GANZ Conference Melbourne 2012 - September 7 - 9

elements of change | context : connection : complexity

 
Thus by being what one is - fully - one can become something else (Beisser)
 

The 2012 GANZ Melbourne conference will focus on the nature of therapeutic change as informed by the philosophy of gestalt psychotherapy. We will explore the unique contribution of gestalt practice to the broader conversation about change within both clinical and organizational settings. The plenary sessions will be with Mark McConville PhD, who will speak to the elements of change through the lenses of context, connection and complexity.

Gestalt practitioners have traditionally moved away from the concept of the therapist as a change agent, instead placing an emphasis on the ‘paradoxical theory of change’. So given most clients engage in therapy encounters because they want change in their life; it is vitally important that we think about change and what is the role of the gestalt practitioner in the change process. What constitutes change?  How does change emerge?

Gordon Wheeler’s closing plenary at the 2009 Gestalt conference in Queenstown left us to consider his thoughts that the PTC is not sufficient that our philosophy requires us to extend beyond this concept. With this in mind the 2012 conference committee wanted to created an opportunity for practitioners and theorists to discuss this fundamental clinical concept.

As contextualist we recognize that we are fully embedded in our experiential worlds (context), change emerges through being met via phenomenological dialogue (connection) which can enables us to see beyond the horizon of what is already known, and to come to understand together what has not yet been possible to know alone (complexity).

The 2012 Melbourne Conference will be about the theory and practice of contemporary gestalt therapy.  A plenary session each day will be conducted by Mark McConville who will draw on his own practice, and reflects on the theory and practice of change in various settings.  There will also be well-supported opportunities to reflect on each other’s practice, with space each day for case conversations.  Our hope is that this conference will re-energize interest in thinking about this core aspect of therapeutic practice with individuals, couples, families and within organizations.

We say that we conduct a conversation but the more genuine a conversation is, the less its conduct lies within the will of either partner. Thus a genuine conversation is never the one that we wanted to conduct……… the partners conversing are far less the leaders of it than the led (Hans- Georg Gadamer)

Gestalt Australia New Zealand extends an invitation and welcomes you to attend this conference in Melbourne Australia in 2012.