Experiential Programme
The Experiential Programme will be arranged by the Scientific Programme Committee.
Small Group.
As with established tradition during the Symposium a Small Group of up to 12 members meets for 90 minutes each day. The group relies on verbal communication, the individual member being the object of treatment with the group itself as the main therapeutic agency. The Conductor assists in establishing a safe setting in which members feel able to communicate personal material in order to deepen understanding at interpersonal and intra-psychic levels.
Median Group.
The Median Group has found a place in the Symposium as a natural progression from the tradition of the Small Group. It is similar in that it is non-directive with no goal or topic setting. It provides an opportunity for dialogue within a safe setting established by the Conductor. It is about learning to speak in the here and now of a socio-cultural context and experiencing the response of the group members, providing inner transformative opportunities. It meets for 90 minutes each day, the setting is circular with a membership of up to 25.
Social Dreaming Matrix:
The Social Dreaming Matrix focuses on the knowledge and scientific method contained in the dream. It is not concerned with the character or psyche of the dreamer. Social Dreaming is conducted with many people simultaneously, usually for an hour but in this instance for one hour and a half each morning over four days, the duration of the Symposium. The ‘Matrix’ mirrors in waking life the unconscious while asleep and offers an opportunity to revel in the infinitely undifferentiated unconscious with others. Our mode of working will be spontaneous leaving each person free to use his or her authority to pursue the purpose of the Matrix. The purpose of the SDM is “ to transform the thinking of the dreams by means of free association so as to make connections between the dreams and in that process be available for new thought and thinking”
Masterclasses in Supervision.
You are invited to participate in these Supervision Masterclasses. This is a rare opportunity to share clinical experience among colleagues from different countries and with different supervision methods. You can choose: classical supervision, reverie supervision, transcultural or organizational supervision. Each participant should prepare a clinical vignette (clinical material of group analytic sessions ). Although you may not be selected to present your case you are invited to participate actively and to learn through experience and exchange. The supervision sessions are for 1 session only.
To access further details on the Masterclasses in Supervision, please click on the link below.
Masterclasses in Supervision
Large Group.
The daily Large Group brings together all the Symposium participants. It provides members with a safe setting in which to explore, within a social context, personal feelings generated by the experience of the themes developed by the Symposium as a whole.
A letter from the Large Group Conductors.
Why three: is that not complicating matters more than necessary?
Conducting Large Groups is always complex. It can often feel like too much of everything: too many interactions, too many levels of group process as well as massive projections, but it can also feel full of enormous possibility and hope. We have had some experience of the Large Group conducted by a pair. This time we wanted to pick up and develop an old idea of Pat De Mare’s and of Goran’s, to make use of three conductors. According to some writers a group of three is the smallest possibility for one person to observe and reflect upon the relationship of the two others. And if one person is for the moment over affected by the group the two others are not necessarily likely to react identically at the very same time. We wanted to use such possibilities this time in the Large Group in Dublin by trusting a selected small group to conduct the Large Group to encourage its enormous creative potential.
