IFT News

Robin Skynner Memorial Lecture 2010

We were delighted to welcome Dr Nick Goddard to present the Robin Skynner Memorial Lecture after the Institute's AGM on the 28th of January.  Dr Goddard, a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist in Amsterdam, spoke on Non-violent resistance, a technique he has adapted for systemic use in the acute adolescent ward where he works.  His talk highlighted how NVR has been successful in changing the climate on the ward with a reduction in violence and less frequent use of the isolation room.

We are pleased to feature the first of our occasional series of articles relating to workshops and are grateful to Mary Newman for her exploration of the dilemmas raised for systemic practitioners in applying the principles of non-violent resistance.  Click here to read the article.

Manager of Commissioned Work

We are delighted to announce that we have appointed Nick Pendry to the post of Manager of Commissioned Work. He takes up this post in October, replacing Chip Chimera, who is now concentrating on her responsibilities as Director of the Centre for Child Studies.

Nick has responsibility for creating the strategy to extend the commissioned work service into new areas. 

This is an exciting time and we are delighted to have Nick’s experience in leadership and management as well as his considerable therapeutic skills.

Chair of Graduate Certificate in Systemic Practice, Families and Couples and Child Focused Practice.

We are pleased to announce that we have appointed Sumita Dutta to the above post. She has extensive experience of teaching with IFT, having previously led the team for the Graduate  Certificate in Systemic Practice, Families and Couples.

In her new post, Sumita will work alongside Chip Chimera to develop closer links between the two streams of the Graduate Certificate. She will have responsibilities for organising and teaching on the courses, liaising with her counterpart at Birkbeck and working closely with her staff group and the students on the Advanced Certificate course both in London and Leicester.

Sumita brings a wealth of clinical experience with her to this post. We are delighted that she has joined us for one day per week from September 2009.

Chair of Graduate Certificate and masters in Conflict Resolution and Mediation Studies

We are happy to announce that we have appointed Barry Winbolt to this post with effect from September 2009. Barry has been Chair for the Graduate Certificate course for the last year and as Lorraine Schaffer steps aside from training, he also takes on responsibility for the Masters’ programme.

Barry joins us for two days per week and will arrange the courses, link with his counterpart at Birkbeck College and work directly with students.

Barry has lots of experience in working in Conflict resolution contexts as well as writing, managing courses and training events.

It is with great pleasure that we welcome Nick, Sumita and Barry to the staff at IFT.

IFT Connections 'Down Under'

We are pleased to announce that IFT has formed a 'twinning' relationship with The Bouverie Centre, Melbourne. The Bouverie Centre is the leading family therapy training centre in Australia and, like IFT, has courses from introductory to MSc to Doctorate levels.

The Centre also has a number of very well established, high calibre clinical services in family therapy, particularly sexual abuse, acquired brain injury and single session therapy. The Centre was established in 1956 as the Bouverie Clinic. During the next 24 years there was a transformation from traditional child guidance clinic to a creative and innovative specialist family therapy centre. In the late 1980s the Centre formed an academic relationship with Latrobe University (interestingly at the same time that IFT established its relationship with Birkbeck) and in 1996 the Centre formally became part of Latrobe University in the faculty of Health Sciences.

The Director of the Centre is Dr Colin Reiss and one of the senior therapists is Amaryl Perlesz, who co-edited the Therapeutic Relationship with Carmel Flaskas.

We have put a link to The Bouverie Centre on our website or you can go direct to http://www.latrobe.edu.au/www/bouverie/

The Bouverie and IFT have signed a memorandum of co-operation and agreed to co-operate in the following ways:

• the promotion of each others commercial activities such as video tapes and books
• the promotion of professional contact between staff and students
• the exploration of the possibility of occasional joint publications
• the organisation of networking opportunities for staff, members and students who may be spending short periods of time in Melbourne and London respectively
• The collaboration with the Bouverie Centre is an exciting development and we will be letting members and students know more details in the next few months.

Publications

IFT Members current and forthcoming publications

Gross, V. & Goldin, J. (2008) Dynamics and Dilemmas in Working with Families in Inpatient CAMHS. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry

Hildebrand, J. & Markovic, D. (2007) Systemic therapists's experience of powerlessness. Au stralian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy. Vol.28 No.4, December. p.191-199.

Jenkins, H. (2006) Inside out or outside in: meeting with couples. Journal of Family Therapy. 28. 113-135.

Jenkins, H. (2006) A Rendszer Kezelése: Válogatás egy Család-Specialistától. (Managing the System: Selections from a Specialist in Family Therapy.) Budapest. Animula Publishers.

Littlejohns, S. & Szmukler, L. (2007) Deconstructing Agnes – externalisation in systemic supervision. Journal of Family Therapy, vol 29, 3.

Markovic, D. (2007) Working with sexual issues in systemic therapy. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy Vol.28 No.4, December. P.200-209.

Perelberg, R. J. (2007) Time and Memory. Psychology.

Wilson, J. (2007) The Performance of Practice. Karnac, London.

Please keep us informed of any books and articles you are publishing.

Centre for Mediation & Conflict Resolution News

The Family Mediation Service has branched out in several ways. In addition to offering mediation to people who are separating and divorcing, we also offer a "Conflict Resolution Service" to people who want help with other kinds of family conflict or disputes. These might be between parents and teen-agers, between adult siblings, between parents and their adult children, disputes over money or wills; any kind of conflict where mediation or other forms of conflict resolution might be suitable.

Why mediation rather than counselling or therapy? Mediation is a short-term intervention and works well where there are specific issues that are causing difficulty in relationships. People often get stuck in ways of relating and may find they are having the same arguments over and over, or they are afraid of losing face, or they cannot see a way forward. Mediators are skilled in dealing with conflict and disputes and the process of mediation is about helping people to find their own solutions. If you think the conflict resolution service might be helpful, please contact us by phone or email.

The Graduate programme of courses in conflict resolution and mediation studies that we run in collaboration with Birkbeck, University of London is well established and in its sixth year. The Postgraduate Certificate has become and Advanced Certificate to enable more flexible entry and the MSc is a two-year programme. Over one hundred students have completed the courses in total. These courses are pioneering in the UK in offering an academic qualification for mediators and the theoretical knowledge about conflict and approaches to conflict interventions, which has been lacking in the skills based training in mediation currently available in the UK. As part of the courses programme we have had Masterclasses with notable writers and practitioners such as Bernie Mayer, Kenneth Cloke, and Joe Folger.

The Centre also has a very successful programme of workshops and conferences relating to mediation and conflict resolution. Presenters have included Allan Barsky, Joan Kelly, John Winslade, Howard Irving, Joseph Folger, and Christina McGhee. We have also had Mediation Study Days and a Conference about Separating Families

Mediation and other forms of dispute resolution are still relatively new areas of practice in the UK and this Centre is proud to be at the cutting edge of developments in the field, providing a high quality service to clients and a centre of excellence in training and academic study. For information about the courses and the workshop programme, please click on training or contact Dan Jeans. For enquires about the mediation and conflict resolution service, contact Natasa Golja.

Lorraine Schaffer
Director of the Centre for Mediation and Conflict Resolution.