A personal note from the program chair, Hinda Winawer I was invited to write, as program chair, about planning the AFTA 2000 meeting. The description of an effort on which one has worked with colleagues over sixteen months does not afford even the illusion of objectivity. The following reflections, written in the wake of the generosity of support for the work of the program committee are, of course, subjective and personal; they are offered in appreciation to past and future program chairs and committees, who each year lay down the foundation for the next. Years ago, I assisted Ross and Joan Speck and Uri Ruveni at a network therapy meeting in rural Pennsylvania. The Specks and Ruveni had written about the network approach. The landmark book had been authored by Ross and Carolyn Attneave. At the time of this particular network, I was writing about German Families for the first edition of Ethnicity and Family Therapy. The Specks and Ruveni had convened a meeting for a young man and his mother, and their extended family, Pennsylvania Dutch of Rhineland ancestry. We met in a farmhouse built in the previous century. Through the many long windows of slightly wavy older glass, streamed a brilliant, crisp September sunlight. The house was brimful of people of all ages: chunky blonde and pink babies in diapers and undershirts, preschoolers chasing each other through the web of adult legs, teenagers who didn't quite know what to do, and adults of various ages and backgrounds. The assembled were the natural network of the young man and his mother. They had come from the immediate area and from great distances. Some were aunts, some cousins, some teachers, clergy, neighbors, colleagues and friends. In some respects, it felt like a family and friends' gathering of any number of cultures. Without much apparent transition, Uri Ruveni had us standing, gathered together and we were singing. We might have been swaying. I can't remember if we were touching, but we could have been. What followed - and I can no longer recall the details - was an organized sequence of events: a declaration of support, a delineation of the problem, a moving discussion about the young man's relational legacy in the extended family history, and a division into task focused groups. Later we reconvened in the big room where we had started, this time for a review and closing ritual. It was a long day. In the end, there was a great sense of accomplishment. All had learned about the family's struggles, had worked together with the family to develop solutions, and had built structures for ongoing support from the network. I was struck by the richness and productivity of the meeting, by the high level of collaboration and overall goodwill. The therapy team went out for dinner afterwards. Ross Speck remarked that there had been several hundred telephone calls among relatives and friends leading up to the meeting. The AFTA annual meeting, like a family network session, is one event in the life of the organization. If the meeting in San Diego was as positively experienced as many participants indicated, it might be useful to look at the process of its evolution. The preparation of an annual meeting is participation in a continuous multidimensional process of conversation over time. Rooted in the experiences, advances and advice of previous program committees, in current board trends and concerns, the meeting was designed and developed in concert with a host of members; it emerged out of the history of AFTA and, at the same time, seemed to develop a character of its own. The San Diego meeting, shaped by the past, was intended to be in accord with the developmental edge of AFTA, and to reflect the mission, intellectual rigor and spirit of the president. Complexity and compassion stated in the theme were relevant for the content of the meeting and also for the experience. The Complexity of Collaboration
There were hundreds of emails, phone calls and letters between individuals and among groups between February 1999 and June 2000. The level of collaboration seemed to increase exponentially with the specificity of the task and as the annual meeting approached. More than one hundred names appeared as presenters. Virtually all presentations represented the active collaboration of numerous additional members. There were conversations in committees that sponsored forums, plenaries, other events (the awards committee) or which contributed to the conversation about inclusion (the connectivity committee). Printed program text as well as mailings often involved editorial input from individuals as well as small and large groups. To a person, each member who organized an event was intent upon the inclusion of a variety of perspectives. From the delineation of the theme to the special event, collaboration was the chief modus operandi. While consensus building can have its drawbacks (it can be time consuming and impractical) the assumption was that maximizing participation including input from among the most accomplished members of the field, would yield a rich representative program.
Compassion in Program Content and in the Planning Process
Consideration of the social realities of clients' lives seemed to integrate seamlessly into program content, keeping with an increasingly complex contextual focus in AFTA meetings over the years. Similarly the AFTA conversation about race continued to expand to embrace open, direct, sensitive discussions about racism and its ramifications on the institutional and the micro- levels. Personally and professionally relevant talks about racism took place in a number of venues, perhaps most memorably in the courageous, respectful dialogue between Lyman Wynne and Elaine Pinderhughes. It has been recommended, and I concur, that we attend, as well, to the inclusion of diverse family forms in plenary presentations.
In the planning effort, from the articulation of the theme to the designing of plenaries and forums, the discussions among the program committee revealed careful attention to the diversity of perspectives within the organization. The complexity of the history of AFTA was embraced to represent the multiplicity of interests among members. Presenters were included, not only on the basis of the excellence of their work, but to provide a balance of clinical, research and sociological content as well as practice venues and treatment populations. Consideration was given, as well, to the relationship between disciplines and perspectives. For example, the sociologically focused Distinguished Lectures that were based in historical analysis or socioeconomic research, were followed by clinician-discussants and/or dialogue groups. Similarly, in the Research Plenary, the moderator, presenters and discussant exercised great care to fashion their event to enhance the dialogue between researchers and clinicians. The presidential plenary, also followed by dialogue groups, afforded participants a chance to hear cutting-edge work that represented very different perspectives of work with couples. The setting for the clinical plenary, in memory of Dick Auerswald, was designed to invoke the foundations of the past as well as present a diversity of current practice perspectives. The Evolution of Family Therapy
While one meeting cannot reflect more than forty years of the development of the field, a thread of history was woven into the fabric of the meeting. Various generations were represented in the programming, and acknowledgment was given to the legacy of some of pioneers in the field. Bridging the old and the new, the program committee was clear that the meeting would honor and showcase the work of senior clinicians, but also make space for middle generation and newer voices. In response to a recent membership survey, and to reflect our commonalty of interest in treatment, except for the Distinguished Lectures, all plenaries included videotaped examples of clinical practice.
Considering the process overall, two elements seem to have dominated the making of the meeting: work and conversation. Many contributed to the planning effort. Program consultants were highly engaged, responsive and generous with their time and ideas over the full course of the sixteen months of preparation. Those listed on the program were not only active in the meeting, they gave energy and commitment throughout the year. Whether they moderated a plenary or forum, helped articulate the theme, suggested invited speakers, organized an event (dialogue groups), innovated a new phenomenon (silent auction), or worked on aesthetic and logistical details (local committee), the appearance of a name on the program represented hours of work and collaboration. People were extraordinarily committed to the common purpose. Virtually everyone involved in the planning that was respectful of presenters and participants. If there were enough space, or if I were not concerned that I would omit a name, I would give personal thanks to each person, which I cannot here. However, I must make three exceptions. It has been wonderful to work with AFTA president Celia Falicov. Her leadership, collaboration and dedication have enriched the creation of the 2000 meeting. Celia Falicov's availability, support, keen critical skills, creativity, personal warmth, and tireless dedication were central to the development of the San Diego meeting. We worked side-by-side, unimpeded by a three thousand-mile divide. I am also grateful to my professional family at the Ackerman Institute for the Family, from which came some hard-working presenters and planners, practical sponsorship, and collegiality. Most important, my family has been a boon to my spirit. My partner, Norbert Wetzel and our children, Erik, Kurt, and particularly Sarah and Andreas, gave, in good faith, the gifts of time and patience. Collegial, collaborative relationships have certainly long been a part of the making of AFTA meetings. However, this year, from my unique perspective as participant observer in my role as program chair, I witnessed at closer hand, AFTA's efforts to face the ongoing challenge of examining its own processes. Perhaps the postmodern stance of the field and the maturity of the organization have converged in new levels of interpersonal authenticity. It seems that by staying in conversation with one another in the preparation for this meeting and over the years, we are all continuously co-constructing the meaning of a "successful" meeting. The opening invocation for the San Diego meeting represented a hope that the meeting was created by the committee of the whole. We briefly invoked the memory of Carolyn Attneave, a principal founder of network therapy, who, in the charter AFTA meeting in 1979 called us to stand together to heal our birthing wounds and to think about members who were gravely ill. Her 'intervention" reminded us to stop the business of the meeting and to remember that relationship was at the center of the field and of the organization. This year, after a rousing opening event, we started with a brief experiential moment of connection inspired by Carolyn Attneave's work. I'd like to think that we were accompanied. throughout as well, by the memory of Dick Auerswald, whose life reminds us that the work of the family therapist, an "epistemological transformation warrior," is a complex, risky, conceptual adventure that dares to brazenly respect the human spirit.
Hinda Winawer, 2000 Program Chair, is a faculty member of the Ackerman Institute for the Family, in New York, and of the Center for Family Community and Social Justice at Princeton Family Institute. |
