general dynamics Sydney was founded in 2013 with the task of providing opportunities for experiential learning about individual and group psychodynamics. It is not a membership organization, it has no committee meetings, and does not have a constitution. It currently enjoys and participates in the growing experiential group activities of Australian Association of Group Psychotherapists (AAGP), the Couple and Family Psychotherapy Association of Australasia (CAFPAA), the Australian Centre for Integrative Studies (ACIS), the Building Bridges initiative of the Institute of Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (ICAPP), and the monthly Work in Progress meetings (originally for Sydney members of AISA). It meets once in a while at the London Hotel and shares a London burger with wedges and plans its next activity.
general dynamics Sydney is currently administered by Henry Luiker, which is an arrangement which gives Lorraine a bit of a break and time to work on her new book.
image: The ‘alternative’ selection from hundreds of entries to the Archibald and Wynne Prizes, the Salon des Refusés, started at the S.H. Ervin Gallery in 1992.