Psychotherapy & Counselling’s Contribution to Global Peace, Justice, and Wellbeing: What Difference Can we Make? An Emergency Summit

We live in terrifying times. The war in Ukraine has broken apart any semblance of global peace and security we might have had.

Many of us, as counsellors, psychotherapists, and psychologists, are asking what we can do—if anything? This Emergency Summit will bring together globally-leading theorists, researchers, and clinicians in the psychotherapy and counselling field to discuss the potential role that we can have in creating a more just and peaceful world: one in which all members of the global community have the opportunity to live full and satisfying lives.

Our talks will cover both the practical things that therapists can do, for instance working with war traumatised clients; challenging racism and a Eurocentric view of the world; and more theoretical explorations of the links between therapeutic ideas and conflict resolution practices.

Fundraising
All profits from this event will be donated to the UN Crisis Relief appeal to support the people of Ukraine. You can read more about UN Crisis Relief and make a donation on the link below.

https://crisisrelief.un.org/ukraine-crisis

All of the presenters are donating their time without charge. The event will be hosted by ONLINEVENTS LTD (OE) and OE will be donating all the team time to organise and host the conference. The Eventbrite fees, any sales tax incurred and the cost of using Zoom will be paid from the event income.

Confirmed Speakers:

Andrew Reeves

Dr Andrew Reeves is an Associate Professor in the Counselling Professions and Mental Health, a BACP Senior Accredited Counsellor/Psychotherapist and a Registered Social Worker. His practice experience spans over 35 years, when he first trained as a Samaritans volunteer at 18, before moving into social and work therapy. His research focus in working with risk in therapy, having experienced the suicide of a client during his training. Since then, he was published extensively in this area. He is previous Editor-in-Chief of Counselling and Psychotherapy Research journal, past-Chair of BACP and is Chair of the York St John Advisory Board Counselling and Mental Health Research Clinic. He supervises mostly doctoral research in counselling, psychotherapy and psychological trauma.

Carol Wolter-Gustafson

As a facilitator, therapist, and university adjunct, the person-centered approach has been her theoretical and experiential home-base since her first group encounter group with Carl Rogers. Carol has explored human wholeness, brokenness, and our power in our personal and social relationships. Her work is cultivating alternatives to the destructive, “us vs them” zeitgeist in her writing and Going Global Workshops.

Emmy van Deurzen

Emmy van Deurzen is a professor of Psychology and Psychotherapy with 18 books to her name, several of which have been translated into a dozen languages. She is the Co-Founder and Principal of the Existential Academy (www.existentialacademy.com), where she also runs post graduate courses through the New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling in partnership with Middlesex University (www.nspc.org.uk) and her private practice (www.dilemmaconsultancy.com). Born and raised in the Netherlands, she lived, studied, and worked in France before settling in the UK in 1977. Emmy has been instrumental in founding or cofounding numerous organizations, including the Society for Existential Analysis, the Federation for Existential Therapy in Europe and the World Confederation of Existential Therapy. She has helped people in facing their life problems and suffering for nearly half a century. Amongst her books are the bestsellers Existential Psychotherapy and Counselling in Practice (3d edition 2012), Psychotherapy and the Quest for Happiness (Sage, 2009), Everyday Mysteries (2nd edition Routledge, 2010) and Paradox and Passion (2nd edition, Wiley, 2015). Her book Rising from Existential Crisis was published with PCCS books in 2021. She is currently writing a book on Existential Freedom for Penguin.

Ernesto Spinelli

Professor Ernesto Spinelli was Chair of the Society for Existential Analysis between 1993 and 1999 and is a Life Member of the Society. His writings, lectures and seminars focus on the application of existential phenomenology to the arenas of therapy, psychology, and executive coaching. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS) as well as an APECS accredited executive coach and coaching supervisor. In 1999, Ernesto was awarded a Personal Chair as Professor of psychotherapy, counselling and counselling psychology. In 2000, he was the Recipient of BPS Division of Counselling Psychology Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession. And in 2019, Ernesto received the BPS Award for Distinguished Contribution to Practice. His most recent book, Practising Existential Therapy: The Relational World 2nd edition (Sage, 2015) has been widely praised as a major contribution to the advancement of existential theory and practice. His previous books include: The Interpreted World: an introduction to phenomenological psychology, 2nd ed (Sage, 2005); Demystifying Therapy (PCCS, 2006); Tales of Un-knowing (PCCS, 2006); and The Mirror and The Hammer: challenging therapeutic orthodoxies (Sage, 2001). Living up to the existential dictum that life is absurd, Ernesto is also the author of an on-going series of Private Eye novels, the first two of which are Scorpio's Children (2019) and Cruel Love Ways (2020).

Jaako Sekkula

Jaakko Seikkula, Ph.D. is a senior faculty member of the Institute for Dialogic Practice and a Professor of Psychotherapy at the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland. From 1981 to 1998, he was the chief psychologist at Keropudas Hospital in Tornio, Finland. It was during this time that he developed Open Dialogue. His clinical and research interests combine the further development of dialogical approaches with the systematic research analysis of their outcomes and process variables. Jaakko leads the International Meeting for Treatment of Psychosis Network and is a board member of the International Family Therapy Association (IFTA). He is also a member of the American Family Therapy Academy, the Society of Psychotherapy Research and the International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis (ISPS). Jaakko was awarded for his excellence in the field of research in family therapy and systemic practice at the European Family Therapy Association EFTA’s congress in Athens, Greece September 2016.

John McLeod

John McLeod is Professor Emeritus of Counselling at the University of Abertay Dundee. He is author of An Introduction to Counselling (Buckingham: Open University Press, 4th edn 2009), The Counsellor's Workbook: Developing a Personal Approach (Buckingham: Open University Press, 2nd edn., 2009), Case Study Research in Counselling and Psychotherapy (Sage, 2010), A Training Manual in Research Skills and Awareness for Counsellors and Psychotherapists (with Robert Elliott and Sue Wheeler) (BACP, 2010), Qualitative Research in Counselling and Psychotherapy (London: Sage, 2nd edn., 2011), and Counselling Skills (with Julia McLeod) (Buckingham: Open University Press, 2nd edn, 2011), as well as articles and chapters on a wide range of topics in the field of counselling and psychotherapy. He was the founding editor of the BACP research journal, Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, and is committed to the use of research and inquiry to enhance the quality of services offered to clients.

Mick Cooper

Mick Cooper is an internationally recognised author, trainer, and consultant in the field of humanistic, existential, and pluralistic therapies. He is a Chartered Psychologist, and Professor of Counselling Psychology at the University of Roehampton. He has facilitated workshops and lectures around the world, including New Zealand, Lithuania, and Florida. His books include Existential Therapies (Sage, 2017), Working at Relational Depth in Counselling and Psychotherapy (Sage, 2018), and The Handbook of Person-Centred Psychotherapy and Counselling (Palgrave, 2013). His latest work is Integrating Counselling and Psychotherapy: Directionality, Synergy, and Social Change (Sage, 2019). His principal areas of research have been in shared decision-making/personalising therapy, and counselling for young people in schools. In 2014, Mick received the Carmi Harari Mid-Career Award from Division 32 of the American Psychological Association. He is a Fellow of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and the Academy of Social Sciences.

Paul Gilbert

Paul Gilbert OBE qualified in clinical psychology in 1980 and is professor of clinical psychology at the University of Derby and has had a number of visiting international professorships. From his extensive clinical and research work he developed compassion focused therapy for people with complex mental health problems.

Peggy Natiello

Peggy Natiello’s professional life has focused on Client-centred therapy and the Person-centred approach. Her book, The Person- centred Approach: A Passionate Presence, was written to clarify the importance of Dr. Carl Rogers’s radical beliefs about psychotherapy, education, group work, organizational development, and life. Currently she is reflecting on the perfect fit between those beliefs and the dizzying changes confronting our global culture.

Windy Dryden

I am a CBT Therapist, Trainer, Academic and Writer. I am Emeritus Professor of Psychotherapeutic Studies at Goldsmiths University of London and have been working in the field of counselling and psychotherapy since 1975. I was one of the first people in Britain to be trained in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and have trained with Drs. Albert Ellis, Aaron T. Beck and Arnold Lazarus. I have also trained at the University of Warwick where I was awarded an MSc in Psychotherapy. This was an eclectic course and gave me a very broad view of the field. What has been important and sustaining in my career has been variety. Thus, I work as a practitioner, trainer, academic and writer/editor. 

Additional Confirmed Speakers

Colleagues from Ukraine 

Digby Tantam 

Jaako Sekkula 

Lucia Berdondini 

Maureen O'Hara

Mhairi Thurston 

Nora Sveaass 

Event Venue
This workshop will be hosted on the Zoom meeting platform where we will use our camera and microphones to interact with each other.

Event Tickets
Registration for this event is offered as a self-select fee.

The self-select fee is a radical inclusion policy to open learning for all colleagues. The guide price for this event is £20.00, however, we appreciate that income varies greatly in different locations and circumstances. Please contribute what you can to help us raise money to be sent to Ukraine.

There is a ticket for access to recordings made at the event which is available for £19.99GBP.

We are expecting that we will be able to record most of the contributions to this event, however, there may be contributions that are not appropriate for recording and will not be included in the recordings viewable following the event.