Oxford and Chiltern AFT branch members (left to right): Shona Reed-Purvis, Sarah Coles, Sarah Lukonyomoi, Jane Fisher and Kiri Summers Workshops are generally well attended;
if we get the topic right, about 30 people sign up, not all family therapists. There is a core of people who almost always attend, and then a wider group of others. Sarah: What are you proudest of? Shona: Sustainability! Eleanor Woods had been holding the reins of Chiltern AFT for many years, and she needed some new energy and some help to get the group growing again. This was nearly ten years ago, and together we rejuvenated it. I had set up a reading group when I was newly qualified and she encouraged me to make it part of our local AFT branch and to take over her role as chair. I was reluctant, because I am not the best administrator, but I am really glad I did. Sarah: What’s helped the sustainability? Shona: Having a very reliable and committed group of people to share the responsibility. Our efforts are also greatly appreciated by the people who come to workshops and the reading group. We get really good feedback from the events. Those in touch with us really like the fact that reading group is always there and every month they will be invited and get sent some papers. We also try and keep it simple, try and
make it easy to do, so it is not too much work and so it can keep on going. Sarah: What have been the challenges? Shona: It would be better if we had wider participation, and we would like to know why some people don’t attend. We surveyed our mailing list about two years ago, and the replies we got were very supportive of what we do and encouraged us to keep going. Sarah: What are your hopes for the future?
Shona: We want to try and keep thinking, to do some things the same and then try and think about how to do things differently. We are passionate about systemic thinking, and we value these ideas and would like them to be integrated more widely. Sarah: What would you like readers from the wider AFT membership to know about our branch? Shona: Our autonomy is really helpful and, if we were sent directives from AFT all the time, it would make it hard to sustain, because that would take so much more time. From the membership we would like more feedback and ideas.
A member’s perspective
Shona: Why did you join the local group? Sarah: To network with other family therapists, for professional development, and to shore up my identity as a family therapist. I joined when I was relatively recently qualified – when I was training, I was in a really creative supervision group, doing lots of reading and coming up with lots of new ideas, and I really wanted to keep that alive. When I first joined AFT, I wasn’t employed as a family therapist. I was a clinical psychologist and, apart from my family therapy supervision, I wasn’t connected to any family therapists. I was worried I would lose focus and ideas. For me, systemic ideas are best talked about rather than read about. I like to be able to bounce off others. I think dialogical ideas make more sense when thinking together and in a group you get ideas about how to put ideas into practice. I am also less likely to do reading alone; I need the external influence.
Shona: Has that worked? Sarah: It has been variable. I am one of the people who doesn’t come to the reading group very often. It has been a struggle to get there because of other things in my life. I have really appreciated the professional development events. They are twice a year and it feels really important to carve out the time for that. They are advertised well in advance and so they are easy to plan in. Shona: What about the reading group? Sarah: It has mostly been good when I have attended. There have been enough people there to generate different ideas. Occasionally, it has been hard, because it is a flat hierarchy in the group – sometimes one voice has dominated and this has been less interesting to me. It has been tricky to manage because there is not someone in charge. Shona: Would it be better if someone was in charge and led? Sarah: I don’t know. I don’t think so; it feels like we are all grown ups and should take responsibility for ourselves in that way. I have really liked that it has made me do some reading, and connected my practice back to theory. Often, the papers are different to those I have read before, or different to the ones I might chose myself. We have interesting conversations, and the people who come are from a wide variety of ages, cultures, and different areas of work. Conversations are usually lively and interesting. The only problem is that it is in the
evening and, after a busy clinical day, it has been hard to get there. The only thing that might help would be to have all the dates for the year in advance and then I could plan more effectively.
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Context 169, June 2020
Branching out: Oxford and Chiltern AFT branch update
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