THURSDAY 14TH SEPTEMBER 2017
14.00 - 15.45
Research Symposium with Alan Carr and Reenee Singh
14.00 – 15.30
Karen Holford
Family Therapist
Expanding Your Toolbox
This workshop offers three techniques to help families explore their relationships, challenges and emotions in simple, fun and creative ways. They are all easy-to-use tools that have been used with a wide range of families and in a variety of contexts. They can also be used by trainees as well as experienced therapists, and they can also be used in multi-family therapy contexts. Each technique has the potential to open new conversations within families, and enrich their relationships in different ways. The workshop will use case-studies, interaction, and hands-on practice, and each attendee will be given a set of simple, photocopiable worksheets to help them present the techniques to families and individuals.
16.00 – 17.15
Lisa Thomson
Family Therapist & Berkshire PPePCare training lead
Using Social Networks For Good Not Evil
Many of us are drawn to social networks to communicate, connect with others and share information. The popularity of social networking suggests that connecting in this way meets important needs for us in engaging with others. The potential for social networking to be used in a harmful and/or destructive way has been widely reported on in the media and creating a negative perception of social networking sites. An informed way of approaching social networking is to understand it as a "new" tool that, in the hands of human beings, can be used to do good or bad. The extremely high numbers of people who use social networking on a regular basis would seem to show that it is a communication tool that will not be disappearing any time soon so the task is to understand the risks and explore how to accommodate the "new" and play to it's strengths.There has been extensive exploration about the risks associated with this - particularly for our more vulnerable members of society. This workshop aims to describe and explore how an established secure online support network (SHaRON - Shared Hope and Recovery Online Network) can be positively used in clinical and organisational settings to offer peer to peer support, support from those with experience who have successfully managed similar difficulties and provides access to therapists knowledge and expertise. The use of online support tackles the challenging issues of engaging the hard to reach in isolated or marginalised communities. Evidence for effectiveness will be presented including feedback from members of the SHaRON community. Participants will be invited to consider how systemic approaches can be utilised to support families and organisations across a range of services and needs using this highly secure platform.
16.15 – 17.30
Kirsty Darwent
Programme Director – The Family Therapy Training Network
Lynne Miller
Chief Executive - The Family Therapy Training Network
The Family Therapy Training Network (FTTN): Working Collaboratively in the Scottish Context - challenges, opportunities and innovation
This workshop shares the recent development of systemic practice in the Scottish context. Since devolution, Scotland has had divergent health and social care policy and service delivery models from the rest of the UK. This is founded on shared public service principles and a focus on collaborative and integrated, rather then competitive, systems. The Scottish Government’s purpose is directed by National Outcomes, for example; ‘We have improved the life chances for children, young people and families at risk’. These are achieved through overarching flagship policies such as GIRFEC (Getting It Right For Every Child) that sets a collaborative context where children and families are at the centre of services’ focus. This, and the associated wellbeing indicators, are implemented through the National Parenting and related strategies. At FTTN, we understand that political engagement and collaboration is key in maximising our impact. Therefore, we act to influence through relationship building and lobbying, while simultaneously adapting to the policy and funding context. Putting our systemic principles into practice means we collaborate widely and have received continuous funding from Children and Families, Justice and Health Divisions of government, to work in partnership with third and public sector organisations, delivering training to improve services to families. By constantly looking for opportunities and innovating we have adapted to Scotland’s wide geography, training social workers in Orkney, relationships counsellors nationwide and a family therapy in schools project in East Lothian. Founded in 2012 as a cooperative, we are a membership organisation with a board of directors drawn from our family therapy members, trainees, partner organisations and specialist independent directors. We invite participants to consider how our approach fits with your own and the extent to which our learning can be adapted to support your practices. We also welcome challenge to keep open to other approaches.
18.00 to 19.00
AFT AGM – all AFT members welcome to come along and join us. Find out what AFT has been doing for you and meet members of the Board and key people in AFT.
Friday 15th September 2017
9.45 – 11.00
Peter Rober
Ben Furman
Plenary
11.30 – 13.00
BhwanaBharakda
Systemic Family Psychotherapist
"Communication Without Words"
I am working as a Family Therapist in a Child Protection Localities Team in Central London. My role entails that I work with “hard to reach families”. I have always been interested in non-verbal communication and I have developed a way of working in which verbal language is not the primary source of communication about the individuals/families /professionals/systems experiences of relationships.
Not everyone can for various reasons articulate their social words.
I think sometimes talking therapies can marginalize those who “don’t talk the same as us”; i.e. those with speech impediments, learning disabilities, children in families, those who don’t speak the dominate native language, and those who don’t have "emotional language" available to them, etc.
I use maps, postcards and objects to “show” what is being communicated or what meaning has been given to episodes and relationships by the families I am working with rather than thinking I "know".
For example; when working with an Iranian family recently I used, maps and postcards so that the family could communicate, share and connect to their “worry” about food, living accommodation, culture, isolation and the future. We learnt that the family’s highest context was different to that of the local authorities and why that would be, offering us a bridge on which to create a meaningful change for the family.
In this case the family found the pictures helpful because they we not confident in their use of English and although a translator was available, using nonverbal mediums, helped the process of relationship building.
I also use nonverbal mediums in my consultations with social workers, and I will show how we can use pictures and objects to “show” how professionals position families they work with and how to explore their implicit relationships to their clients.
In the workshop, I will introduce the ideas, show a video of the use of nonverbal techniques, andinvite the group in pairs to try out some of the action methods/materials
11.30 -13.00
Matthew Selman
Principal Clinical Psychology and Family Therapist
Jane Bourne
Drama Therapist
"Up and About" - Theatre Games For Systemic Trainers
In this workshop we explore theatre exercises from dramatherapy and improvisational theatre to engage with systemic practice. In what will be entirely experiential - don’t come if you want to sit down! - we will spend our time engaging in, and reflecting on, the experience. Matt and Jane are both experienced workshop facilitators who will guide you in a safe and playful way to engage with systemic and relational ideas through movement and drama. As this is a workshop we will invite exploration and co-construction with participants around how these practices connect.
11.30 – 13.00
Kirsten Davie
Lead Systemic Psychotherapist (GG&C) plus colleague
Emotional Abuse and Emotional Neglect: A Framework For Practice. A Framework For Practice
Practice focussed workshop aimed at all professional backgrounds and all levels of systemic training. This will be predominantly in the form of a power point presentation punctuated by discussions with colleagues. Our service aim is to help connect agencies in this challenging area of Child Protection by introducing the use of a common language and framework. Our hope is to raise clinician confidence in this complex work, and to give staff additional tools to work creatively with families in naming concerns and working 'towards protection' . Workshop will include - - Brief overview of a collaboration between Specialist Children's Services in Greater Glasgow and Clyde and the West of Scotland Child Protection MCN - challenges of rolling out the framework across multi disciplinary/multi agency groups, and the common challenges and anxieties that staff report when working with families who present with these difficulties. - Presentation of the FRAMEA framework for identifying, assessing and intervening with families where there are concerns about emotional abuse and/or emotional neglect (adapted from Glaser 2011). - This framework focuses on developing a language of 'no intent to harm', which aims to be compassionate to parents own early experiences, whilst at the same time is clear about parent-child interactions that have often inadvertently become harmful and the need for change - We will consider the role of systemic thinking and practice in both assessment and intervention.
11.30 – 13.00
Hugh Palmer
Systemic Psychotherapist
Fourfold Vision In Practice: Data, Theory, Intuition And The Art Of Therapy
This workshop offers a practical introduction to a collaborative therapeutic approach (Palmer 2014, 2016) that is drawn from and influenced by Gregory Bateson’s ideas. The development of my approach stemmed from Charlton (2008), who suggested that Bateson considered psychology to be evolving in two directions, ‘humanist’ and ‘circularist’ and that Bateson saw the way forward as being a compromise; a working together of both types of practice; between intuition, and examination and description, each informing the other. This seemed to me a useful way of thinking about integrating different elements of practice, and Charlton went on to suggest “Humanist, scientist, artist and theoretician are all needed to form the cybernetic unity of healing” (p. 94) The concept of ‘fourfold vision’ stems from William Blake, the artist, poet and mystic who was a considerable influence upon Bateson, and the four types of ‘vision’ offer a helpful way of thinking about the interplay between the aspects of the cybernetic unity of healing - humanist, scientist, artist and theoretician. Blake has offered us a way of thinking that is more consistent with Bateson’s cybernetic epistemology; connecting scientific rigour, systemic (and other) theories and our own intuitions within a graceful, aesthetic process. Each of these elements has value, but the interplay between them, expressed as fourfold vision, enables us to move from separate domains towards a more unified way of being in the world. References Charlton, Noel. (2008). Understanding Gregory Bateson: Mind, Beauty and the Sacred Earth. New York: SUNY Press. Palmer, Hugh. (2014). Steps towards fourfold vision: From the myth of power to a cybernetic unity of healing. Context, Warrington: AFT. Palmer, Hugh. (2016). Fourfold Vision and cybernetic unity: Therapist as scientist, theorist, humanist and artist. In Systemic Therapy as Transformative Practice. Edited by Gail Simon & Imelda McCarthy. Everything is Connected Press.
11.30 – 13.00
Sondra Beres
Registered Family and Systemic Psychotherapist
Creativity and Play in Family Therapy
Participants will learn how to use play to engage children in family therapy, assist families in redefining problems, observe family dynamics, and improve verbal and non-verbal communication. Specifically, participants will learn, observe, and discuss three play in family therapy activities: the family puppet show, the family aquarium, and the family sandtray. The presenter will describe how to introduce each activity, common themes that may be experienced in this context, and examples of therapist responses. Participants will learn how to help parents develop new ways of communicating with their children and how to give children opportunities to express themselves through play. Play often correlates with an increase in children’s verbal skills and openness of communication within the family. Play therapy within a family therapy context integrates the importance of the child into the family structure and can help adults to understand and support their relationships with children.
13.00 – 14.00
LUNCH
14.10 – 15.30
Ben Furman workshop
14.10 – 15.30
Clare Dempster
Family & Systemic Psychotherapist
Other presenters TBC
Written On The Body - Reflections On Work With Childhood Obesity
In this workshop Claire will be reflecting on the history of obesity and the ideas leading to her development of a family therapy focused multi- disciplinary and multi-agency service for children with obesity in south London (Healthy Weight Projects). Drawing on her experience and that of colleagues, Claire will consider how childhood obesity may be better understood as a phenomenon that is ‘written on the body’ of those who experience it e.g. in terms of historical processes such as migration and discrimination as well as for some, contemporary events such as domestic violence and parental mental health issues. She will be discussing how wider discourses inform and construct ideas about the body e.g. ideas about the ‘perfect body’ as well as historical ideas of ownership and fragmentation of the body (bodily parts). Claire will be arguing for how unless attended to, present forms of services unwittingly perpetuate these issues e.g. reinforcing individual experiences of blame, shame and distress. Using case examples, data and feedback from families to illustrate the above, Claire and her colleagues will demonstrate how taking the approach offered by the Healthy Weight Project, brings about different results i.e. an improvement in both the mental health and the physical well-being of the children involved, offering a different communication about and through the body. Throughout, Claire and her colleagues will be demonstrating how systemic thinking and practice is required at all levels; understanding historical processes including that of services, holding in mind both family and agency experience, our own histories of eating and feeding as well as those of the families we serve.
14.10 – 15.30
Chandra O’Conner
Family & Systemic Psychotherapist / Course Tutor
Mike O'Connor
Family and Systemic Family Psychotherapist - Course Tutor
Wendy Smith
Family and Systemic Psychotherapist /Course Tutor
Ann Sykes
Family and Systemic Family Psychotherapist Training collaborative member
Creating Systemic Learning Communities Across Boundaries.
This workshop will explore how creating and delivering Family and Systemic psychotherapy training has helped build bridges across professional disciplines, organisational and geographical boundaries. We will share how since 2002 with the benefit of a shared systemic vision and values we have developed our training collaborative. Maintaining joint accountability has sustained and developed our courses through several major organisational changes and the challenges of competing demands for resources. Hampshire and Surrey Family Therapy training collaborative was developed initially across agencies in North East Hampshire and Surrey to skill up the workforce and provide a locally based Family and Systemic therapy training. Collaborative members work independently in partnership with a multiagency steering group with representation from local NHS Trusts, and Surrey and Hampshire local authority. The programmes are currently hosted by Sussex Partnership Trust and have been delivered at low cost and within budget. We will share how our experiences have influenced the development of local communities of systemic practice in diverse settings. We will share evidence from former trainees as to how they have integrated systemic ideas to practice in a way that has met our aims in developing locally based accessible systemic training. The workshop will share how we have manged to maintain different levels of engagement with NHS Partnerships, local authority, academic institutions, voluntary and faith sectors and UK AFT. The support of these agencies has helped to augment and sustain our programmes. The workshop will include space for participants to reflect ways of promoting Family and Systemic psychotherapy within their own work settings
14.10 – 15.30
Chiara Santin
Systemic And Family Psychotherapist Director Of Rainbow FTS Ltd
Kiting In The Park: Creative Ways Of Working With Adoptive Families
This is a reflective workshop, which will present examples of using creativity in adoption work, identify some of the dilemmas, challenges and opportunities in practice e.g. working with parents versus family, witnessing practices, working in family homes and outdoor (including kiting!). In particular it will explore ways of engaging children and parents in difficult conversations in order to develop a family narrative about the adoption journey, re-create and co-create for children a new sense of belonging to a for ever family, embrace many lived family contexts and help integrate their multiple identities. The second part of the workshop will offer participants an opportunity to imagine “kiting in a room “ and reflect on a creative piece of work of their own using art and craft materials and present it to the group at the end. It could be an object e.g. a kite, a creative genogram, a poem or a story using the voice of the child or another family member, a therapy story, a family sculpt, a piece for Context and anything else which will emerge from the group creativity!