aft conference 2012 bristol. · bristol hosted the 30th anniversary conference in 2005 and...

Draft Programme as at 24 July 2012 (Subject to change)

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AFT Conference 2012 – Bristol.

I am delighted to welcome you all to the Annual Conference in this lovely setting and hope you will have an enjoyable and

stimulating two days.

There is much to offer on our varied and exciting programme to intrigue, inspire and challenge us all! Thanks go to the Conference

Organising Committee and West Country AFT for all their hard work in bringing this event to fruition.

For those of you attending an AFT Conference for the first time - hello and welcome. I hope you will find us friendly and

approachable and that this will be the first of many more conferences!

It gives me great pleasure to welcome our guests and key-note speakers, Rodolfo de Bernart and Erik Van der Elst – I hope you

will enjoy your time here with us.

I together with Members of the Executive and Board of the Association, will be available throughout the Conference - please do

come and talk with us about any ideas or concerns you may wish to share. The AFT Conference table will also be staffed most of

the time to answer any queries you may have.

Enjoy the Conference!

Sue Jones,

Chair


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West Country AFT- Welcome to the AFT Conference It is a great pleasure to welcome everyone to the South West for the 2012 AFT conference, a conference, we are sure, that will bring plenty of exciting new thoughts and ideas, laughter, and conversation. In this conference, we plan to look at the New Frontiers and New Challenges facing family therapists and, in doing so, we enjoy the thought that we are travelling on the same trail as the earlier frontiersmen and women of the Wild South West! Early pioneers Brian Cade and Phil Kingston were teaching family therapy ideas to social work students in the early 70s (one of whom was John Carpenter). The South West Family Therapy Co-operative was formed and was instrumental in developing family therapy in the SW, including the `In-Context` introductory course and the two `Using Family Therapy’ books. It included Donna Smith, Andy Treacher, John Carpenter, Harry Procter, George Walker, Brian Dimmock, David Dungworth, Rudi Dallos , Paul O`Reilly and later on Susie Essex and Jan White. From 1995, Jan White as the first course director along with others, was taking trainees through the first qualifying courses in Bristol, and the first cohort graduated in 1999. In Bristol, the ‘In Context’ foundation and intermediate courses are now held at UWE, and there are plans for a qualifying course at UWE in the near future. In Exeter, the foundation courses started in 1981 with Amy Urry and Paul O’Reilly. Qualifying courses continued in Exeter from 1991 with Amy and Andy Treacher, then with Katrina Laydon-Walters, and later Janet Reibstein, then Hannah Sherbersky up to the present when Mark Rivett has joined the teaching team. It has evolved to become a MSc in Psychological Therapies, which also incorporates CBT and psychodynamic perspectives. Janet and Hannah contribute to the research based couple clinic within the AccEPT service at the Mood Disorders Centre at the University. This service has a specific remit to develop evidence based treatments for depression and they are currently developing a treatment manual that combines systemic and behavioural approaches. In 1989 South West Women's Project in Feminism and Family Therapy was set up and continued for many years with a number of pioneer women including Donna Smith, Amy Urry, Cas Schneider, Gilli Watson.


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In 1994 the Family Interventions in Psychosis Service was set up by Frank Burbach and Roger Stanbridge in Somerset. This model has incorporated an in situ team training approach, backed by on-going research and these clinicians have provided training to other UK health trusts as well as abroad. AFT conferences have been held in Exeter and Bristol over the years. Ian Falloon and Karl Tomm were speakers at the Exeter conference in 1978. Bristol hosted the 30th anniversary conference in 2005 and delegates heard presentations from Paolo Bertrando, Carmel Flaskas and Elsa Jones. In 1982, the Aft South West region committee, and particularly Sigurd Reimers inaugurated the very much-loved Dillington Conference, which is an oasis of calm and idea-exchanging amidst the pre-Christmas rush of December. What could be nicer than sitting by a log fire and a huge Christmas tree, having had a delicious lunch and talking about the presentations and new ideas you have heard? There are now 4 AFT branches in the South West: Somerset, Dorset, Cornwall & Plymouth and West Country AFT, who are organizing this year’s conference. The West Country has also benefitted from the cross fertilisation and inspiration from the Family Institute which started in Cardiff in 1969 and moved its base to the University of Glamorgan in 2001. It continues to contribute significantly to the development of practice, teaching methods and course development in systemic practice and psychotherapy & counselling. The first meeting of West Country AFT was convened in May 2007. It incorporated the Systemic Psychotherapists Network, the SPN, which had been started the year before, to provide a network and CPD opportunities for Family and Systemic Psychotherapists in Bristol and the surrounding area. Each year, 4 free CPD workshops are organised, drawing on local skilled practice and experience. A journal club within the SPN meet to discuss papers from the FT journal, and there has also been, at times, a peer supervision group. There are now 70 members of the network, made up of therapists from the statutory, voluntary and private sectors. We have some distinguished retirees, semi-retirees (and maybe some would-be retirees?) such as Susie Essex, Sigurd Reimers, Jan White who continue to pass on their frontier survival skills. In 2009, The West Country AFT Committee organised the Eileen Jamieson Day: Glenda Fredman gave us a very well-received workshop on “Consultation with Complex Networks”.


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In 2011, West Country AFT held a morning of mini-workshops in which presenters Shan Tate, Jacqui Sayers, Marion Dixon and Liz Curtis shared their own ideas inspired by recent training events. Those attending moved around from workshop to workshop: we thought of this as a kind of “speed-dating” with systemic ideas, and were reminded of the exhortation by Cecchin not to marry our hypotheses! The word “Committee” can evoke a picture of long meetings, in dusty premises with only a plate of dry biscuits for sustenance! The committee members of West Country AFT approach their work with an ethos of:- C cake (and commitment) O only a short time until the conference!!! M merriment M more cake I there is no “I in committee T (self explanatory) T taking on tasks together E energy E emails...and emails...and emails... Not to mention Shan’s soup. So, organizing this conference has been a task, undertaken with friends, which has become a pleasure. West Country AFT Committee Philippa Beale, Angela Davey, Marion Dixon, Anne Hughes, Jackie Stratford, Jacqui Sayers, Shan Tate, Ann Taylor


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Opening Plenary Rodolfo de Bernart

Friday 14th September

After dinner speaker on Thursday evening and Friday Plenary Presenter is Rodolfo de Bernart from Italy. Rodolfo founded the Insttitute of

Family Therapy in Italy in 1981 and is a professor of family therapy at Siena University. He is a leading figure in European systemic family

therapy having establised training institutes throughout Italy. He is a stimulating speaker who is renowned for his creative and vivid uses of

visual imagery in many different formats as a basis for novel approaches to therapy.

Key Note Speaker Erik Van der Elst

Saturday 15th September

Erik Van der Elst, who lives in a little village near Amsterdam and works in Het Lorentzhuis, will be presenting “Systemic view through my

digital window” based on his article which appeared in “Systeemtherapie” in 2008. Erik is a Family Therapist and provides family therapy to

adolescents, individuals and families. He is also a drama therapist. He presented at the EFTA Conference in Paris, which inspired many of our

members to invite him to our UK conference in Bristol. An extract from his article is given below:

“It is almost impossible now to think of life without the internet and digital life is important in the life of young persons. A lot of social life of young persons occurs on the internet via MSN and E-mail, gaming and on sites such as hyves1.

These possibilities on the internet form an important aspect in the world of the young and in systemic therapy these may be an important source to use. In the press and the media, the internet is frequently considered to be a threat to children and grown-ups. Common examples are: Children glue too much to a computer screen, they no longer play outside, they chat too much on MSN, they become addicted, they are faced with sex sites which are not meant for them, they play violent games and become violent themselves as a result. They may be cheated by old men pretending to be young persons or they may neglect their homework. Grown-ups also get addicted and will neglect their children, their partners and friends, they can lose themselves in their virtual lives in which everything is possible etc. The first therapy programmes aimed at internet addiction have started (at the Jellinek Amsterdam, GGZ Drenthe) and there is internet therapy (Lange, A., Schrieken, B., Scheijde, R., Broeksteeg, J., Ruwaard, J., Schrijver, M., Mehra. S., Ven, J-P. en Emmelkamp, P.,2005). It is good to note the dangers of the internet but the therapeutic possibilities have not been exposed so far.”

1 Hyves – A Dutch web site where people can present themselves in profiles similar to Facebook and other sites.


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The lecture shows the possibility of how the internet can be used in treatments of young people and their families. On the one hand, how it can develop conversation and how this provides input to arrange the therapeutic relationship.

On the other hand will be described, on the basis of cases, how it gives the opportunity of reflecion at how young people relate or wish to relate to themselves, each other, their families and how therapeutic changes may occur.

Finally will be demonstrated how the process of collecting the linkages between the „virtual life‟ of somebody and his „real life‟ is deployable in the therapeutic process”.


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Closing Plenary Symposium

Saturday 15th September

Outside in and inside out: is the “new” systemic integrative and are the old schools dead?

A panel chaired by Mark Rivett of Family and Systemic Psychotherapists from the South West, namely Frank Burbach, Rudi Dallos, David Pocock, Janet Reibstein, and Jeremy Woodcock. This symposium will present a number of integrative models which are praciced in various agencies in the South West of England. These will be set within a framework which suggests that not being integrative is in fact not being systemic. The presenters will talk about how they creatively work with attachemnt theories, psychodynamic ideas, behavioural couples, interventions and family management interventions within their contemporary practice. The symposium will demonstrate the diversity of practice and theory in the South West and UK more generally but will also mark our differences of approach and will give the audience the opportunity to interrogate these differneces. The symposium will ask the question: is it time to stop thinking and practicing within the old and new schools of family therapy.


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Thursday Registration from 12 noon for residential delegates and Thursday evening delegates

1pm

2pm

4.30pm

6.45pm

7.00pm

8.30pm

9.30pm

Light Sandwich Lunch available

New challenges for the profession what are we facing as an organisation and individuals, incorporating the AFT AGM -

Free to AFT members and residential delegates.

Relaxation and use of country club facilities (sports facilities can be booked direct on 01275 393901)

5.30 to 6.30pm – Aspens gathering in the Country Club Lounge

Welcome to Conference

Dinner

After dinner speaker “Rodolfo de Bernart” who will be using film clips

Time to catch up with new and old friends

Friday

Members and Non members welcome as day delegates

7.30 am Meditation and Tai Chi in the Clifton Suite or join others in a 3 to 4 mile run around Ashton court. Meet in Reception.

9.30

9.45

Registration for day delegates from 8.30 am

Welcome and setting the scene

Opening Plenary “Rodolfo de Bernart” using images in Family therapy


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11.00

11.30

1.00pm

2.15

3.45

4.00

7.30pm

Coffee

Workshops – choice of workshops. Workshops may be 75 or 90 minutes

Lunch

(The Ethics Committee invite you to a working lunch in the Clifton Room – please book for this)

Workshops – choice of workshops.

Tea

Reflection and Recuperation. Various activities will be planned to include sport activities, guided meditation, local walk,

in house cinema. Alternatively delegates may choose to visit Bristol Centre and Harbourside.

6.45 – 7.30 Reflecting space and drink for those who identify with a minority group (details to be announced)

Pre-dinner drinks reception – the Garden Suite

Conference dinner 8pm followed by dancing to “The Love Vultures”

Saturday

9.30

9.45

11.00

11.30

1.00 pm

2.00

3.45

4.30

Members and Non members welcome as day delegates

Registration for day delegates from 8.30 am

Welcome and Setting the scene

Key Note Speaker “Erik Van Der Elst” A systemic view through my digital window

Coffee

Workshops – choice of workshops. Workshops may be 75 or 90 minutes.

Lunch

Final Plenary Symposium – Integrative practice chaired by Mark Rivett, with Frank Burbach, Rudi Dallos, David Pocock,

Janet Reibstein, Jeremy Woodcock and delegate participation.

Closing remarks followed by tea

Conference close


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Friday am 11:30 – 12:45 /1pm

Workshops

Avon (50)

Alison Culverwell, Elizabeth Field, John Hills and Ali McLewin 1.5 hrs

Workshop “Talking about My Generation?”: The New Frontiers and Challenges of Ageing

“I hope I die before I get old” The Who 1965

Family and systemic therapy has traditionally been applied to the demands and anxieties of child and adolescent transitional difficulties. However with the growing lifespan, the social, political and personal focus is shifting increasingly toward the provision of good social and therapeutic care of older adults, as earlier generations, including those young in the 1960s, gently and disgracefully slip into this phase of life. There is increasing clinical evidence of growing numbers in the older adult population suffering from dementia, depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts. The pressure and worry on their families of providing care, as well as the wish of the patient not to be a burden, creates difficult dynamics for family systems.

The nature of lifecycle issues in this context is real and pressing. Thoughts, feeling and worries we witness include the growing sense of loss and bereavement of friends, concerns about the ability and mobility of the body, the agility and ability of the mind, and emotional anxieties about separation. The coping abilities of different generations are present and perturbed by the anticipated prospect of death. Yet the later years are also reported by many to be a time of serenity, physical and intellectual adventure and exploration, and reconciliation and satisfaction with family relationships. The therapeutic challenge in helping to influence the experiential pathway of family relationships and aging is immense. We are only just beginning to see the full possibilities in family and systemic therapy-based work.

In East Kent, the Canterbury and Costal section of the Kent and Medway Mental Health Trust have been piloting the use of integrated, systemic models working with this stage of the lifecycle.

This workshop will explore the wider management demands in creating and holding such a service through collaborative networking with different elements of the system. It will also explore the clinical issues of convening family members, use of refection teams, confidentiality and computerised recording, and engaging the wider professional network. Members of the service‟s two bases in Thanet and Canterbury will present their experience


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and accounts.

Bristol (50)

Gwyn Daniel

1.5 hrs

“Nothing is but what is not”; Systemic thinking and Shakespeare‟s tragedies

Shakespeare‟s tragedies, with their enduring themes of love and death, loyalty and betrayal, cruelty, illusion and disillusion have always provided fertile ground for therapists. Yet, while psychoanalysts have contributed hugely to an understanding of the psychic processes at work in the plays, systemic therapists have yet to make much of a contribution. Since it is obvious that drama is, by its very nature, interactional, and since Shakespeare provides us with rich material for understanding individual and relational dilemmas within wider social and ideological contexts, a systemic perspective has a great deal to offer.

The theme of the conference is that of expanding frontiers and renewing ideas, and I am particularly interested to explore how we, as systemic thinkers and practitioners, can find ways for our theoretical stances to make an impact, not just on our therapeutic work and personal lives but also on aspects of our wider society and culture.

In this workshop I will invite participants to engage in a reciprocal process of exploring how Shakespeare‟s tragedies can enrich our thinking about some of the tougher issues that confront us in therapy, and also what new understandings systemic ideas might bring to the plays themselves.

I will focus mainly on two plays, Othello and King Lear, and will invite participants to explore with me what they can show us about such issues as:-

Gendered and racialised constructions of identity and processes of “othering"; how they enter into structures of thought and are played out within relationships (Othello)

Ways in which changing contexts create challenges to identity and to relationships, and highlight ideas about the “decentred” contingent self and the limitations of power and control (King Lear)

The workshop will include presentation of ideas, illustration with DVD clips, and discussion with participants about their own ideas about and responses to the plays.

Brunel (50)


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Hannah Sherbersky and Martin Gill

1.25 hrs

„Creative Collaboration – A Psychodramatic Approach to Supervision in Systemic Family Therapy‟

Family Therapy has never been afraid to embrace new ideas. In this challenging and pressured era of evidence-based practice and treatment packages the pressure is on to maintain creative energy. Many clinicians work creatively, using action techniques in the therapy room, but lose this vitality in the supervision process. This workshop explores and encourages systemic clinicians to develop their creative energy and innovation by integrating Psychodrama and Systemic ideas in the supervision process.

Many systemic and psychodrama techniques share common principles; the systemic technique „interviewing the internalised other‟ is a prime example. In both systemic therapy and psychodrama, emphasis is placed on the multiplicity of meanings and an exploration of perspectives. In both models, the client (systemic therapy) or protagonist (psychodrama) is invited to travel beyond their own perspective, and to move through a myriad of micro and macro possibilities in relation to their situation. The therapy is co-constructed by either the client, family and therapy team or, within psychodrama, the group, protagonist and therapist. Beliefs, ideologies, scripts, meanings can then be explored.

Creativity and Spontaneity in Supervision: how can we incorporate this shared ideology in supervision? A central focus of supervision is the process of drawing out new solutions and new perspectives to the therapy being presented. One way to achieve alternative perspective is to encourage the supervisee to observe and explore the problem creatively. Moreno, the founder of Psychodrama, believed the best way for an individual to respond creatively, be it a client or supervisee, was through spontaneity. A readiness to respond in the moment with openness and energy can lead to transformation and what we might describe in family therapy as a „sparkling moment‟.

Learning objectives

• An introduction to the basic theoretical framework of psychodrama and its correlation to systemic practice.

• An introductory understanding of the use of „the double‟ and role-reversal techniques, and its application within family therapy supervision


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• Demonstration of techniques in action

• An opportunity to try out new skills and tools

This workshop draws on material from „Creative Supervision across Modalities’ published by Jessica Kingsley later this year, to which Hannah is contributing. Hannah Sherbersky is a Family and Systemic Therapist and registered Mental Health Nurse. She has a diploma in Creative Supervision and further training in Dramatherapy and Group Analysis. Hannah works as a Family and Systemic Therapist within an NHS CAMHS team in Devon, in addition to working in and developing a research-based couples clinic at Exeter University. She is also programme tutor on the Family Therapy qualifying course Exeter University and is co-director of the small private practice, Changetree, offering individual, couple and family therapy and clinical supervision.

Martin Gill is a registered Dramatherapist and Psychodrama psychotherapist and supervisor. His work with children and adults takes place in a variety of clinical settings. He is a lecturer at the Universities of Plymouth and Worcester and director of Fast Forward Films, a therapeutic film project using film and drama with offender groups in the criminal justice sector.

Leigh (40)

Tom Allport and Anna Brazier

1.25 hours

Positioning and freedom to move: creativity and complexity in paediatric settings

Negotiating systemic practice within medical settings, in our experience, requires constant attention to positioning and being positioned within a complex system. In paediatrics and child health settings, the powerful resonances of illness & pain, investigations, diagnoses and treatments, can be strongly organising (and/or disorganising), for patients and professionals alike. Relationships that surround challenging situations can be interwoven in highly complex ways. When continuity, privacy, timeliness and a measured pace can be elusive, it can be a challenge to utilise consultative & collaborative systemic ideas and techniques to create a therapeutic alliance and facilitate change.

We have different professional backgrounds but share a systemic training and approach, and both work in paediatric medical contexts. We have found it important to reflect on attachment relationships, the impact of a


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medical context on families and staff, and the constraints and opportunities afforded by different professional roles.

Our sense is of being positioned by others, and at the same time looking at the possibilities for our own positioning, in relation to actions and ideas. While listening to complexity, identifying rhythms, patterns and metaphors in individual, family and organisational systems can sometimes make a way forward seem straightforward for staff and families alike.

Questions we have found helpful to reflect on include:

How can we position ourselves, and support our colleagues, to foster trust and security and repair moments of rupture?

How do we begin conversations that link concerns to children‟s interpersonal contexts, without either families feeling judged, at risk, or intruded upon, or colleagues thinking we are parent-blaming, threatening the position of objective medical power, or just wasting time?

Frequently observing ethical dilemmas in conflicting hopes and expectations, how can we help families and staff to explore the presuppositions and choices that underpin our positions?

How can we help ourselves, colleagues and families to notice bodily experiences that may help understand, and find language for, the interplay of emotions, relationships in the room, and wider societal themes?

For us, the uniting metaphors in our practice are positioning and freedom of movement, for ourselves, our colleagues, our clients and our trainees. We have used ideas of positioning in multiple ways - for example as adopting an attitude to a theory, belief or dilemma; maintaining a position in the structure of an organisation; and being positioned by others‟ expectations and invitations. These spatial metaphors can allow us to present our systemic ideas in straightforward language, facilitating their uptake by families and by colleagues from a range of backgrounds.

Through case discussion and exercises, we will explore theoretical and practical ways to facilitate freedom of movement, for families, staff and trainees in paediatric medical settings, which may also be helpful to participants from other highly developed organisational systems.

Clifton (50)

David Pocock


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1.5 hrs

„Reading Bateson and Laing as critical realists and how this may help‟

The usual reading of Bateson as a constructivist misses an important point about his work. This is summarised in his famous line: „Most of the problems in the world are caused by the difference between the way people think and the way nature actually works‟.

David will argue that Bhaskar‟s philosophy of critical realism captures this distinction between map and territory much better than either constructivism or constructionism. It will seek to demonstrate how Bateson was simultaneously a realist and a constructivist and how he managed to pull this off.

This possibly dull-looking philosophical argument has rich potential to lift our thinking away from the strong forms of relativism and the anodyne notions of „meaning‟ into which our Postmodern field has drifted.. It will be argued that critical realism can recover and thicken our notions of „authenticity‟, „truth‟, and „distortion‟ while simultaneously retaining a critical second-order position. Along the way, David will attempt to rehabilitate Laing‟s lost notion of mystification.

The practical point of these philosophical arguments will be illustrated with current and recent case material.

Garden (Main 50)

John Burnham

1.5 hrs

Problems & Possibilities – Resources & Restraints

Contemporary approaches have brought a „breath of fresh air‟ into the systemic field through creating forward-looking practices, de-emphasizing problems and diluting restraints, whilst harnessing resources and creating possibilities. I readily embraced this orientation yet, in my own work, not all clients/supervisees responded enthusiastically/easily to these ways of working. Based on these practice experiences I looked to create a practice map which helped me and the people I worked with (both clients and supervisees) to flexibly navigate ways through these different ways of working in therapy and training. Using feedback from clients and trainees, this map evolved into its present form:


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Differences and similarities between people can be recognised and appreciated by mapping them on to the diagram. Experimentation with and integration between differences may be achieved through a number of ways including maintaining difference and reversing differences. In this way it may become possible to create a more flexible fit between those involved in creating and working towards possibilities. In difficult circumstances, the map can help to work out one or more pathways from „problem to possibility‟ for each client when they are seeking to „wrestle with what restrains them‟ and „embrace the resources that can sustain them‟.

This is an evolving model and in the workshop we will explore this process through talk, tape and exercises. Maps and sample questions will be provided in the form of detailed handouts to facilitate workshop participants to create their unique working profile. A number of practical examples will be given of how the workshop leader and other practitioners have used this model in a variety of contexts including assessment, therapy, supervision and team management

Friday pm 2pm -3:30pm

Avon (50)


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Paula Boston and Marie McGovern

1.5 hrs

Old Theories, New Technologies; the use of internet technology in assessment of students of Systemic Family Therapy learning about the history of Family Therapy

Paula and Marie are trainers on the programme at Leeds Family Therapy and Research Centre at the Institute of Health Sciences in the University of Leeds, training students from Introductory level, through Foundation, Intermediate to qualifying level at MSc. The University of Leeds is at the forefront of developing new uses for information technology (IT) in teaching and learning, and supports innovation and development of new approaches. This created a context for using IT to support learning and assessment of learning. Online assessments are now part of two modules in our courses. In both cases, these were introduced as substitutes for written assignments.

Online assessment has potential advantages to students who can complete the work in a short period of time from their own home or workplace. It also provides a new form of assessment for students who do not favour written assessment. For trainers the marking process is relatively quick and specific, offsetting lengthy and expensive investment in development.

The development process and use of software packages to facilitate administration and marking will be described and examples offered.

As trainers we have explored different ways to teach and evaluated the student‟s understanding of the history of Family Therapy. This has led us to the following questions:

How are aspects of history selected or omitted in the teaching of new students?

Which stories from the history are foregrounded and which become subjugated because of selection in the training of the next generation of family therapists?

In teaching history, do you go broad with general themes or do you go deep, selecting specific issues for closer debate?

Can the learning of systemic ideas be evaluated through specific questions and how does this fit with interest in different perspectives and accounts of history?

This workshop draws upon Paula and Marie‟s experience in the development and use of online assessments as


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part of student training and offers insights into some of the challenges and benefits of using new technologies.

The workshop will host a discussion for trainers and others with an interest in issues of how effectively learning is stimulated, and theoretical knowledge evaluated, through online assessment.

Bristol (50)

Papers presentations

Leah Salter

“Post natal wellbeing”- Claiming back the language of wellness

In this presentation Leah and Julia will be exploring some central themes that pre-date the “conception” of the post natal wellbeing project they have developed.

Leah and Julia work in a third sector provision for families in Caerphilly (South Wales) that has a specific focus on early intervention and prevention. Leah and Julia also work together in the project‟s family therapy team.

Fundamental to the team‟s ethos and of their approach to post natal wellbeing has been the notion of wellness and the ability of a third sector team to step aside from the dominant discourse of (peri-natal) psychiatry that can arguably place women in a position of pathology at a time marked by normal life processes and transition.

An evaluation of the pilot group indicates how a group that keeps true to simplicity and normative human processes can have bigger results than the project‟s size may suggest.

The presentation will highlight the results of the pilot project evaluation and offer material from women who have experiences they would like to share in relation to post natal mental health.

Nick Child

Learning from America again: The Non-Statutory Sector, Couple Therapy, Relationship Education, and


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Parental Alienation.

Recently I have had reason to become enthusiastic and research the fields of Non-Statutory Sector work, of Couple Therapy, of Relationship Education, and of Parental Alienation. This leads me to find the UK in general, and UK FT in particular, worryingly missing out on, or otherwise quite ignorant about, what has been developing in North American MFT over the last 20 years in these fields.

This workshop lays out some of the lessons that we can learn from across the Atlantic as we did when FT blossomed in the UK decades ago. As we did then, we need to understand and adapt these ideas to our own culture and contexts. I am an enthusiast not an expert.

The workshop will obviously be a whistle stop tour of four big areas of knowledge and practice. A neat “shop window” for each topic will be presented with a hand out summarising key points and signposts for further reading and learning.

The aim will be to stir fresh thinking, and practical and business applications in these frontiers and challenges that are not new to the world of FT, but are new to the UK.

Maire Stedman

Co-Constructing Narrative & Shared Meaning: an exploration of the journey of unaccompanied refugee young people and their therapist

The author has undertaken qualitative research and extensive therapeutic practice with unaccompanied refugee young people around their experiences of torture, organised violence, imprisonment, and, in some cases, of being a child soldier.

Therapy has taken place at the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture and the Refugee Council with young people who have agreed to have their experiences documented. The therapy has of necessity had to adapt to the changing socio-economic environment and publicly held views of refugees, which have often been negative, while at the same time providing therapy that meets their needs.

The following themes will be addressed:

• How do you construct a narrative across cultures and life experiences? The significance of a trusting relationship as a means of facilitating therapeutic change


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• Cultural influences that may facilitate or hinder coping efforts in a given context – developing a secure and positive identity based on culture of origin as well as learning the „language‟ and meanings of the new culture in order to facilitate a sense of integration.

• The use we make of particular models for understanding young people‟s experiences will determine the kind of therapy we provide. What are the models of helping and therapy that most facilitate therapeutic change and where do concepts such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and cultural bereavement fit in the context of collaborative and self-empowering practices?

Despite the gravity of the circumstances these young people find themselves in, humour, culturally appropriate metaphors and a willingness to engage in the re-authoring of stories and therefore of lives have taken place in a context of great sensitivity to culture, life experiences and losses. Contact has relied on new technology and flexibility as part of maintaining the therapeutic alliance while continuing to address core issues fundamental to the refugee experience from a systemic perspective.

Brunel (50)

Sharon Pettle

1.5 hrs

Working alongside families created with the use of donated gametes [eggs, sperm and embryos]: a space to think about issues.

This interactive experiential workshop will aim to give some basic information about Donor Conception [DC] including: changes in the law in the last decade; issues relating to anonymity and its abolition in the UK; the availability of information about donors and the potential to trace half siblings, and resources for parents and would-be parents. It will consider different family forms: single mothers by choice, same sex couples and heterosexual couples.

It will address the needs of families being open with their children, for parents wanting to share this information in a planned way, and explore some clinical presentations in which DC issues have been salient.

Training exercises will be included and participants will be encouraged to discuss ideas from their own clinical practice. A reading list will be provided.


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Leigh (40)

AFT DEI committee

1.5 hrs

Taking forward Diversity in AFT

Longing to Belong to AFT through an exploration of issues of identity that arise in the film 'Freedom Writers.'

AFT‟s Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Committee has been running a series of focus groups, based on the „Social Graces‟. At the Buxton Conference it found that new and important issues emerged when participants viewed the film „Kinky Boots’. The methodology involved seemed to stimulate thoughtfulness. The Cambridge Conference highlighted the importance of members feeling they belong to AFT. We want to explore further the ideas of "home" and "belonging". As we witnessed in the recent riots, environment shapes identity is shaped through and these themes have particular relevance for ourselves and our practice. We have identified two scenes in the film „Freedom Writers’ that participants can use to heighten debate, and bring out their own stories.

We hope to explore ideas of moving beyond our own prejudices to seeing people in positions of hope and transformation.

BEYOND PREJUDICE. The first scene will focus on how children at school can transform their lives through written narratives. They find ways of getting beyond prejudices about other gang members, to a new story of commonality about their backgrounds. We will consider how, in hearing stories unheard, those with power can help make choices about their own ways of understanding and act accordingly. This can be seen as a metaphor for AFT on its own journey to inclusivity.

MARGINALISED VOICES. The second scene will look at how an unseen child can voice stories unheard and untold; and the impact this has on those who had marginalised his experiences.

The audience can look forward to an interactive experience, watching film scenes, discussing emerging themes, then working as reflecting teams to give AFT feedback on key issues. Themes will be shared with the AFT Board, and other committees as is appropriate.


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Clifton (50)

Dylan A Le Sueur

1.5 hrs

Exploring some action-oriented approaches that can be incorporated in family therapy work: an experiential workshop.

This experiential workshop seeks to provide attendees with an insight and experience (beyond sculpting) of some areas of commonality (and discontinuity) between family therapy and dramatherapy.

Dylan Le Sueur works as a family therapist for North Bristol NHS Trust. She is also a trained dramatherapist and strives to keep a place for action-oriented approaches (common to dramatherapy and family therapy) in her work.

There is much overlap and interconnection between the action-oriented modality of dramatherapy and the more talk-oriented approach increasingly favoured by family therapy. Some of the strongest roots of modern family therapy practice lie in its earlier experimentation with action-oriented techniques, and as such they are at family therapy‟s historical core.

Non-verbal and experiential techniques can play a useful part in treatment, assessment and diagnosis. Application of more experiential approaches when working with clients of a different culture (or other contexts of difference) may help to lessen the deficit view of these clients and reduce difficulties of understanding and meaning inherent in verbal processing. Action–oriented approaches are also a valuable resource for work with children and young people who may be resistant to talk therapy or who may find excessive verbal processing overwhelming or inaccessible. Further, by incorporating a sense of play into family therapy work we may offer clients degrees of distance (containment or expression of emotion) to the therapy work.

For the therapist who reaches impasse (either over time or in the context of a single session), action-oriented devices may offer different lenses of access into a client/client family‟s inner world. Active techniques also help the family develop a graphic and dramatic picture of how members behave.

Please wear comfortable clothing as we will be engaging in active/physical exercises

Garden (Main 50)


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Alastair Pearson & Percy Aggett

1.5 hrs

From Clinic to Community: The Theory and Practice of Systemic Outreach

This workshop offers an opportunity to consider and develop participants‟ understanding and practice of creative systemic therapy in home and community settings. While systemic training is grounded in clinic based practice, with practice development shaped by live supervision and motivated clients, community based therapists working in clients homes must contend with a range of dilemmas and challenges that invite revision and adaptation of clinic based systemic therapy. Alongside challenges at practitioner level, the process of reaching out to “hard to engage” children and families places a spotlight on organisational assumptions and practices. Workshop participants will be invited to link outreach practice to therapist self-relflexivity. A theoretical framework featuring ideas of responsiveness, permission-seeking and dialogic risk conversations will be offered. Throughout the workshop there will be opportunities to connect the ideas being explored to case examples and the pragmatics of conducting therapy in home and community settings.

Friday pm

4.00 – 5.30pm

A range of rest and recuperation activities see page ......... Including the following workshops

Avon (50)

Matt Selman

Improvisation and Therapy

This workshop will explore relationships through play and improvised drama. The skills of responding “in the

moment” that theatrical improvisers use in creating scenes and stories from audience suggestions parallel those

required of family therapists working with multiple family members each offering their view of the situation. This

interactive workshop will play with improvisation exercises that allow us to build on what is happening now, helping

us to stay “ in the moment” and explore how saying “Yes and…” can free us to move forward.

Clifton (50)


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John Hills

Singing in the new frontier of change

Musical Improvisation Workshop: Exploring music's resonance with change.

The workshop's aim is to have a good time creating music together and to create a performance, whatever

participants' musical ability. You are invited to bring your favourite 'song of change', either as a CD or MP3

recording, or bring along an instrument to perform it.

Saturday am 11:30am – 12:45 /1pm

Avon (50)

Paper presentations

David Amias and Gemma Rowland

Reflective Consultation in the Context of a Crisis Intervention Project: Enhancing Social Worker‟s Capacity to Think Systemically

A Crisis Intervention Pilot Project in a Child and Family Social Services setting asked the following questions:

Is it possible to pick up warning signs earlier in those cases where family breakdown occurs and children are subsequently placed in substitute care?

To what extent is a more preventative approach feasible within the constraints of current working practice of those working with this vulnerable client group?

Are there more effective ways of making use of multidisciplinary working at the crucial period which in some cases leads to family breakdown and substitute care?

What support do allocated social workers require to work more effectively with this client group?

One intervention offered by the project to address some of these questions was a regular group-based CAMHS


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consultation slot for four teams of social workers. Systemic supervision from an experienced consultant family therapist was provided to consider the worker‟s relationships with different elements of the system, encourage reflective thinking about complex cases and enhance capacity for critical analysis of the professional and family networks around the child. Cases brought to the reflective groups could be identified in a number of ways. There were some “continuous single case consultations” (Southall & Poole, 2005) discussed on several occasions as the case progressed. Some cases were brought to the group at crisis point, with the worker in a high state of anxiety feeling that they had exhausted every potential service. In some teams a Reflecting Team format was used as an integral part of the consultation. Positive feedback from participants was used to inform `second order change‟ in a department looking to implement findings from the Munro review of child protection about creating a culture of reflective practice (Munro 2011). This paper will present insights and feedback from the experience of offering systemic consultation to groups of social workers in the pilot Crisis Intervention Project. It will also offer a brief overview of the Project as a `systemic intervention‟ in a local authority Child and Family department, outlining its clinical, supervisory and research elements.

Clare Brizzolara

Assessment of Integrated Therapeutic Approaches (AITS) (for caring systems)

Research evolving from George Brown and colleagues in the 1950s relating to the presence of „high expressed emotion‟ (HEE) also identified its presence within professional and caring teams. Training and educational provision within psychosocial based programmes should ensure the development of a competent workforce in the delivery of family work.

The MSc in CBT and Recovery in Psychosis and Complex Mental Health (University of Sunderland) recruits students from a wide range of clinical backgrounds and mental health services. Therefore, the content of the module pertaining to family work has been updated to reflect an integrated therapeutic approach (ITA) so therapists can deliver interventions to families and caring systems of a diverse composition, in relation to the Social GRRAACCESS (Burnham et al 2008).

It was identified that a model-specific marking tool specific was unavailable to assess the students in-session therapy skills; therefore development of the Assessment of Integrated Therapeutic Skills (AITS) (for caring systems) was initiated via a literature review of the family work models used with psychosis and the model specific assessment tools already in existence.


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Three model specific assessment tools were identified and compared to the skills utilised within an ITA. Several comparisons were made but not all skills within the ITA were replicated in the model specific tools; therefore these were included within a final draft. The inclusion of essential and non-essential criteria means a pass mark 40% will also indicate competency and a fit for purpose practitioner.

Further work is required to test the construct validity and reliability of the tool, together with a comparison of the competencies produced by the Centre of Outcomes Research Effectiveness. Therefore, the AITS is by no means final, and anticipated feedback from users and the wider academic community will ensure it remains reflexive to those it serves.

Judith Lask and Peter Stratton

The SCORE 15 measure of family functioning and therapeutic change

This paper will provide an update of the development of the score measure and explore some possibilities for future clinically based research. The score 15 measure is an established self report measure of relational functioning which has been translated into a number of different languages. Recent data gathered at session 1 and session 4 of family therapy demonstrates its sensitivity to change across all 3 factors: strengths and adaptability, overwhelmed by difficulties and disrupted communication. Now that we can have confidence in the measure it is possible to go forward and use it in areas of clinically based research in order to understand and refine the process of therapy and show what we do. In our collaborative way of working great value is placed on the views of of clients and a measure of this kind help us to explore and articulate clinically based outcome data. Areas of possible research include use alongside other measures, comparison of therapist and client perceptions of change, the relationship of individual symptom changes with changes in family functioning and more about the process of change and which issues can be most helped by family therapy. There is now a child version of Score and translations into many languages and the whole issue of culture, family and change is open for exploration.

Bristol (50)

Jeremy Young

1.5 hrs

The reconstruction of men‟s broken lives: Paradoxes in the construction of gender and illness in


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therapeutic conversations with men with psychiatric diagnoses and their partners

Very often men who are given psychiatric diagnoses have suffered severe emotional problems, in part at least, because they have identified with traditional patriarchal constructions of masculinity. These constructions can lead them to have inadequate awareness of their own emotional, relational or physical needs and, consequently, to overstretch themselves in responding to the demands to perform made on them by employers, social networks, families, etc. Eventually, they may become „ill‟. Their recovery requires them to change their relationship to their construction of masculinity or they are likely to fall back into the previous self-destructive pattern. It also requires them to renegotiate their relationship to their partners, who have usually taken over many of their former responsibilities within the family or in other ways and who may be unwilling to let them go. Such men are challenged by their „failure as men‟ in multiple ways, such as „to be strong‟, „to be a provider‟, and „not to be dependent‟. The construction of illness as „weakness‟ as well as their dependence on their partner make it doubly difficult for them to regain a sense of self-respect and value as men and, therefore, inhibits their recovery. Therapeutic conversations with such men necessitate a sensitive exploration of their constructions of the meanings of masculinity and illness, as well as those of their partners. The previous pattern of relationship has often been significantly disrupted and the status quo ante can rarely be reinstated. Engaging partners in the therapeutic process has many difficulties, especially when they are exhausted with working to keep the family functioning whilst also caring for their man, and when they are fearful that if they allow him to take on more responsibilities he may fail again leaving everyone in a worse situation.

Jeremy Young has worked extensively with men with psychiatric diagnoses, especially depression and anxiety, both individually and with their female partners. This workshop will describe methods of working therapeutically with such couples, paying particular attention to the need to reconstruct masculinity in a way that incorporates the experience of being ill into the self-identity of a man.

Brunel (50)

Helen Pote, Simone Fox, Pinder Gomez and Daphne Pardisopoulos

1.25 hrs

Long-term outcomes in Multisystemic Therapy (MST) - A proposed model of what helps sustain positive outcomes following completion of MST from a service user perspective.


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A series of 3 presentations outlining the MST model and its effectiveness over time. The presentations focus on qualitative practice-based evidence from research with young people and their families. It will propose and discuss a model of sustained outcomes

Presentation 1 will establish the context of MST, the model of change, the importance of practice-based evidence and the existing MST research into long-term outcomes and will be presented by Dr Helen Pote, Senior Lecturer & Clinical Director of Clinical Psychology Training at RHUL and Dr Simone Fox, Senior Lecturer & MST supervisor at the Kingston and Merton MST team.

Presentation 2 and 3 are based on qualitative doctoral research projects exploring long term outcomes in MST from parent and young people‟s perspectives using a grounded theory methodology. Families were recruited from the Kingston and Merton MST team and from the Systemic Therapy For At Risk Teens (START) national randomised controlled trial. Young people and parents who reported positive outcomes following completion of MST were followed up 5-21 months post therapy. They were interviewed separately in their own homes using a semi-structured interview schedule with questions covering their experience of MST and what they perceived to have helped them sustain improvements. Parents and children from the same families were interviewed in addition to two parent-only interviews. This resulted in a total sample of 8 dyads (parent/s and child) and two separate parent interviews where the young person had declined to take part in the study. Data from the interviews was analysed using grounded theory methodology and models of sustained change for young people and parents following MST were generated. In addition to presenting a respective model of change for both young people and parents, a joint family model of what sustains positive change following MST will also be presented and discussed.

Presentation 2: Pinder Gomez, Trainee Clinical Psychologist, RHUL - Developing a Model of Sustained Change following Multisystemic Therapy (MST): Parent‟s Perspectives

Presentation 3: Daphne Paradisopoulos, Trainee Clinical Psychologist, RHUL - Developing a Model of Sustained Change following Multisystemic Therapy (MST): Young People‟s Perspectives The three presentations will be followed by audience questions and joint panel discussion about the long term outcomes of MST, the importance of practice-based evidence and the practice implications of these user views for MST and broader systemic interventions.

Leigh (40)

Gill Wyse and Annie Turner


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1.5 hrs

Latest Developments in Couple Therapy: Integrative Couple Therapy

“Be of love (a little) more careful than of everything” e.e.cummings

Couples come to therapy expressing their confusion, anger and sadness at losing the dream they once shared. They are often shocked at finding themselves embroiled in a war zone when what they had hoped for was a „secure base‟.

“We are never so vulnerable as when we love” Freud

Therapy offers them a safe place to express their distress and gradually find their way to creating a new and trusting ways of relating.

A person‟s “heart withers if it does not answer another heart”. P.S.Bucks

We would like to explore some of the new, effective ideas which have enabled therapists to facilitate couples to understand and change their ways of relating.

Integrative Couple Therapy: The Government approved Couple Therapy used by IAPT

It comprises:

Behavioural Couple Therapy

Systemic Therapy

Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy.

We will explore

• The Therapeutic Relationship as a Secure Base

• The influence of Attachment Narratives –fight/flight/reunite

• The Social Construction of Roles and Relationships

• Patterns of Communication

Clifton (50)


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Simon and Lisa Thomson

1.25 hrs

“We‟re Not Alone.” A glimpse into the future of family support in the rapidly developing area of clinical technology in contemporary health services.

Social Networking now has millions of users worldwide and is one of the most popular advancements in human communication for decades. However, there are negative perceptions of social networking sites that are linked to issues around privacy and cyber bullying. If only there were a way of providing a safe experience of social networking with intelligent and dedicated moderating that would enable the huge potential of social networking to be fulfilled. It could then be providing positive peer-to-peer interaction that could provide a comforting online environment for those in need of support. On the 1st June 2010 the Support Hope and Recovery Online Network (SHaRON) went live and immediately offered service users and the families of the Berkshire Eating Disorders Service, 24/7 clinical and emotional support to help them in their battles with an eating disorder. Parents and carers were offered similar separate support. Two years later, and with over 170 members, SHaRON continues to provide a level of service delivery that is very much appreciated by people struggling with an eating disorder in Berkshire. Moderation of the network is provided by service users and their families/carers who have recovered from their eating disorder and who now play a major role in providing support, help and advice to others who are still working towards recovery from this incredibly dangerous disorder. They are joined in the Moderating Team by multi-disciplinary clinicians, from the Berkshire Adult Eating Disorders Service, who were able to overcome their own technophobia to provide a level of service delivery that is unique and very powerful.

This workshop will set out to tell the story of a passion that became a reality. We would like to invite attendees to be curious and consider how systemic thinking can be employed in developing creative uses for this clinical technology to support systemic work.

Garden (Main 50)

Eric van der Elst

Systemic view through my digital window


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In this interactive workshop, facilitated by AFT 2012 Conference plenary presenter Eric van der Elst, we will practice how to start therapeutic conversations by surfing the Internet with young people. We will consider the do's and don’ts of Internet use when working with young people and their families. We will also practice how to involve families and networks.


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AFT conference : Rest and Recuperation programme - Friday 14th September 2012 at Redwood Country Club

Time Where What Facilitators

7.30 –

8.15 am

Clifton Suite Meditation and Tai Chi

Start the day with meditation and gentle exercise based on Tai Chi preparation

and postures. All welcome – no booking needed .

Shan Tate and Marion Dixon

West Country AFT committee

members

7.30 –

8.15 am

Meet in reception 3 – 4 mile run

This run will take you around beautiful Ashton Court , through woods and

across grasslands with the chance to see views of Bristol and the Clifton

suspension bridge , and to see the herd of deer . All welcome – no need to

book. Wear trainers , and be prepared for mud .

Ann Taylor and Philippa

Beale


members

4.15 –

6 pm

Cinema

NB the committee

offers its apologies

but there is no

wheelchair access

to the cinema

Showing of film – An ecology of mind, a daughter‟s portrait of Gregory

Bateson Nora Bateson

Max 50 places – please sign up on booking form in reception .

Shan Tate and Marion Dixon


members

4.15 –

5.45 pm

Meet by outside

pool

2 – 3 mile walk around beautiful Ashton Court .

You are invited to join in this walk taking in ancient woodlands and the deer

park ; open grasslands with views of Bristol ; and an opportunity to pop into the

mansion tea room for refreshments !

No booking required – all welcome. Bring stout footwear as there will be hills

and there may be mud . Bring waterproofs if wet !

Angie Davey and Jackie

Stratford


members

4.15 –

5.45pm

Clifton Suite Singing in the changes:

Musical improvisation workshop: Exploring how music has had resonance

about change for participants .

John Hills

John is a family


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This workshop will aim to develop a performance and to have a good time

creating music together . You are invited to bring you own „song of change‟

either as a CD, MP3 recording , or bring along an instrument to perform it.

Max 30 participants – please indicate at the time of booking if you are

interested in this workshop.

psychotherapist who used to

edit Context , and is gradually

retiring from his career to

concentrate on his love of

sung narrative . He plays with

the Kamikaze blues band and

has performed at the

Canterbury festival and at the

Tavistock clinic in London .

4.15 –

6.15pm

Squash /

badminton courts

Squash and badminton

Please sign up on the booking forms in reception , and games will be arranged

for all those interested in playing . Either bring your own raquets and balls /

shuttlecocks, or they can be hired for £ 1 per person .

Ann Hughes


member

4.15 –

5.30pm

Avon Room Drama workshop : Improvisation and therapy :

This workshop will explore relationships through play and improvised drama.

The skills of responding “in the moment” that theatrical improvisers use in

creating scenes and stories from audience suggestions parallel those required

of family therapists working with multiple family members each offering their

view of the situation This interactive workshop will play with improvisation

exercises that allow us to build on what is happening now, helping us to stay “

in the moment” and explore how saying “Yes and…” can free us to move

forward.

Dr Matthew Selman

Matt is in the final year of his

family therapy training and

performs and teaches

improvisation as part of „On

the Spot‟ an improv comedy

group.


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Also available locally – self booking required

Gym and swimming pools ( indoor

and outdoor ) available on site

Pools open 7 am - 9.30pm

Leisure passes available to residential and day delegates

Zumba and other exercise classes Available at Redwood . See their up to date timetable for details . Leisure passes available to

residential and day delegates

Tennis Courts available on site Tennis courts can be booked at reception . Bring your own tennis racquets , or alternatively

equipment can be hired for £ 1 per person

Mountain bike trails available in

Ashton court for inexperienced or

adventurous riders

For more details

www.forestofavon.org/avontimberlandtrail.html

Bring your own mountain bikes !

Tyntesfield –National Trust property

is a short drive away

www.nationaltrust.org.uk/tyntesfield/

Bring your National Trust card if you have it ! Lists of lifts wanted / offered will be arranged at

reception .

Clifton village – is a short drive

away over the spectacular Clifton

Suspension bridge

Georgian architecture, coffee shops, and independent shops selling jewellery , art , gifts, clothes

and more .

List of lifts wanted / offered will be arranged at reception.

Golf and putting courses available

nearby

Preferential rates for Redwood delegates .

Phone Redwood directly to organise : 01275 393901

Bring evidence of your golf handicap .

Wifi Wifi is available throughout hotel complex . Access code for delegates available for £ 1 a day –

see reception for details.

http://www.forestofavon.org/avontimberlandtrail.html

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/tyntesfield/

aft conference 2012 bristol. · bristol hosted the 30th anniversary conference in 2005 and...

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