At a time when:
- the Building Bridges initiative appears to remain washed out;
- the Couple and Family Psychotherapy Association of Australia’s excitedly announced two day conference with Professor Brett Kahr for April this year has quietly disappeared without a trace (replaced perhaps by a Day with the Family 11 March 2017, although – as I understand it – not run on an “affective learning group” basis as was their very successful Developing a Couple State of Mind workshop of 2014 under the direction of Laurie Lovell-Simons);
- the annual group conference by the Australian Centre for Integrative Studies is no longer running (although one day events still are);
- and the elderly conveners of general dynamics Sydney are still resting from the exertions of running the Propaganda event (once) in (erm..) 2015;
the Sydney members of the Australian Association of Group Psychotherapists (AAGP) are running with the ball. And they appear to be picking up speed.
Following last year’s programming decision, AAGP will keep separate their Sydney conference (and the associated members meeting) from the Large Group series with Teresa Howard, now in its fourth year.
- The Sydney conference, open to all, takes place in North Sydney on Saturday 25 March 2017. (The separate meeting for AAGP members-only takes place the following day). The theme this year is “Hate and Love in Groups and Groupwork”. The flyer is below. To download the registration form as a pdf click here.
- The Large Group series with Teresa von Sommaruga Howard enters its fourth year in an expanded format, commencing on the evening of Friday June 23, running all day Saturday June 24 and concluding with a morning session on Sunday June 25 2017. For updates keep an eye here or email the secretary Antony Gleeson at angle46@bigpond.com
In addition, the Group Interest Group, kick-started by an event around visiting group-analyst Stephen Arcari in July 2014, and found to be thriving on his return visit in February 2015, is still run by Sydney AAGP members once a month in North Sydney. Prospective attendees please contact Antony Gleeson at angle46@bigpond.com He might even tell you what it is all about, or how one might join it.
