This is a slow conference, meaning there will be time for deep reflection and listening.
The conference will take place Thursday and Friday at a monastery, with the St. Joseph sisters in Oslo.
Address: Gladsvei 23, 0489 Oslo.
Program
Download the conference programme (PDF)
Thursday, June 12th
8:30 – Registration
9:00 – Welcome
9:30 – 12:00 Mark Rivett, UK
“The snowy heron in the bright moon hides”: Systemic family psychotherapy as Zen practice.
Zen Master Dogen said “To study the way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by ten thousand things”. This workshop will be an unfolding of these words within the context of family psychotherapy. We will explore how Zen insights can deepen the spiritual side of our psychotherapy practice and yet always hold open possibilities of awe and uncertainty.
Zen will be presented as a postmodern spirituality drawing on the work of the theologian Don Cupitt and the Buddhist philosopher Stephen Batchelor. To paraphrase Cupitt, psychotherapy is a place where we can practise “solar living” and experience relational consciousness like a constantly flowing fountain: always moving with unpredictable beauty.
We will experiment with a number of exercises that focus our therapeutic attention to the moment to moment creation of the self which connects each of us and the families we work with, to each other. The presentation will be full of engaging Zen stories and riddles; personal experiences and clinical challenges.
Mark Rivett has been a Soto Zen Buddhist since 1979. That is a long time sitting facing a wall! When he wasn’t facing a wall, he was busy making a life with his wife and two sons, being editor of Journal of Family Therapy (2008-13), being Co-Director of Systemic Programmes at University of Exeter, and working as a family psychotherapist in a range of services. He has published four books, (three on family psychotherapy), and numerous articles. He is also a storyteller, primarily of ‘folk tales’, some of which he has published. He does not claim to be a spiritual teacher, but Zen practice has sustained his psychotherapy career, and he knows how that happened.
12:00 – 13:00 Lunch
13:00 – 16:00 Workshops in groups
16:00 – 17:00 Possibility for yoga, prayer, meditation or a walk
19:00 – 22:00 Dinner with programme.
Book release: “Working with Spirituality in Family Systemic Practice; Including Clients' Spiritual Life in Therapeutic Work” (Palgrave Macmillan)
Dr Åse Holmberg & Dr Per Jensen. Led by Jim Sheehan, professor II emeritus, VID Specialized University
Musical experience: “Access to existential and religious themes - through music and words.” Professor Lasse Thorese, Composition, Music Theory and Music Technology Department
Friday, June 13th
8:30 – 9:00 Time for meditation or prayer if desired
9:15 Good morning
9:30 – 12.00 Dr. Angela Lamson, USA
Theme: Spirituality and Health: Integrated Care and the Soul of the System
Dr. Angela Lamson, PhD, LMFT-Dr. Angela Lamson, PhD, LMFT, Nancy W. Darden Distinguished Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science at East Carolina University and currently serves as Senior Fellow for the Office of Innovation and Engagement. She is an AAMFT Clinical Fellow and Approved Supervisor. She is the co-creator of the first medical family therapy doctoral program in the United States. Dr. Lamson's teaching, external funding, and publications have been devoted to Medical Family Therapy and integrated care, particularly in the areas of trauma, biopsychosocial-spiritual health, and protective factors in the lives of individuals, couples, families, and providers.
12:00 – 13:00 Lunch
13:00 – 15:30 Workshops in groups
15:30 – 16.00 Closing remarks
Workshops
Dr. Reenee Singh (UK): Transgenerational Trauma/Resiliencies, in the context of the Partition of India, linked to Existentialism and Spirituality.
Dr. Lizette Nolte (UK): Doing hope in troubled times. This workshop will consider troubled times of rupture, loss, and uncertainty, and consider what hope could look like at those times.
Petra Deij (NL): Reflectivity and reflexivity in systemic practice. In this workshop, we explore the meaning of these concepts; how values, felt sense and inner dialogues can become part of professionalism and how they can be integrated into everyday practice.
Ulrika Ernvik (SE): Spirituality in a systemic context, with both children and adults. This workshop will be an inspiration in how we can include the relationship with nature and God in creative ways, based on research and practice.
Dr. Farhana Maleque (UK): Therapeutically trained Muslim Faith Leaders’ experiences of Islamically-informed mental health support in the Muslim community.
Dr. Shivani Patel: A qualitative exploration of the experience of bereavement amongst Gujaratis in the South Asian community
Nadir Khan (Doctoral candidate, UK): “Systems as Gnosis – The Adab of Spiritual Reflexivity”. This workshop will explore the understanding and practice of what I term ‘Spiritual Reflexivity’ as a Muslim systemic psychotherapist drawing inspiration from sources from within Islamic intellectual tradition and particularly Islamic mysticism.
Camilla Christine Holm (Doctoral candidate, NO): A phenomenological study of in-patients’ spiritual experiences within specialized mental health care.
Dr Jacqui Scott, (UK): "God brought us here alive"; Guidance from the values, strengths, difficulties, and faith of young refugees who arrived unaccompanied in the UK.
Liv Hilde Briså (Doctoral Candidate, NO): Faith as a driving force: How are professional helpers motivated by religious beliefs? And what does it mean to integrate their personal faith with their professional identity?
Stephen Rodriguez-Elizalde (Doctoral Candidate, NO): Exploring the Intersection of Spirituality, Therapy, and Men’s Existential Struggles: Uncovering Pathways to Meaning, Wellbeing, and Resilience. This research aims to understand how spiritual group practices help men navigate existential struggles, improve well-being, and reshape perceptions of masculinity.
April Holten (Family Therapist, NO): “Discovering Spirituality in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT) - a clinical exploration”.
Lene Bjølverud-Rødningsby (Master student in systemic family therapy, NO): How family therapists relate to their own spirituality and how this promotes and inhibits their practice.
David Humphreys (Family Therapist Academic Tutor & Supervisor, UK): Spiritual Disquiet: family therapy and decolonising care.
Maimunah Mosli (SG): NeuroSpiritual Dialogues: Servanthood,Emotion and Embodied Healing in Systemic Practice – Experiences from the East.