1924 – 2017 Cutting the crap together: A report on a collaborative training


As a teacher, both at formal institutions


in the US, and at conferences and seminars around the world, she was an inspiring, sought-after presence. With her brilliance, her exceptional kindness, and her surprising, often transgressive sense of humour, she connected with her audience (one or a thousand) in ways not easily forgotten. The field of family therapy, along


with her family, her colleagues, and the students she mentored so generously, mourn the loss of one of the last of the great pioneering luminaries. In the words of a friend and colleague: “Lynn was an artistic and literate spirit, She reached out to us with the lightest touch. Her thinking was free and original. She breathed poetry into our concerns and lightened what was otherwise painful, mundane or ordinary”. A month or so ago, when she heard me


talking about having led a ‘Shivah’ (the Jewish mourning ritual where friends and family sit and talk about the deceased) for a non-Jewish friend, she asked me to do one for her. “Oh, Lynn, I chuckled, you have to be dead first.” That ended that. But as I think about it, a few weeks ago,


I brought my family therapy graduate students from Antioch University to visit Lynn in her nursing home. They were singing her praises and it was as if she’d gotten her wish. “Oh”, she said, dressed up in a beautiful white blouse, and her long strand of pearls, “I feel alive again to know there are still students reading my words!” It was a high for all of us. As those who cared for Lynn at the end


attest, it was only her body that failed, never her spirit or her mind. May you rest in peace, Lynn, and may your memory be a blessing for all who were graced by your touch.


References Haley, J. & Hoff man, L. (1968) Techniques of Family Therapy. New York: Basic Books. Hoff man, L. (1981) Foundations of Family Therapy. New York: Basic Books. Hoff man, L. (2001) Family Therapy: An Intimate History. New York & London: Norton. Satir, V. (1967) Conjoint Family Therapy. Palo Alto, CA: Science and Behavior Books.


Context 155, February 2018


event in Scotland Kirsty Darwent, Alison Burgess & Naomi Nyamudoka


The Family Therapy Training Network: Who we are


Founded in 2012 as a co-operative,


and now a registered charity, the Family Therapy Training Network is a membership organisation comprising of multidisciplinary professionals, who are amongst the most experienced family therapy trainers and supervisors in Scotland and the North of England. We are the only Scottish-based providers of academically-accredited, post- graduate professional training in family therapy and systemic practice. The network and its trainers value the quality and rigour of its training and, as an organisation of systemic therapists, we collaborate widely and are committed to being an organisation that is ‘greater than the sum of its parts’.


What we do The Scottish Government’s Children


and Families and Justice Divisions have supported our network in our attempts to expand systemic ideas across the workforce. Since devolution, Scotland has had divergent health and social-care policy and service- delivery models from the rest of the UK. This is founded on shared public-service principles and a focus on collaborative and integrated, rather then competitive, systems. The Scottish Government’s purpose is directed by national outcomes, for example: ”We have improved the life chances for children, young people and families at risk” (Scottish Government, 2016). These are achieved through overarching fl agship-policies such as Getting It Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) that sets a collaborative context where children and families are at the centre of services’ focus (Scottish Government, 2017). They have demonstrated their practical commitment by supported training for the public and third sector at foundation and intermediate levels, and through the provision of introductory


training-days to introduce a much larger number of family workers to systemic ideas. They also understand that support for those training and supervising clinicians is vital and have part-funded a supervision training- course that started in 2017, and other development activities.


Our event It was in this context that, in 2017, we


off ered three professional development training-days to our members, the most recent of which was in November 2017 with Ged Smith who shared thinking from some of his recent publications (Smith, 2011; 2013). This article is a collaboration of voices from some of the attendees on the day. It features refl ections from Kirsty, programme director for the network; Alison, an experienced trainer and supervisor; and Naomi, a person- centred counsellor with no formal family therapy training but who is interested in systemic ideas.


Kirsty Having been involved in the decision


to invite Ged to Scotland, I had begun to engage with the event several months in advance of its delivery. We wanted to invite Ged because we had heard him at previous AFT conferences and appreciated his pragmatic approach to therapy. Having heard a little about his recent research into masculinity and particular interest in engaging men in therapy, in ways that engage rather than alienate them, meant he seemed a good fi t for our learning programme. As a feminist who is integrating intersectional ideas into my existing framework, I have long accepted patriarchy has a negative impact on both genders, and I was keen to hear more about how Ged linked his ideas about class and masculinity in a therapeutic context. There is also a particular


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Cutting the crap together: A report on a collaborative training event in Scotland


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