The Institute of Group Analysis Steering Committee
At present, the steering comittee operates as a subcommittee of the Sydney GAS, which is the legally incorporated body, and are funded by it.
The committee now consists of:
Peter Bott, MRCPsych, Member Institute of Group Analysis (London), Member NSW Institute of Psychotherapy, Founding Chairman the Group-Analytic Society (Sydney), Member International Association of Group Psychotherapists, Associate Member Australian Institute of Socioanalysis.
Ken Mackey, MRCPsych, FRANZCP, Founding Member NSW Institute of Psychotherapy, Past President Australian Association of Group Psychotherapists.
Anne Noonan, MB BS (Syd), MD (Rome) MA (Syd), Founding Member Australian and New Zealand Association of Jungian Analysts, Member Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychotherapists, Member Australian Association of Group Psychotherapists, Member International Association of Analytical Psychologists, Member International Association of Group Psychotherapy.
Lorraine Rose, B Psych (WA), BAhons (Macquarie), M Psychol (NSW) former Head of training, New South Wales Institute of Psychotherapy, Member Australian Institute of Socioanalysis, Former Editor Australian Journal of Psychotherapy.
We have just started looking at augmenting the critical mass of colleagues supporting our work by developing a list of consultants to the Committee – people who are not expected to be on the working committee, but are available from time to time to give advice, feedback etc.
So far, we are fortunate to have one of our former Committee Members continuing in this new role:
Claire Bundey, A.M., D.Litt.hons caus (Charles Sturt), Life Member AASW, member of committees too numerous to mention.
At this early stage, we see our role as mainly a coordinating one, assisting participants to move towards a position where they may competently conduct analytic psychotherapy groups, and to be able to apply core principles to other settings – such as organisational work.]
Our stance leans towards working with participants in gaining an understanding of their professional developmental needs, in a very broad sense, and coordinating training activities directed towards meeting those needs. This is in distinction to a narrow, prescriptive approach.
We are in the process of formally applying to join the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (this is the umbrella body, and includes all the camps) as one of the foundation organisations which was formally launched late last year.
We are already members of the Australian Confederation of Psychoanalytic and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Associations, which will take its place as one of the Sections of PACFA.
As part of this process, we are drawing up a code of ethics acceptable to PACFA, and will be adapting the curriculum of the Monash Masters in Group Analysis course as a comprehensive theoretical coverage for participants to consider. We do not see ourselves as prescribing clinical and personal requirements, but participants who wish to be eligible for entry into the PACFA register of practitioners, or apply for membership of the Australian Association of Group Psychotherapists, may require these, and other, elements to be included in their IGASS training programme.
We are in the process of formally gathering support from the AAGP, the International Association of Group Psychotherapy, and are a Member of the European Group-Analytic Training Institutions Network. Thus we are ion the process of establishing links with the National and International Group Psychotherapy networks, as well as the network of European Group-Analytic training bodies.
We envisage our operational activities, in the early stages, to be mainly directed towards gathering together a core group of more senior participants who will already have many of the formal requirements, as well as bringing a wealth of their own experiences and expertise which will enable them to contribute to the training activities.
We envisage, in the first instance, that participants will undertake an audit of their professional and personal development, and training activities will be directed towards augmenting these, and providing further development where necessary for them to add to their ‘professional portfolio’. Participants may be expected, where appropriate, to act as coordinators or resource professionals for elements of the training activities.
We envisage that where segments of the IGASS training overlap with other local training schemes, trainees from these bodies may, from time to time, participate in joint activities. Where the local resources are insufficient, we envisage exploring innovative ways to assist our participants to gain essential experience to include in their ‘portfolio’.
Our first activity will be a Group-Analytic Study Day in mid-April ( exploring Countertransference and Projective Phenomena) . It is expected that participants from both Brisbane & Melbourne AAGP training schemes, and the Monash Masters course will be attending, so that will be an opportunity for local people interested in the IGASS training scheme to meet with interstate colleagues.There will be some time in the plenary session to discuss possible linkage of these training schemes.
I expect our next major move to be the establishment of a Directorate of Training, accountable to the Committee, and a call for expressions of interest from potential participants,
Sincerely
Peter Bott