The Decimation of Dreams- A conference for those who work with people who exhibit addictive and self-destructive behaviours.

Trying to care for people who abuse themselves with substances can feel like throwing love over a precipice. Addiction and other forms of destructive behaviour can undermine hope and sap our creativity as health professionals.   

At this conference, we will be exploring ways of understanding and working with addiction.  As with our previous experiential conferences, there will be some focus on the social understanding of dreams so that we can explore the unconscious impact of working with this patient group.

On Mountain Steep

On Mountain steep
There was a sheep
Who crawled behind a wall
She dreamt of chewing daisies
That were growing fair and tall
In time the grinding wind
That growled into a gale
Left the little sheep
Pale and drab
And daisies were a wire of barbs
‘Till sleep became a slumped farewell
And in the distance rang a bell
Farewell farewell little sheep
On mountain steep.

The Experiential Psychotherapy Initiative, is a psychotherapist cooperative that delivers affordable conferences.  Standard tickets, which includes lunch are £30 with £10 tickets available to NHS workers band 4 and below. We attract wide interest from the health care professions, psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, occupational therapists, music therapists, art therapists, health care assistants, protect workers, GP's, psychotherapists and counsellors have frequented our conferences.

We are delighted to welcome guest speaker Marion Bower. Marion has trained and worked as a teacher, social worker and adult psychotherapist. She has co-edited a book on ‘Addictive states of Mind’, and has also edited, co-edited three other books on the applications of psychoanalysis.

Marion's Presentation

The particular pattern of drinking I want to discuss is bingeing, when a large quantity of alcohol is ingested in one go. It can cause many sorts of damage, particularly in adolescence when parts of the brain are still developing. This paper will look at the unconscious motivations behind this behaviour, and the psychological difficulties in giving it up. Paradoxically those who depend on alcohol find dependency on helpful people difficult. Working with drinkers can be disheartening however I believe that an understanding of the problem increases workers’ resilience.

Our discussion groups are led by a well-established team of  Psychotherapists  and Group- Analysts who will help us  negotiate and develop ideas around this complex subject:

About EPI Staff Members

Bob Harris

Fully Qualified Member of the Institute of Group Analysis (IGA),1986.; Certificate in Education, University of Exeter; Approved Clinical Supervisor, Institute of Group Analysis UK; Formerly Principal NHS Psychotherapist and Director of Programmes at the Institute of Group Analysis. Currently Director of Training, Group Analysis Albania. Bob is also an author whose publications include the excellent book, Working with Distressed Young People, SAGE/Learning Matters 2011.

Julia Borossa

Julia has an interdisciplinary academic background in Literature and History of Science. Her research interests include the history, politics and cultures of the psychoanalytic movement; transcultural understandings of the psyche; social and state violence; trauma and resilience; groups and communities. Her research collaborations have led her to work on projects in Russia, Egypt, Lebanon and Brazil.  She also practises as a psychotherapist and a group analyst. She is committed to understanding how ways of using and interpreting dreams may differ or converge across cultures and co-convened dream workshops in Cairo.

Mike Tait

Full member of the Institute of Group analysis and Group Analytic Society International. Mike has worked for many years in therapeutic communities. A group analyst and drama therapist, Mike is well known for using cricket, mountaineering and other activities in helping troubled young people.  Mike has conducted many different types of groups, including dream groups in various settings.

Teresa von Sommaruga Howard

Teresa is an honorary member of the Institute of Group Analysis.  She has conducted groups in many different countries. Her careers in architecture and group analysis are combined in her book, Design Through Dialogue: A Guide for Architects and Clients (Architecture in Practice) by Franck, Karen A., von Sommaruga Howard, Teresa (2010). Having trained with the late Patrick de Maré, Teresa has an international reputation for conducting median and large groups as well as social dreaming matrices. 

Josephine Canty

Recently reitired, Josephine was a  member of The Institute of Group Analysis (IGA). She is  a qualified supervisor (IGA) and Art Psychotherapist.  Josephine’s work experience since 1988, includes drug rehabilitation centres, a NHS personality disorders unit and an HMS prison.

David Glyn

David is a group analyst and President of The Group-Analytic Society International. His psychotherapy work has included private individual and group work, supervision of NHS teams and individuals working in the NHS as well as teaching on group analytic trainings.

Mariajosé Blanco 

Maria-José Blanco has an academic background in Spanish literature and language. She is a Group Work Practitioner (IGA) and is in the final stages of her Group Analytic training. Her academic interest lays in Life-Writing and autobiography. She has co-edited The Power of Death: Reflections on Death in Western Society (Berghahn: 2014) and Feminine Singular: Women Growing Up Through Life-Writing in the Luso-Hispanic World (Peter Lang 2017). She has published two special issues of the Journal of Romance Studies on Autobiographical writing and Women’s Ageing in Literature.

Kevin Power

 Kevin qualified as a group-analytic psychotherapist in 1984 with the London Centre for Psychotherapy and was awarded an M.A. in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy from the University of Hertfordshire & Guild of Psychotherapists in 1998, and the IGA’s Certificate in Group-analytic Supervision in 2003. He is registered with the United Kingdom Council of Psychotherapists UKCP.  

Marcus Price 

Conference Organiser, UKCP registered Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, BAPPS registered clinical supervisor and a full member of the Group Analytic Society International. Marcus works in NHS and private practice psychotherapy. Having developed a career in psychodynamic psychotherapy from nursing practice, he has a particular interest in how experiential psychodynamic education can assist health care professionals from differing orientations and backgrounds. Founder of The Experiential Psychotherapy Initiative he currently organises and convenes the 'Psychodynamic Skills Training', an annual course, offering affordable support and training for health-care professionals. He is the poetry editor of 'Contexts' newsletter of the Group Analytic Society International.