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Old April 25th, 2005, 10:46 AM
Phil Brownell Phil Brownell is offline
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Default Invitation to the 8th International AAGT Conference

Hello Readers at the Gestalt Forum of BOL,
I am writing in behalf of the Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy (AAGT) to invite you to consider attending the 2006 international conference. I am also inviting you to consider presenting a workshop. Here is our call for proposals:

DREAMING THE FUTURE: EXPANDING OUR CONSCIOUSNESS THROUGH GESTALT THERAPY
AAGT 8th International Gestalt Therapy Conference
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., CANADA
August 9-13, 2006

Conference presentations will be two hours in length, with time for participant discussion. We encourage innovative and creative presentations, student papers, and presentations based on research projects relating the conference theme to Gestalt Theory, neuroscience, transpersonal dynamics, spiritual and religious experience, clinical practice, social justice, and organizational change. Presentations may be theoretical, clinical, or experiential, and they may be demonstrations, panels, video presentations, or discussions. Presentations will be selected by the conference planning committee following blind peer review. Continuing Education credit will be offered to attendees.

Those wishing to submit a proposal are encouraged to download a presentation proposal form from the AAGT web site (www.aagt.org) and send it via post (not fax) to the address in the accompanying instructions. We prefer electronic submission. To begin the process of electronic submission send an email request to 2006@g-gej.org; a presentation form with instructions will be sent via email.

This conference will take place August 9-13, 2006 on the campus of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. We are expecting a rich mix of Gestalt therapists, trainers, and trainees in dialogue with fellow Gestalt practitioners and professionals from other disciplines. If planning on attending, plan to arrive a couple of days early as we will likely offer pre-conference workshops or marathon groups.

Let me also take a moment to alert you to what is happening these days in Gestalt Therapy. It has changed quite dramatically from the time Frederick Perls worked with "Gloria!" The original Gestalt psychologists (Goldstein, Wertheimer, Lewin, etc) have long since been assimilated, but the new Gestalt psychologists, those investigating consciousness and other cognitive and perceptual functions, have begun to affect the way Gestalt therapists understand phenomenology. Philosophers have always been of chief interest to Gestalt therapists, who are basically existential, but the shift from a concern for how we represent our worlds to ourselves, and thus how we know (epistemology), to simply being in the world and in relationship, has begun to affect the way we understand being with another person, thus simply being in contact in a complex field (ontology). We are very interested in how the theory of Gestalt therapy is a large scaffold upon which to hang assimilations from a variety of sources in research and practice. For instance, we have assimilated the intersubjective thinking of Stolorow, Atwood, and Orange, the neuropsychology of LeDoux, Damasio, and Goldberg, and the developmental psychology of Daniel Stern. In terms of spiritual and religious assimilations, Gestalt has long been interested in the processes of Eastern thought, but Gestalt practitioners have only recently realized that the sense of a personal God is in the ground of the origins of Gestalt therapy through the influences of Martin Buber, Paul Tillich, and others; this means a whole new area of exploration and understanding for Gestalt people working with religious issues in clients, organizations, and societies. Gestalt therapy principles have been utilized extensively in organizational development; a consistent interest among Gestalt people is how groups function. Extended into society, Gestalt therapists continue to apply the principles of Gestalt therapy to social and cultural issues. Today, Gestalt therapy is flourishing around the world and includes a vibrant and contemporary body of writers (the most recent addition being a new textbook for Gestalt therapy: Gestalt Therapy, History, Theory, and Practice, Woldt and Toman, editors, published by Sage Publications). We have five reviewed journals in English (The International Gestalt Journal, Gestalt Review, The Gestalt Journal of Australia and New Zealand, The British Gestalt Journal, and the online journal, Gestalt!). We are keenly interested in researchers who will investigate and test the theories inherent to Gestalt therapy, and so invite those who might want to develop a body of research to come find out about us. The field of Gestalt therapy is thriving and contemporary and not the anachronism some may believe. We hope you will join us to discover more, as we are very interested in reaching out to, and being affected by, you.

If you have questions, or if you need help in completing the proposal process, please get back to me (phil@g-gej.org). We would like to help those who have a creative idea, an important integration, or an example of practice they'd like to share. Professionals from outside the discipline of Gestalt therapy are encouraged to attend to develop a dialogue across perspectives; Gestalt discussants will be provided as needed.

Our conferences are rich with a variety of experiences, including creative play. They are times to be encouraged through associating with others, and continuing education credits will be available to those participating.


Warm Regards,
Philip Brownell, M.Div., Psy.D.
Sr. Editor, Gestalt! (www.g-gej.org)
Clinical Psychologist, Bermuda/Oregon/North Carolina

Last edited by Phil Brownell; April 25th, 2005 at 06:45 PM.. Reason: Add a piece of information
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Old June 18th, 2005, 01:40 PM
Phil Brownell Phil Brownell is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 23
Default Re: Invitation to the 8th International AAGT Conference

Just as a follow-up to this invitation and call for proposals, I would like to let people know that we have begun to receive very interesting submissions in our peer review process. There seems to be growing international interest from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, as well as North America, in presenting and attending this conference. Those who would like to explore potential proposal ideas, as prelude to actually submitting a presentation proposal form, are encouraged to contact me. I'd be happy to help.

Warm Regards,
Philip Brownell, M.Div., Psy.D.
Sr. Editor, Gestalt! (www.g-gej.org)
Clinical Psychologist, Bermuda-Oregon-North Carolina
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