Conference 2024

Group Therapy Centre Cambridge Conference

— CANCELLED —

12 October 2024 9.30am – 4.30pm

Unhoused Minds and Inhospitable Environments

Exclusion, Migration, Trauma and Belonging

 

Speakers: Christopher Scanlon and John Adlam
Respondent: Revd. Alex Clare-Young

“At a time of cultural devastation, the reality a courageous person has to face up to is that one has to face up to reality in new ways”.

– Jonathan Lear, 2008
Venue: Downing Place URC, Cambridge CB2 3EL
grouptherapycambridge.org.uk

About the Conference

Nation states of the Global North continue to respond to complex issues of human migration and homelessness, in the gathering shadows of war and climate disaster, with simplistic sloganeering – ‘Stop the boats’ – and with cynical measures to criminalise the migrant and the vagrant. Rarely does consideration of our part in displacing people, or of the ethic of hospitality towards our fellow human beings, intrude upon these public ‘controversies’.

This conference will explore the nature of un-housedness, the dynamics of “in-groups” and “out-groups” and the issues of belonging and membership, domination and power using the lens of the “Diogenes Paradigm” (Scanlon and Adlam 2022).

We hope to join with you in new conversations around what a hospitable approach of welcoming the boats might look like in this Anthropocene Age; what ethical and conceptual premises would it be founded on; what structures and practices would sustain it; and how we might come together to reclaim the stigmatising term ‘vagabondage’?

There will be opportunities for small and large group discussions facilitated by the Group Therapy Centre staff team.

All are welcome to attend and to participate in this unique event. It will be of interest to both the housed and the unhoused; to practitioners working with marginalised individuals and groups; to all those who have an interest in exploring ways to promote and to practise hospitality and social inclusion at both personal and community levels.

CPD Certificates will be issued.

Speakers

John Adlam is a group psychotherapist and independent researcher, working mainly in the National Health Service, UK. He is a founder member of the Association for Psychosocial Studies and of the Henderson Heritage Group.

Christopher Scanlon is a psycho-social consultant/researcher and consultant psychotherapist in forensic and adult mental health. He is a training group analyst and the Institute of Group Analysis and the Irish Group Analytic Society, and founder member of the Association for Psychosocial Studies.

Alex Clare-Young (they/them) is Pioneer Minister working out of Downing Place Church. They are also a trans non-binary person and have written and worked extensively in the area of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Registration

To register, please contact Joanne.Smith@grouptherapycambridge.org.uk

  • Early Bird – £50 (until 31st August)
  • Concession – £50 (charitable organisations and students)
  • Full – £75
  • There are free places available for unwaged and those receiving benefits
Payment by BACS:
Group Therapy Centre
Sort code: 30 91 56
Account number: 00015775

Please reference payment with C24 and your name.

For receipt or invoice please contact Joanne.Smith@grouptherapycambridge.org.uk

For any other queries please contact Andy Espey, Centre Director
Andy.Espey@grouptherapycambridge.org.uk

About the Group Therapy Centre

The Group Therapy Centre is a not-for-profit charitable organization which has provided free and low cost group psychotherapies to the people of Cambridgeshire for over 50 years. The Centre is part-funded by local NHS commissioners.

grouptherapycambridge.org.uk

Conference Timetable

9.30amRegistration
10.00amIntroductions
10.15am – 11.30amSpeakers and Response
11.30am – 12.00noonBreak
12.00noon – 1.00pmLarge group discussion
1.00pm – 2.00pmLunch
2.00pm – 2.15pmProvocation / preparation for small groups
2.15pm – 3.15pmSmall group discussion
3.15pm – 3.30pmBreak
3.30pm – 4.30pmLarge group discussion / plenary

References

Lear, J. (2008). Radical Hope: Ethics in the Face of Cultural Devastation. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Scanlon, C. & Adlam, J. (2022). Psycho-social Explorations of Trauma, Exclusion and Violence: Un-housed Minds and Inhospitable Environments. London: Routledge