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Despair, Dialogue and Desire: the transformative power of the analytic group in the movement from despair to desire through dialogue.

This Symposium will explore the efficacy of group analysis in rekindling personal engagement in therapeutic work and in the broader context of the social, cultural and political life of the community and its foundation matrix. This will include reference to literature, music and the visual and performing arts. Despair and Desire will be addressed theoretically and experientially with opportunities for learning through dialogue in a variety of group settings.

Dear Colleagues,

The Scientific Programme Committee had a very rich and comprehensive response to the call for abstracts and can now offer the full details of the programme on the Timetable page. Thank you to all those who are contributing by attending, giving lectures, responses, workshops, conducting groups or giving to the Symposium in any other way. The level of response required us to think creatively about how to manage the programme, thus we have amended the timetable and provided two sessions for either papers or workshops in the afternoon. To accommodate the number registered, we have also had to move the Plenary Sessions to a larger venue – The Round Room at the Mansion House, which is also where the Large Group will be held.

Keynote Address:

Monday.
The Symposium will open with a keynote address to be given by Professor Declan Kiberd, Chairperson of Anglo-Irish Literature and Drama at University College Dublin and one of Ireland’s foremost intellectuals. Professor Kiberd will consider Despair, Dialogue and Desire from a literary perspective in his address “Joyce’s Ulysses: a talking cure?”

Plenary Sessions: The Plenary Speakers and their Respondents:
Tuesday:
The Lord John Alderdice “Desire, Death and Dialogue – Dealing with Terrorism” (Northern Ireland) will be responded to by Felix de Mendelssohn (Austria)
Wednesday:
Dr Juan Tubert-Oklander (Mexico) “The Matrix of Despair” will be responded to by Leo Finnegan (Ireland).
Thursday:
Prof. Joan Raphael Leff (U.K.) “Generative Identity and the Diversity of Desire” will be responded to by Dr Morris Nitsun, (U.K.).
Friday:
Prof. Stephen Frosh (U.K.) “Demand, Desire, and Psychotherapy” will be responded to by Prof. Claudio Neri, (Italy).

We have also some other news, innovations and changes to let you know about:

Afternoon Sessions.

There will be 13 parallel sessions running on each of the two afternoon sessions every day, so participants will be able to choose whether to attend sub-plenary lectures, paper panels/ extended discussions, workshops, supervision masterclasses or workshops involving creative applications of the theme.
In addition to the timing changes, we also decided to invite contributors to try a new model of presentation in some areas where there were many papers submitted. This Extended Discussion Model will involve presenters giving shorter presentations but allowing more time for a “ fishbowl ” type discussion so that dialogue and audience participation will be enhanced.
The new Extended Discussion (ED) model will apply to panels on the Social Unconscious, Affective Disorders, Working in Traumatised Societies, Developing a Group Analytic Mentality, and Working in the Health Services. A more detailed description of the Extended Discussion Model may be found on the Programme Format page.
In some workshops, space will be limited, so if you are keen to sign up for any particular workshop, you may book in with conference partners.

The Experiential programme:

The Large Group.
The Large Group will have three co-conductors: Goran Ahlin from Stockholm, Teresa von Sommaruga Howard (London) and David O’Brien (Dublin). Please see the Experiential Programme page for a letter from the Large Group Conductors.

Median and Small Groups.
We will be offering Median and Small Groups conducted by experienced group conductors from a range of countries. As registration is not complete we are not yet able to give the number of each type of group, but we are following the preferences indicated on registration forms. We had initially wished to offer the opportunity to participants to sign into small groups, but regrettably this will not be possible. Participants will be assigned to groups by the Committee and will find the details in their registration package. There will be an Experiential Group desk for those who note boundary issues or who may wish to change their group at registration.

Social Dreaming Matrix
In addition to the Small Groups and Median Groups the Scientific Committee is pleased to offer a further alternative: The Social Dreaming Matrix will be conducted by Gordon Lawrence, Earl Hopper, Claudio Neri, Robi Friedman and Gila Ofer. Please see the Experiential Programme page for further information.

Supervision Masterclasses.
There will also be the opportunity for you to attend Supervision Masterclasses Classical style, Reverie style and focussing on Transcultural and Organizational work. All the Masterclasses will be given by highly experienced Supervisors and to view further details please click on this link.
Supervision Masterclasses.

Booking Workshops.
You will be able to book into all the workshops and Supervision Masterclasses from June 6th by emailing your preferences to therese@conferencepartners.ie

Changing Experiential Groups.
With the addition of the new format of the Social Dreaming Matrix, or for any other reason, if you would like to change your preference for the type of experiential group you would most prefer, please send an e-mail to therese@conferencepartners.ie

We hope you will find the programme interesting and enjoyable,

Looking forward to your presence in Dublin

Jacinta Kennedy
Chair of the Scientific Programme Committee