Επιστρέψαμε από το Λονδίνο… Γεμάτες μέρες, με ρυθμούς τρελλούς! Αρχικά στο σεμινάριο των Arny και Amy Mindell, μετά στη διήμερη συνάντηση των μελών του IAPOP (International Association of Process Oriented Psychology), και – last but not least- στο 3ήμερο συνέδριο του Process Work.
Στο σεμινάριο των Mindell, είχαμε την ευκαιρία να δουλέψουμε σαν τριάδα (Λίλη, Λένα, Αλεξάνδρα) πάνω στό όραμα για το Process Work στην Ελλάδα. Ψάξαμε να ‘βρούμε’ μέσα από κίνηση το ‘process mind’, το πεδίο που οργανώνει την ομάδα… Μερικές φωτογραφίες από αυτή τη δουλειά
Μετά το τέλος της κίνησης, φτιάξαμε ένα σκίτσο με το ‘logo’ του ‘πεδίου’ :-)
Στη διήμερη συνάντηση των μελών του IAPOP (δυο μέρες διεργασίας ομάδας 10 – 5!!), είχαμε την ευκαιρία να εστιάσουμε στο όραμα για την διεθνή εταιρία, στις σχέσεις μεταξύ των μελών, στα εκπαιδευτικά standards για τα διάφορα προγράμματα του Process Work ανά τον κόσμο.
Ήταν μια σπάνια ευκαιρία να συναντηθούμε face to face, να κουβεντιάσουμε, να διαφωνήοσυμε, να εξερευνήσουμε ρόλους και φωνές, και να ονειρευτούμε μαζί…
Ακολούθησε το 1ο Διεθνές Συνέδριο της IAPOP, με τρεις μέρες γεμάτες παρουσιάσεις 52 συναδέλφων, από 17 χώρες. Απολαύσαμε ο ένας τη δουλειά του άλλου, εμπνευστήκαμε από τη δημιουργικοτητα των εφαρμογών του Process Work και αναναιώσαμε το ραντεβού μας για το 2ο συνέδριο σε λίγα χρόνια….
Ακολουθούν τα abstracts των παρουσιάσεων των Ελλήνων συνεργατώνς:
Walking Our Talk: Group Process and Conflict Resolution in Thrace, Greece
Alexandra A Vassiliou, Lena Aslanidou
Since 1997, Greece has been implementing a large-scale intervention project aiming at reforming the education of the Muslim minority in Western Thrace. As part of this program, two community centers were set up, staffed by minority and majority personnel (Muslim and Christian). Since October 2006, additional support for these centers was offered in the
form of ‘group process and conflict resolution training’ for the staff. In these monthly gatherings we offer training on conflict resolution, and facilitate a group process for the staff using the Process Work facilitation tools. During our involvement in the program we found that issues arising in the larger community in Thrace manifested in the group, as well as the complexities of individual choice vs. group identity. In this presentation we will talk about our experience thus far, our successes and failures, things we tried and things we did not. In attempting to ‘walk our talk’ we found ourselves at times immersed in the process, being dreamt up to be part of the field. Others, we were able to meta-communicate about what was happening and to facilitate the group to gain a deeper understanding of their experiences, both on an individual as well as a collective level.
Intimate Interactions
Vassiliki Katrivanou
“Intimate Interactions” is a documentary on how a group of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot women handles conflict during the period of the referendum in Cyprus for the reunification of the island, in April 2004. The film explores how one can create change and a sense of home through intimate interactions. It shows a special and inspiring capacity for contact between women that transcends national, religious and class differences. Their love for their land and community and their longing for a better future motivates them to cross all kinds of boundaries. This whole process resonates with my personal journey as a woman raised in Greece, and brought up within the cultural framework of specific gender relationships and nationalism. It reflects my desire for creating community in the midst of conflict. Using the film as a reference point, I want to discuss specifically how public dialogue, within the framework of Deep Democracy, can be a vehicle for conflict work and civil empowerment. The Deep Democracy approach to public dialogue, which addresses the socio-political facts and at the same time the feelings and dreaming of the people, furthers more intimate interactions, by supporting a deeper rapprochement with the “other.”
The Art of War in the Path of Process: a Process Work Map of the Cold War
Nancy Papathanasiou
The purpose of this presentation is to discuss the Process Work point of view in regard to the Cold War conflict and focus on the historical and political processes that led to it. Myths that led to the Cold War, roles, ghost roles, edges and hot spots are presented. The Cold War was a unique conflict in human history, in terms of arousing the collective unconscious and its aftereffects still influences the international political scene today. The aim is to interpret the historical facts surrounding this period using process oriented psychology. Published literature sources from different disciplines are discussed, as well as the implications in present and future international relations.
Process Work with Panic Attacks
Lily Vassiliou
Panic attacks are terrifying experiences that disrupt the flow of everyday life. The application of Process Work to panic attacks emphasizes the role of awareness and addresses the multidimensionality of individual experience by investigating biomedical and contextual, as well as dreamlike aspects (i.e., a person’s subjective experience of the neurobiological and cognitive features) of panic attacks. This presentation is based Lily Vassiliou’s doctoral research and her subsequent clinical experience. The research involved a multiple case-study of the work of Dr. Arnold Mindell – the founder of Process Work – with the researcher and five other people who have experienced unexpected panic attacks, from which the approach was abstracted and delineated in nine steps (phases of the work) that describe broad directions and methods composing the therapeutic interaction observed across the six cases. A central hypothesis, brought to the foreground by the explication of the approach is that embedded within the experience of a panic attack is a needed direction for a person’s life (aspects of a person’s nature marginalized by the person’s identity), which can be revealed by the unfolding of the dreamlike aspects of a panic attack. Implied in this central hypothesis is the hypothesis that aligning oneself with the needed direction (i.e., becoming aware of the marginalized aspects of one’s nature, opening up to them, and continually and consistently allowing everyday life to be recreated from that sense of oneself) can have an effect on the person’s experience of panic attacks (i.e., reduce the severity or eliminate the panic attacks). These hypotheses imply a mind-body connection – an interaction between one’s awareness and one’s body, between awareness and matter. The above formulated hypotheses warrant investigation in future research.
Πίσω στην Αθήνα τώρα, με τις καρδιές γεμάτες και με πολλές ιδέες για το μέλλον….