December AFT news

Like many other people I find myself asking the question - where has the year gone?  On reflection I can see that so much has happened and I thought I would put a few things down on paper for you.  We have been riding the waves with UKCP preparing for statutory regulation and forming a systemic college, which came into being on the 5th December, and we await further developments in the new year.  Thanks to our two UKCP representatives, Maire Stedman and Judith Lask for keeping us updated with all that has been happening.

I hope you get a moment over the holiday period to sit and read your Context and Journal of Family Therapy, we are very proud of these two excellent publications, it takes a tremendous amount of effort to get the written word into print and I would like to thank all those who work so hard on these publications.  We would like to take this opportunity to thank Barry Bowen for his work over many years on the AFT Publishing Group and his commitment to AFT, particularly with AFT publications and also Hampshire AFT.  We wish him all the best in his retirement and shall miss his honest professionalism, reliability and creative contributions.

We have had some wonderful seminars and workshops this year, many thanks to the Branches for organising many of these, including the West County Branch for organising the Eileen Jamieson workshop in April.  AFT took part in National Family Week in May, and had a wonderful conference in Cambridge – a full feature on this conference with workshop write-ups will appear in the February issue of Context.  Sadly this year we have had to acknowledge the death of David Campbell, a much loved and well respected pioneer of family and systemic work. 

A lot of discussions have taken place with Government departments and political parties and a paper has been drawn together and circulated to political parties “Family Friendly UK: making it happen” which is available on the AFT website home page to download.   This document is a proposal for developing family-sensitive trainings and services to support the UK’s most valuable resource, its people. We are facing difficult times and challenges, including the increasing dominance of CBT, and it is desperately important that we keep other theories and models alive.  It is crucial that we keep going in our efforts to develop the profession of family therapy and systemic practice on behalf of our members but more importantly the children, young people and adults that we work with. Thanks to Jan Parker, Peter Stratton, Jeni Webster and all those individuals and committees who strive to keep family and systemic practice into the minds of individuals and organisations of influence and resourcing power.  We are very pleased that Linda Jacobs has agreed to undertake some work for us championing family therapy with Managers and Commissioners. 

What is happening next year.   Well my term of office as Chair will be up in the Autumn and a new Chair will be elected at the AGM.  The Chair is elected by the membership and any member of AFT is invited to stand for election.  If you would be interested in leading the Association forward, please feel free to talk to me.  Sue Kennedy at the AFT office (01925 444414) will give you my contact details. 

The EFTA (European Family Therapy Association) Congress will be held in Paris in October and we have therefore agreed to have a one day AFT National Conference and AGM next year in Birmingham, so that members may be able to attend both events.  We are also supporting the Eileen Jamieson Day in Cardiff on the 30th April with Professor Laura Frugerri.

 AFT takes inclusivity and diversity extremely seriously and the Diversity, Equal Opportunities and Inclusion committee are currently preparing a policy document and have been exploring these important issues.  However, the AFT Board would like to invite a conversation with members about how we can be more inclusive and are therefore inviting you to an open meeting of the Board of Directors and Trustees on Friday 5th February 2010 from 10.30 am to 1pm at the Directory of Social Change in London.  This will be an opportunity for you to tell us how we can be more inclusive and promote diversity.  We hope as many members as possible will attend.  Our membership is important to us and the stronger membership base we have the bigger voice we will have.  We currently have just under 2,000 members and would like to increase this by at least 10% in 2010.  Can you help us do this by passing the enclosed invitation to join AFT to a colleague – your help here would be much appreciated! 

Our aim is to communicate more with you during 2010 by sending an electronic newsletter to all members that opt to have this.  We realise that members can get inundated with emails, but look out for this one in your inbox news@aft-mail.org.uk   We promise we will not overload you with unnecessary information, but realise that we need a faster way to communicate with you in these changing times.   

We know that 2010 will be a busy year for all our committees.  May I take this opportunity to thank the Board for their support over the year and committee members for their hard work and commitment. 

With best wishes for a very happy and peaceful New Year.

Dorothy Ramsay
Chair AFT

October AFT news

I am writing this immediately after our AFT National Conference and we are all inspired and motivated by our wonderful time in Cambridge.  We were very lucky with the weather and Cambridge looked lovely in the late summer sunshine.  The words of one delegate sum up the conference beautifully “This was a brilliant, rich, friendly, focused entertaining, comfortable, comforting, inspiring and educational conference”.  Thanks to all those who helped make it such a success, in particular the East Anglia Branch, the presenters, organising committee, musicians and all the staff at Robinson College.  There will be a full write up of the conference early next year in Context and some photographs are already on the website. 

We appreciate that these are difficult times for many family and systemic psychotherapists working in the public services, coping with many demands and changes.  We realise that some members are unable to get funding to attend conferences.  Next year we are planning two one day conferences, the Eileen Jamieson workshop in Cardiff on the 30th April and the AFT one day National Conference and AGM in Birmingham on the 17th September.  Both will be based on minimal costs to allow greater accessibility.  Of course there will also be the EFTA conference in Paris from the 29th – 31st October for those who are able to attend. 

AFT’s Professional Officers are working hard to keep abreast of organisational developments and are talking with all political parties to promote the value of family and systemic practice.  As one delegate said about the conference “The conference showed how we can go back to any frontline - home visits, in-patient units, almost any kind of client group, talking and moving around the room, relating to any other profession and therapies - and comfortably and confidently fit together and do something well and creatively.” We would encourage you to visit the website to view ‘Family-Friendly UK: Making it Happen’, AFT’s new briefing paper on developing family therapy posts and trainings in family-inclusive practice. As the document states: ‘The need is clear. The evidence base is large. Research shows expanding family-sensitive working transforms lives, is a priceless social task AND makes sound economic sense.’ We hope the document will inform political debates and continue to develop as a resource for AFT and its members. Thanks to Jan Parker, Judith Lask, Peter Stratton and all who contributed.

Membership fees:  Very soon you will be receiving a renewal notice from Wiley-Blackwells.  The AFT membership year runs from the 1st January.  By calling membership fees in early we hope that no members are left in the position where they do not receive their Context and Journal.  We would also like to encourage members to consider paying by Direct Debit, this is easier for you and us, saving on administrative costs.  As an incentive for those who pay by Direct Debit we will freeze membership fees not only for 2010 but for 2011 too.  An ordinary member will remain at £60 and UKCP registered member £80, students and retired members £40.  Details of how to pay by Direct Debit will be sent with the renewal notices.  We have tried to ensure that all members are being charged the correct rate for their category of membership, but if you see this is not correct on your renewal notice then do speak to us about this. 

Dr David Campbell – Systemic Psychotherapist, Clinical Psychologist

Born 8 December 1943, died 25 August 2009

With great sadness we report the death of David Campbell, who died of bile duct cancer at the age of 65.

David was born in Chicago to a liberal and intellectually curious American family who loved to share and challenge each other with different ideas. He was the younger of two sons. He graduated from Boston University with a PhD in clinical psychology, moved to the UK and was offered an opening for two sessions as a family researcher at the Tavistock Clinic in 1973, which remained his professional base until his death. He taught at many international venues, co-directed the MSc clinical training and the Supervision training

He was in at the start of the formation of British Family Therapy at the inauguration of AFT and in developing training at the Tavistock Clinic and the Institute of Family Therapy. He helped promote the ideas of the Milan Associates in the UK. The publication of a book with Ros Draper about their work in 1985 led to their collaborating on the series “Systemic Thinking and Practice” published by Karnac.  There are now over 50 titles in the series eight of which he contributed to directly.

David was one of the most respected and influential family therapists in the UK and will be sorely missed by many of our members. He was a highly skilled clinician and his clarity and thoughtfulness inspired thousands of family therapists, social workers, psychiatrists and psychologists working in the NHS, social services and the voluntary sector in Britain to change their working practices. His significant, unique, innovative contributions to FT, organisational issues, multi-disciplinary working and the development of self reflexivity will be badly missed because they are irreplaceable. He always conducted himself with a gentle, reflective manner taking trouble to consider and be considerate in the way he responded in a dialogue.

His father Donald is buried in the small Pennsylvanian town of Beaver Falls where the family originate. On his grave is the epitaph “He Listened”. David said he would like this to be thought of as his, as well.

We send our kindest thoughts in a shared sorrow to his immediate family, wife Jane, son Jesse, daughter Briony and daughter-in-law.

At the conference we opened a book of remembrance for David. If you would like to send some words to be included in this book then please email them to me at s.kennedy.aft.org.uk Extracts from this together with other appreciative and evaluative articles will feature in an obituary to David in a future issue of Context.

news August 09

It is hard to believe that I have almost completed my second year as Chair. You will have noticed in this time that my update to you has got longer and is now devoid of stories of cakes and food.  This is not owing to a conversion to a healthy life style but the sheer weight of changes driven by government initiatives which Jan Parker our Communications Officer, Peter Stratton our Academic and Research Officer and others keep riding the waves on, getting AFT into a useful position to allow us to be better placed to do the work with families and children that we are trained  to do.   Below you will find an update from Jan on what has been happening in terms of Politics and Policy. 

There is, however, lots of activity within all areas of the association and I would like to thank the Chairs and all those involved in committees who do so much and give up so much of their time to support AFT and the profession.  It has been a difficult year balancing the growing demands of the association with the income and remembering that we are a relatively small association, but making a big impact for our size.  At the end of 2008 membership stood at 1,997.  We have 428 traditional institutional subscriptions to the Journal of Family Therapy and on-line access to the Journal is also very good.  We must thank Ivan Eisler who stepped down as Journal Editor at the end of 2008 for the splendid job he has done over the past five years and welcome Mark Rivett as the new Journal Editor for the next 5 years. This together with Context, our bi-monthly magazine, overseen by Brian Cade as General Editor are two renowned publications in the field of family therapy.  We hope over the next year to develop further these publications and their design to make them even more appealing to the readership.  Despite the current economic climate we have managed to retain good advertising income through Context and this is a tribute to the success of the publication.  We do realise that there are many more people behind the scenes making these publications happen, such as the Editorial Board, Wiley-Blackwells, the AFT (Publishing) committee and Louise Norris our Publications Co-ordinator.  Many thanks to all.

Our input to the NICE guidelines has been particularly important and we must keep family and systemic practice at the forefront of the policy makers thinking.  Thanks to Jeni Webster for co-ordinating these guidelines and all those who have contributed to them.  Judith Lask as our Training Standards and Workforce Development Project Lead has been monitoring closely developments with the Health Professions Council and statutory regulation and she has written an article about this in context.  

UKCP are themselves in a period of transition.  To keep up with all the changes is difficult, but Maire Stedman as UKCP Representative joined by Judith Lask and Robert McCandless keep us abreast of the situation and are working with the Family, Couple, Sexual & Systemic Therapy Section (FCSST) to look at how our section may form a Systemic College.  It is the vision of UKCP that during the transition towards statutory regulation, all existing registrants and member organisations must belong to a College that will hold associated standards for education, training and practice.  It is clear that this will take up a lot of thinking for the Board and Executive and there will be a lot more to report over the next year.  There is a Stakeholders Meeting on Thursday 15 October from 1pm to 4.30pm at IFT in London and I would urge as many registrants as possible to attend and have your say. 

On a lighter note I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to the IFTA conference in Slovenia in March and the weather was very kind to us.   It is good for AFT to communicate with family therapists from the rest of the world.  AFT is still seen in many ways as the flagship for family therapy, particularly across Europe.  In the UK AFT have supported the first National Family Week from  25 – 31 May 2009 with two events for the family that the public were invited too, one on eating disorders and the other on the affect of alcoholism on the family.  Both events were appreciated and enjoyed by those attending.

The “What is Family Therapy” leaflet is being well received by members and members can request 25 copies free of charge by sending a large stamped addressed envelope with 90p postage to the AFT office.  200 copies can be ordered for £30 including postage and packing. 

The 34th AGM and National Conference in Cambridge is now fast approaching (11 – 13th September).  Thanks to the East Anglia Branch and the conference organising committee for all the work they have put into this and I am sure all those attending will have a most enjoyable and enriching experience.  If you have not booked already then please hurry, there are a few places still available.    I do hope you will be able to attend the AGM (all members are welcome) to put forward your comments and views or if this is not possible do contact us with your thoughts.   The annual reports are on the website follow the link from the home page www.aft.org.uk to the members area, but request a copy form the AFT office if you prefer.  If you would like to stand for election to the Board of Directors and Trustees or appoint a proxy for the AGM, the forms are included on the member’s page of the website, or the August issue of context.

With best wishes
Dorothy Ramsay
Chair AFT

Politics and policy update by Jan Parker

AFT representatives (Peter Stratton, Judith Lask, Marcus Averbeck and myself) have had a series of meetings with Maria Miller MP, Conservative Shadow Minister for Families, culminating in her request for an AFT report on how systemic trainings and an increase in designated posts in family therapy could be rolled out across health and social care services nationwide.

The Shadow Minister is clear we have made our case for the need for this to happen. This was supported by core AFT documents developed over recent months, to which many AFT members have contributed. Thank you.

She now wants to know how we envisage it happening. As the Conservative Party may form the next Government, this is an important development. Clearly, there are no guarantees that good intent will translate into political action, but if AFT’s activities might make a difference to the development of the profession and services to families, it seems important to try. Our new report – working title, ‘Making it Happen’ - is to be delivered by the end of August.

AFT reps (Peter Stratton, Jim Wilson and myself) have also had a meeting with lead researchers from the Centre for Social Justice, a policy ‘think tank’ headed by Iain Duncan Smith. The centre produces cross-party reports which feed into national policy debates as well as into Conservative Party manifesto deliberations.  The meeting seemed to go well (one senior policy advisor said: ‘[We] found the meeting tremendously helpful, and feel very excited about taking what we discussed forward’). As a result, we were asked to prepare a briefing paper on “the case for developing family therapy in the UK” including economic and social benefits.  This has been well received.

Dr Marcus Averbeck, Head of Family Therapy for Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, was invited to present on behalf of AFT at a ‘roundtable summit on families’ in June with Michael Gove MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Maria Miller MP, Conservative Shadow Minister for the Family, and others from the shadow frontbench team.  His presentation time was cut short by others over-running, but we used this as an opportunity to request another meeting so Marcus could present his experiences of cascading trainings and developing FT posts.

We’re of course inviting conversations with all the major political parties, and have forwarded to them copies of all relevant AFT reports.  Members can access the reports by downloading them from the AFT website.

I and other AFT members have also been attending relevant All Party Parliamentary Group and other meetings at Westminster throughout the year. Many thanks to Maire Stedman, David Amias, Judith Lask, Claire Dempster and others who attend, ask questions and help AFT/FT’s voice be heard.

This is a snapshot of recent highlights of AFT’s politics and policy activities. To read my full annual report, including details of AFT in the media and its developing connections with other organisations, please visit the website on www.aft.org.uk (members page) or request a copy from the AFT office.

Jan Parker
Communications Officer

AFT news June 09

At the last AFT Board meeting it was suggested that we put an article in Context “What AFT is doing for You”.  We thought this would be a good opportunity to share with you some of the sterling work being done by our officers, Prof Peter Stratton (Academic and Research Development), Jan Parker (Communications), Judith Lask (Training and Workforce Development) and Jeni Webster who has been supporting us with the NICE guidelines. In this report we are concentrating on the activities with political significance.  Judith Lask has written a separate article on AFT activities in relation to the Family and Systemic Psychotherapy Workforce and Peter has also done a research update for you. 

Peter, with support from Jan and Jeni, submitted AFT’s hard-hitting response to the NICE draft guidelines on Depression. This is an excellent, passionate and scholarly document that makes clear AFT’s serious concern at the process and conclusions of these guidelines which, despite referring in their preliminary analysis to the value of  working with and through the family system of relationships, completely excludes from consideration the therapy that works with family relationships – Family and Systemic Psychotherapy.

A week later Jeni submitted comments on the NICE Consultation for Depression and chronic health problems,

Please read the submission, if you haven’t done so already, on the AFT website at www.aft.org.uk.

As part of our ongoing campaign to raise public awareness of the risks posed to therapeutic services for families by NICE’s strategy for evaluating evidence, Peter, Jan and others drafted a letter, which appeared in The Times on April 11 (copy below). This followed fast on the heels of our letter published in The Observer in March.  Many thanks to all those of you who have sent a version of the Times letter to your MP. For those who haven’t yet, the template is available to download from the AFT website homepage. Further ideas are available in Peter’s Research Column. Please hurry!

AFT officers and members are continuing to lobby politicians and others about the importance of maintaining and developing family therapy services. All parties have their eyes on the next election and the policies that will inform their manifestos, so we’re delighted to hear that Jan and Dr Marcus Averbeck, Head of Family Therapy for Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, have been invited to a ‘roundtable summit on families’ in June with Michael Gove MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, and Maria Miller MP, Conservative Shadow Minister for the Family.  Jan, Peter and others have also been invited to a series of meetings with the influential Conservative Party policy think tank, the Centre for Social Justice. All these invitations have come about after years (yes, years!) of attending meetings, writing letters and emails, asking questions and generally making our presence felt. It’s good to know perseverance pays off occasionally.  We’re of course inviting conversations with all the major political parties. What difference we can make has yet to be seen, but believe me, we’re working extremely hard on your behalf to do so.

Other notable achievements on your behalf since we last wrote to you in Context include:

• AFT’s submission to the Social Care Institute for Excellence draft guidelines on Working with Parents with Mental Health Problems and Their Children.

• Peter’s continuing involvement with various bodies attempting to move NICE and IAPT (Improving Access To Psychological Therapies) beyond their current myopic focus on individual CBT. This includes input to the Savoy Group, the Therapies Alliance, New Ways of Working and using our position in UKCP to mobilise a wider campaign. 

• SCORE The SCORE team is ecstatic to announce that we have achieved well over our minimum target of data from 200 families. We are enormously grateful to Julia Bland (Maudsley Hospital) for chairing this group and providing the organisation and a large proportion of the data along with Emma Janes and Judith Lask. All the indications are that the questions are a powerful indicator of family functioning, are acceptable to clients, and distinguish between clinical and non-clinical families. By the time you receive this we plan to have a 12 item version tried and tested and available for use. We now move to a second phase in which we find how it changes before, during and after therapy. If you might want to contribute to this crucial instrument designed specifically to show the effects of systemic couples and family therapy, please register your interest with Peter Stratton and follow the progress on the AFT research page.

• Jan’s superb contribution to the Radio Four discussion programme , Bringing Up Britain, which focused on child and adolescent mental health.

• AFT board members have been interviewed by national newspaper and radio journalists – including The Times, The Guardian Saturday magazine.

• Publication of our new leaflet, “What is Family Therapy”.  You’ll have found 2 sample copies enclosed with this issue of Context.  Thanks to all members who contributed to its text and to our designer, Louise Norris. We would be very grateful if you could help spread the word by giving one copy to someone who you feel may find it useful.  If you would like extra copies, 25 can be ordered free of charge from the AFT office by sending a large stamped addressed envelope with 90p postage to AFT, 7 Executive Suite, St James Court, Wilderspool Causeway, Warrington.  It is also downloadable from the website www.aft.org.uk. Arrangements for larger, bulk orders will be posted on the AFT website. We’re hoping the leaflets can be sent out to as many relevant professionals and settings as possible.

We are highly conscious of the need to work with and for all our members.  At the end of 2008 we had 1.997 members and we thank all those who have renewed their membership this year, as this is our source of income to continue to promote family therapy and systemic practice.  Perhaps you could encourage colleagues to join too.  We are a small organisation, but the more members we have the more we can do for you. 

Our AFT National Conference 11/12th September is now really taking shape and we have an excellent, exciting array of workshops and three excellent plenary presentations   Full details are given on the website.  We do look forward to seeing you in Cambridge for an event which we hope will provide lots of professional development, but also time to relax with friends old and new.  This is also the time when we hold our annual general meeting on Friday 11th September at 6pm and you, as members, can come along and find out more and have your say about what we should be doing. 

We would also like to draw your attention to a couple of matters, firstly

Data Protection – it is important if you keep electronic records of patient that you notify the Information Commissioner’s Office and register with the Data Protection Act.  Even if you don’t keep clients records on computer, but use the computer to type letters about a client, whether you save this to computer or not, this information has been processed electronically about the client and is notifiable. Invoices and accounting records are however exempt if kept on the computer.  It is worthwhile checking with the Information Commissioner’s office on http://www.ico.gov.uk/what_we_cover/data_protection.aspx

Registration – those who are UKCP registered via AFT will by how have received a renewal notice direct from UKCP.  These need to be returned to AFT with a cheque for £141 made payable to AFT Ltd .Even though your registration may not lapse until 30 September 2009, it is important to return this asap.  If you have not received a renewal notice, please contact the AFT Office. 

Do enjoy the summer and we look forward to reporting in August on further progress made with our talks and discussions.

Our best wishes

Dorothy Ramsay – Chair AFT

 

 

AFT news April 09

One of the benefits of being Chair of AFT is that you represent the Association at the IFTA (International Family Therapy Association) Congress which this year was held in Slovenia in Portoroz, a lovely venue on the coast from the 4 – 7th March.  It was a pity it was such a difficult place to travel to and the weather was not warmer.   However it was an opportunity for 45 countries to get together and discuss issues across the world, to hear interesting presentations and meet old and new friends.  I met a friend called Linda Lucas, a presenter from the USA, and after the congress we were able to make a quick visit to Florence together by car.  I was very pleaed with my navigation skills.   IFTA hopes to offer a website where individuals can contact national associations.  It will also host consultation networks for trainers, where the aim is that poorer nations can be helped at a practical level and not have to completely reinvent the wheel, but will be able to use the constitutions and standards of other countries to match local needs.  The next IFTA congress will be in South America and the following year in South Africa, this could be a temptation for those interested in taking over the role of AFT Chair in 2010. 

Closer to home, AFT and TSP (Tavistock Society of Psychotherapists) co-hosted a sell-out seminar on February 23rd on “After Baby P; moving forward for children and families”.  Speakers included Anthony Douglas CBE, chief executive of CAFCASS, David Campbell, systemic psychotherapist and organisational consultant, Tavistock Clinic, and Honor Rhodes, Director of Development for the Family and Parenting Institute.  Delegates included politicians and political advisors, representatives from police, social care and mental health services, independent and Third Sector organisations, and leading academics, researchers, family psychotherapists and other child and family work professionals. The evening was chaired by David Brindle, Public Services editor of The Guardian.

David Campelll’s presentation will be printed in the next issue of Context and we are very grateful to him for the contribution that he made to this event, particularly as he is unwell.  We would like to share David’s comments: ‘The best decisions emerge from dialogue. My experience of studying child protection decisions over some years is that good decisions do not spring from the quality of the procedures nor from the amount of information available, but they spring from dialogue.  Good decisions are the result of people listening carefully to the hunches of everyone who has had contact with a child’.

The interest in this seminar shows how important this issue is to those who care about the welfare of children and families in the UK today and AFT is now responding to Lord Laming’s report into child protection ordered by Ed Balls in the aftermath of Baby P and published in March.  Members of the Board are keen to raise the importance of appropriate systemic and family training for social workers and mangers, so they can better appreciate the wider picture around the child.  We shall be writing to ministers and others about this and will keep you updated.

UKCP registration.  Can we take this opportunity to advise that the registration committee will be selecting registrants to undertake a CPD (Continuing Professional Development) review and sending these out slightly earlier this year so they can be completed prior to the UKCP renewal process.  All members registered via AFT must have a CPD review every three years or sooner if there are any issues to be addressed.  Those who have not had a CPD review for 3 years should have received the request to complete one by the time you read this magazine.  Please return it immediately.  Those who do not require a CPD review will receive their renewal notice directly from UKCP in May.  From 2008/9 the number of hours CPD required in terms of attending training events relevant to your practice is 18 hours per year, but this can be averaged over a 3 year period.  We are grateful to Sue Jones for taking over as Acting Chair of the Registration Committee, whilst Judith Lask undertakes some project work for the association on workforce development and training standards.

The Ethics Committee have just said a fond farewell and thank you to Philippa Seligman who has retired from the committee after many years service to Ethics and AFT in general.  Her sound counsel has been much appreciated and we hope Philippa will agree to continue as an Honorary member of the committee, to be consulted with as required. 

The AFT National Conference will be held from the 11 – 13th September in Cambridge. Do book early to avoid disappointment, we are very grateful to all those who have submitted a workshop for the conference which is going to make it a very varied and interesting event.  The difficulty will be deciding which workshop to go to.  Please keep your eye on the website for regular updates on the conference and lots of other information about AFT, visit www.aft.org.uk  As mentioned in my last AFT news we are supporting National Family Week and are holding small events around the country, including one at Warrington on the 27th May “Living with a family member who struggles with an eating disorder”.  This seminar is open to service users, carers and professionals.  Again we shall keep you updated about such events on the website, which are free of charge. 

Thinking ahead, we are also looking for Branches to express their interest in hosting the 2010 AFT National Conference and 2010 Eileen Jamieson workshop.  Interested Branches are invited to do this by 31 May.  If you require more information about this please contact Shan Tate, Chair of the Branches Committee on shan.tate@btinternet.com or Sue Kennedy on 01925 444414.

With Best Wishes
Dorothy Ramsay

AFT news February 09

Welcome to our first issue in 2009.  Firstly may I apologise that membership renewal notices have been late this year and some people have received a renewal notice when they have already paid electronically.  The merger of Wileys and Blackwells has caused some admininistrative problems with the process and this has been out of our hands.  We are sending this issue of Context to all those who were members in 2008 as a gratis copy, due to the problem of late renewals.  Do please ensure that you have renewed your membership for 2009 in order to receive the April issue.  Membership of AFT does include 6 copies of Context and 4 issues of the Journal per year. To check on your membership please contact Wiley-Blackwell on 01865 778171.  

Though 2008 seems a long time ago now I thought I would let you know about a meeting I attended at UKCP in December. I had heard reports about how challenging UKCP meetings are.  How lucky was I to turn up at a meeting which was, in the main, cheerful and contained inspiring, inspirational comments from the floor.  Perhaps the Registration of Practitioners by HPC has brought unity and clarity.  Nothing like perceived danger from the outside to bring families in to cohesive wholes.  In the morning they asked – How do we encourage new members and what do we need to do to keep member organisations on board?  I did suggest they could improve their magazine and maybe they should combine forces with the British Association of Counsellors & Psychotherapists.  That suggestion didn’t go down so well but if they are looking for a critical mass of numbers maybe some collaborative connections should happen. 

The two statements which shone out for me in a day which was predominantly an energetic and forward looking one was a passionate response from the floor about how we must welcome difference and diversity in every level and then we won’t feel threatened in our own lives.  The second was James Antrican who stated that there was room in UKCP for people and organisations which want to jump in now and get going and room for those who wanted to wait and see, and room also, for those who were not going to join in ever!  That sounds pretty inclusive of all.

UKCP seems to have settled on its plan to form colleges and faculties.  Colleges being collections of member organisations such as ourselves with other member organisations that do similar work with somewhat similar theory and philosophy.  We have a further meeting with other members of section to discuss this on 6 February and will keep you posted.

This year is proving to be busy and exciting.  Our Cymru Branch members had a very successful meeting with Chris Bryant, MP for the Rhondda at his consituency office on 16th January to discuss the need for more talking therapies in the Valleys.   Jan Parker and colleagues are also meeting with Maria Miller, Shadow minister for Children, Schools and Families on the 27th January.  We also have a busy agenda for our Board meeting on the 30th January, when we are looking forward to representatives from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland attending to give the Board an update on particular issues in their area.  We will give you an update in the next issue. 

We are also very excited by the AFT/STP seminar supported by the Guardian “AFTER BABY P; moving forward for children and families” to be held on the 23rd February from 6.00 to 8.30pm at the Tavistock Centre.  Thanks to Jan Parker and Kate Daniels for pulling this together.  There has been a lot of interest in this seminar bringing together leading speakers and participants from across disciplines, sectors and agencies, Chaired by David Brindle, Public Services Editor of The Guardian.  If you are interested in attending, please ring the Tavistock to see if any places are available on 020 8938 2344. 

We have agreed to support the National Family Week happening from the        25 – 31 May 2009.  This does not involve any financial investment, just our endorsement and help with putting on any events for the family.   We are looking at putting on two evening events during the family week, one at the Tavistock on the affect of alcoholism on the family and one at our Warrington office on the affect of eating disorders on the family.  These will be open to anyone and we will be able to let you have further information after I have attended the Stakeholders meeting in Westminster with Ed Balls on the 28th January, together with Kate Daniels and Ellie Kavner. You may wish to think about a local event that can be advertised on the National Family Week website, for more information please visit the website:  www.nationalfamilyweek.co.uk

May I remind you of the Eileen Jamieson workshop to take place on Friday 24th April with Glenda Fredman “Consultation with Complex Networks: the Personal and the Professional” in Bristol.  This is subsidised by AFT and costs £55 inclusive of lunch. 50 people have already booked.  Details can be found on our website or contact Shan Tate on 0117 919 0330.

Bookings can now be taken for our 2009 National Conference to be held in Cambridge from the 11 – 13th September, please book early to ensure you receive the accommodation you require.  It may still be just possible to submit a workshop proposal, as we have extended the deadline to the 2nd March.  Please think about this and sharing information about the work you are doing with other members around the country and world. 

Please can we encourage Branches to think about hosting the Eileen Jamieson Day in 2010 and the National Conference in 2010.  For further information please contact Sue Kennedy on 01925 444414 or s.kennedy@aft.org.uk

Fund-raising – thank you to the anonymous member who donated £40 to AFT paid into the CAF bank Chairty Aid Foundation and for all the work being done to keep this organisation so vibrant.

My best wishes for the New Year and I do hope to meet up with you at AFT events.

Dorothy Ramsay, Chair AFT

AFT news December 2008

I expect you will be reading this in the midst of preparations at this busy time of year or hopefully whilst taking a moment to relax.  Like you AFT are now reflecting on the year’s activities and looking forward towards 2009.  The Board and committess have continued to meet and underake stirling work, despite the pressures and demands of  working life.  I would like to thank all members who support AFT, for their time and effort and encourage other members who wish to get involved with AFT activities to contact me or any of the Chairs of committees to find out more.  A summary of the AFT committees is given at the end of this section.

A lot of activities this year have been in connection with lobbying Government agencies and raising our profile.  We have sent numerous letters to MPs and officials at the Higher Education Funding Council to try to make evidence-based psychological therapies exempt from dramatic increases in student fees announced this Summer.  Our voice has certainly been heard, but we await the outcome of their decision in December.  We are also working closely with the UKCP (United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy), the HPC (Health Professions Council) and Skills for Health over moves towards statutory regulation and the development of national occupational standards.   I personally was made very welcome at the 70th birthday celebrations of Relate, they are very much a sister organisation, AFT accredit their training courses on systemic practice and I was much encouraged with the idea of further collaboration.

Jan Parker our Communications Officer gives below a helpful round up of what has been happening in the last few months

Spreading the word

“We’ve had a busy few months so this is a necessarily brief sketch of recent AFT activities on behalf of its members to promote family therapy and systemic practice.

Consultant Systemic Psychotherapist and AFT board member David Amias presented to a packed Associate Parliamentary Group for Children and Families meeting at Westminster in October, on the gaps in provision for children and families in adult mental health services.

AFT members including Peter Stratton, Alan Cooklin, Arlene Healey, John Hills, Roger Stanbridge and Frank Burbach presented at the Family and Parenting Institute’s international conference, Getting It Right For Families, in November. Details and conference papers are available at www.familyandparenting.org.uk <http://www.familyandparenting.org.uk/>

AFT members have been interviewed on BBC Radio 4 and regional radio, in The Times, The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian, Therapy Today and Community Care magazine. Peter Rober’s interview in the November issue of Therapy Today (BACP magazine), sprang from AFT publicity for the AFT 2008 conference in Manchester.

AFT’s responses to NICE consultations on Management of Long Term Sickness and Incapacity for Work , Borderline Personality Disorder and Schizophrenia, together with Scottish Branch’s submission to the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) consultation on depression, are available to view via the website at www.aft.org.uk

As ever, members’ generosity in sharing their thoughts and experience has made much possible on limited resources. Heartfelt thanks to all who’ve contributed time, energy and ideas” 

Please contact Jan on janparker@aft.org.uk and we would like to offer her, Peter Stratton and Judith Lask our thanks for all their work in promoting AFT. 

Next year will be an interesting one, we are in uncertain time in terms of the economic recession and we hope that members will wish to continue their AFT membership so that we can continue to provide the Journal of Family Therapy, Context and support our National and Regional Conferences and workshops. (AFT membership runs from 1 January to 31 December).  Inspite of any downturn in the economy, the Executive and Board are intending to step up our efforts to get ourselves into the minds of individuals and organisations of influence and resourcing power, and of managers, commissioners in the NHS, Social Services and Voluntary sectors.

Our 2009 National Conference will be held at the University of Cambridge, concentrating very much on the theme of “Family Therapy in and beyond the consulting room”.  We are keen to try and keep costs as reasonable as possible and this is one reason why we have returned to a University setting for 2009.  We also feel that the facilities in terms of lecture rooms, breakout rooms and audio visual equipment will be much better.  A criticism of conferences that we have held recently in hotels, has been the sound equipment and seating.  Robinson College, Cambridge is a lovely environment in which to study, learn and socialise, close to the centre of Cambridge but with lovely gardens.  You will be pleased to know that all bedrooms have ensuite.    We have a call for workshops out now, so please think of submitting one and keep the dates 11 – 13th September free in your diary.  We will have booking details available in the February Context.  We anticipate this conference will prove very popular, the local branch have some very interesting ideas to make “the family” at the heart of the conference and hopefully in September we can still go punting on the river!

We are very pleased that West Country are hosting the Eileen Jamieson workshop next year on  24 April in Bristol with Glenda Fredman.  West Country AFT is a new branch and we are supporting them and encouraging members to attend by subsidising the delegate fee, to make this as accessible as possible.  At £55 for the day, we hope you will be able to take advantage of this event in memory of our Past Chair, Eileen Jamieson, who sadly died in 2001. 

We know that 2009 will be a busy year in terms of changes taking place with UKCP and the HPC and we shall try to keep you updated through Context and the website.  We would like to wish Mark Rivett all success when he takes over as Journal Editor from January and thank Ivan Eisler for all his hard work as Journal Editor over the past few years. 

I would like to end by wishing you all the very best for the New Year.

Dorothy Ramsay
Chair AFT

AFT news October 2008

NEWS FROM THE CHAIR

I can hardly believe I have just chaired my first Annual General Meeting and it is a year since I took over from Barbara Warner.  The Annual General Meeting was well attended and we are pleased that Robert McCandless has been re-elected to the Board of Directors and Trustees and Kate Waters co-opted as an ordinary member, having stood down as Branch Representative.  All places on the Board for ordinary members have now been filled.  Though Ivan Eisler was not at the AGM to be personally thanked for his work as Journal Editor since he took on this role in 2003, we took the opportunity to express our appreciation and would like to reiterate our thanks to him now through Context.  The Journal is renowned throughout the world and well respected by therapists, academics, institutions and publishers.  It is a flagship for AFT and the Editor carries the responsibility for ensuring it remains so.  We are extremely pleased that Mark Rivett has agreed to take over from Ivan, commencing January 2009, we know that they have worked closely together on the handover and are confident that the Journal will go from strength to strength.  I am sure you will wish to join me in thanking Ivan and wishing him and Mark well for the future.

The AGM was held at the Manchester Conference, at the superb Midland Hotel in Manchester.  A fantastic venue, brilliant programme, great speakers and convivial atomosphere, what more could any delegate want.  Well done to the Manchester Branch for organising this.  We will have a full write up in February 2009 Context but do visit the website to see some pictures of the event - you may even spot yourself or someone you know.  Note the date of next year’s conference in your diary, this will be the 11 -13th September in Cambridge.

We are urging all members to support AFT’s campaign to have evidence-based psychological therapies declared exempt from dramatic increases in student fees announced this summer under the ‘ELQ rule’. We ask you to read AFT’s statement to the Higher Education Funding Council for England that we have already sent and our press release (see members’ page on website) and write to your MP and any relevant Governement or Shadow Minister as soon as possible, as the HEFC (Higher Education Funding Council for England) is reviewing exemption to the ELQ ruling in December.  So please hurry, an example letter is available electronically on the website as a template, visit www.aft.org.uk and the members page,  but please feel free to express yourself as you wish.

UKCP are holding a number of regional meetings for Registrants to attend and discuss some of the decisions that need to be made with regard to the new constitution.  It will also allow Registrants to inform and be informed by both the development of the new shape and structures for the UKCP, their role and place within it and UKCP’s work in the wider political context.  There will be a day in Manchester on 25th October.  AFT will be attending the Chair’s Day in London on 6th December.  Contact UKCP for more information: 020 7014 9955

We would like to thank Towergate Professional Risks for sponsoring the AFT conference in Manchester this year and providing a raffle prize of one year’s free insurance, proceeds from the raffle were donated to The Medical Foundation for the care of victims of torture.  The prize was won by a newly qualified family therapist who was absolutely delighted.  We also received a donation from The Body Shop of a £25 voucher.  

Towergate Professional Risks has been protecting psychotherapists for 20 years and insures many AFT member, but is not the only Insurance Company to do this.  It has recently carried out some research into the most common causes of claims and so we asked Towergate to contribute a piece on its findings for Context and also explain how the insurance works, which you may find helpful. 

With best wishes
Dorothy Ramsay - Chair AFT

AFT news August 2008

Dear all
I hope you are enjoying the Summer.

I went to Helsinki to attend a meeting of the National Family Therapy Organisations who are in EFTA (European Family Therapy Association) in June, which was a very interesting and enjoyable experience.  I did not find anything equivalent to the delicious custard tarts that we had in Portugal at the IFTA (International Family Therapy Association) Conference, but to match the breads were delicious.  I am wondering what we will find at the Manchester Conference, a good old Eccles Cake I hope.

On a serious note EFTA would like to work more closely with us and use our expertise to support developing countries by sharing our training and professional policies and procedures with them. EFTA is financially quite poor as the contributions of some countries is very low due to their financial economies.  The NFTO chamber members were asked to encourage our own members to join EFTA as individual members.  Details of how to join and the costs are given on the EFTA website www.eftacim.org  Individual members receive a subsidy on the EFTA conference and the European family therapy passport which offers access to periods of training in centres that are participating in the programme.  However, I feel that those who choose to join would see this as an altruistic gesture given that European families need as much help as our own and yet the expenses of running EFTA are greater because of the geography.  I will leave this request with each reader.

Logically we can not draw the line after European children and families, but need to look towards greater collaboration with IFTA (the International Family Therapy Association).  All of this whilst not taking our eyes off our own AFT finances and developments in the UK.

The AFT National Conference is now fast approaching and delegate places are filling up fast, so do book soon.  We will hold our annual general meeting (which is open to all members not just conference delegates) from 5.30pm to 6.30pm on Friday 12th September.  A nomination paper to stand for election to the Management Committee is available on the inside back cover of the August issue of Context and we have one vacancy for an ordinary member.  We welcome new people on the Management Committee (Board of Directors and Trustees as we usually refer to it) so do think about applying.  The Board is crucial to the decisions that are made about your organisation and for the future of the profession.  We normally meet four times per year and have lots of email communications too. 

There are lots of changes happening with new Government Initiatives, the “family” being very prominent in these initiatives and we feel that we should use our expertise with families to shape strategy for the future.  We need to embrace the profession of psychotherapy, but also the whole range of service providers and people who work with families.  Statutory regulation is another big issue we are facing and the relationship between UKCP and the HPC, (Health Professions Council) is still uncertain.  I do encourage you to read the annual reports from committee chairs and Board members to get a clear picture of the work that is being undertaken.   There is a tension between doing lots of proactive work i.e. dealing with the government’s endless changes, safe guarding the systemic model against the runaway juggernaut of CBT but keeping enough money in the bank to ensure there is an association when I end my term as Chair.  There is a sense of cut down and cut back as we go through the financial upheaval, though this is the time we need to be developing.  We are therefore putting the membership fees up slightly because we have come down on the side of being proactive.  I hope members will agree with this action.

To reduce printing, postage and paper costs we are placing the annual reports and papers on the “members” area of the AFT website www.aft.org.uk, but if you would like a paper copy posted to you please let us know.

I would also ask you to read the revised Code of Ethics that is printed in this issue.  All members are asked to abide by the Code of Ethics and you may find some of the content helpful to your practice.

I look forward to seeing many of you in Manchester and for those who can’t make Manchester this year, please note in your diary that the 2009 AFT National Conference will be held at Robinson College, Cambridge from the 11 – 13th September.

Best wishes
Dorothy Ramsay - Chair AFT

AFT news June 2008

A personal message from Dorothy

In the last two months I have attended the International Family Therapy Association conference in Portugal and I also went to the Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Meeting with other Executives of the Board.  Wiley Blackwell publish our Journal of Family Therapy.  These two events made me more conscious of the influence of family therapy worldwide.  The conference had representations from 54 countries and at the meeting with Wiley-Blackwell I was intrigued to learn that our readership of the Journal in China had gone from 1% to 3% of the total readership in one year.  I had no idea that the journal sits in 5,533 institutions worldwide and 159,246 articles were downloaded in 2007.  I had thought of just a local influence. 

I wonder how many of the readers have been trained in Britain (two of my fellow students were from Greece) and what influence their training in Britain has had on their work?  How much have they had to adapt their training to fit with local needs when they returned home?  Perhaps I can invite anyone who has trained in Britain and now returned home to write for Context of their experience of adapting twice.  I am sure Trainers would like to read of their experiences as would we at AFT, so it would be good to keep a conversation going between us and ex-students from overseas.

At the conference I met a group of delegates who had formed a cross-cultural supervision group, keeping contact during the year by email and meeting together at the annual IFTA conference.  How many of these groups are there?  There was a presentation by the Japanese member who introduced us to the supervision group members from Israel, Argentina, USA and Germany, they called their work cross-cultural collaboration.  They had all benefitted from questions of: what is unique to the family, what is global, what is cultural?  The case which they presented was broadened into a conversation about - does the culture in which the family live help individuals to complain or hinder them and in what way do different cultures encourage fathers to help their sons?  This twinning is a tradition we have with towns; could we develop it between different departments with similar roles in diverse countries e.g. a US CAMHS team or equivalent and a CAMHS from a European country – I am up for that is anybody else interested?  Perhaps we could put up a list at the Manchester Conference and then place that on the website.

Some times it is hard to hold a systemic position in the workplace.  David Epston said it is really helpful to use systemic language all the time.  I am finding it hard to keep systemic as my first language.  Perhaps we could increase the opportunity by forming SKYPE groups both nationally and internationally – just an idea.  Please email me or AFT if you have any creative ideas.

I still have my “L” plates on as Chair, but every one is supporting me.  I am off to the European National Family Therapy Organisations meeting in Finland next month. 

We held our Board meeting on the 16th May in London.  We welcomed Ian Lea to the Board as the new Branches Rep from East Anglia.  It was agreed by the Board that the 2009 National Conference will be hosted by the East Anglian Branch and we look forward to more information on this, which we will share with you in the next issue.  The Board had deep and thorough discussions about the strategic future direction of AFT and we were grateful for the work of the Strategic Planning Group in focusing our thoughts on our strengths and future needs.  The future of training was reviewed and it was felt important  to move away from the debate on the mid-level training qualification to a revised structure which would develop systemic skills in a modular fashion, allowing individuals to build up sufficient credits to move on to the 4 year training.  A working group will be formed called the “Training and Workforce Development Group” to discuss this further.  If you are interested in taking part please let Sue Kennedy know.  The question of fund-raising was also on the agenda to support specific pieces of work.  Again if you are interested in looking at how AFT can raise funds or know someone who might be able to help, then please get in touch.  We are looking to advertise posts for specific short-term projects and pieces of work, as and when needed, in this changing climate, so please keep your eye on the job advertisements page of the AFT website.  Whilst talking about raising funds, we would like to thank the member who donated £1,750 to AFT through gift aid, which meant we could claim the tax back on top of this.  This generous donation was much appreciated.  A gift aid form is available on the members area of the website.

Many thanks to the Surrey Branch for hosting the Eileen Jamieson workshop in March this year.  We are now looking for a Branch to host the 2009 Eileen Jamieson Day in memory of Eileen Jamieson past Chair of AFT.  AFT will help support the event financially, so that delegate fees are subsidised to make the workshop as accessible as possible to members.  If any Branches are interested in doing this, please let us know.   

Enjoy the summer and please remember to book for the Manchester Conference in September. 

With my best wishes
Dorothy Ramsay
Chair AFT
Email: Dorothy on  s.kennedy@aft.org.uk
Visit the website: www.aft.org.uk

P.S.  we now have an email discussion forum on disability if you are interested in taking part email : AFT_Disabilities-subscribe@googlegroups.com

AFT news April 2008

I hope you are enjoying the Spring, this year is going very quickly and we are certainly keeping busy at AFT  I shall try and give you some updates below.

Essay winner! - We are pleased to announce the winner of the 2007 student essay prize is Philippa Beale, from the University of Bristol.   The winning essay will be prepared for publication in a future issue of Context. 

Supervisors - Thank you to those who returned the audit form to remain on the list of approved supervisors.  This information will help us to develop a system of re-registration and CPD.  A list of those supervisors, who have agreed to their contact details going onto the website, has now been uploaded under http://www.aft.org.uk/professional/supervisor.asp  Have you visited the website recently?  Please do take a tour around and you will find out all sorts of interesting information.  Please encourage your Trust/Course to advertise with AFT.  Any adverts placed in Context are automatically placed on the website. 

Creative Initiative Fund - The next deadline for proposals will be the 30th June, please see further information on the website under Training and Development.  The purpose of this fund is to pump prime creative and novel initiatives which support the welfare of families by endorsing family therapy practice, teaching, and supervision and research projects in the UK.

UKCP Registration - We are informed that the same procedure will apply for UKCP re-registration for our AFT members this year as previously.  All registrants will receive their renewal form directly from UKCP.  As last year this must be returned to AFT with payment.  We are awaiting confirmation of the subscription this year, but cheques will need to be made payable to AFT Ltd.  The Chair of Registration must then countersign your renewal form to say that all is in order and we send the paperwork and payment on to UKCP.  The Registration committee has moved towards a 3 year cycle of reviewing registrant’s CPD (continuing professional development).  This means that as a full audit was conducted in 2005, a large number of members will be asked to complete this CPD review again this year.    A few Registrants will be asked to provide more information this year, where it was identified at the last CPD review that information given required follow up sooner, in terms of supervision, hours of practice, insurance cover, CRB check etc.  Those that need to complete a CPD review will receive a letter from the committee in April. 

Clinical Practice Hours - At the last Registration Committee it was agreed that the minimum number of hours clinical practice would be added to the CPD policy, the requirement is now:

- For the first 3 years after qualifying it is expected that the minimum clinical practice will be 12 hours per month.  (This is to be face to face hours with clients, not in partially reflecting teams.)

- After 3 years the minimum requirement would be 8 hours per month averaged over a 3 year period.

- Those that have been practicing for 10 years may remain on the UKCP register whilst only supervising other registrants, provided they make a special case to the registration committee and can demonstrate their CPD is up to date.  This includes many retired members.

Unite magazine – Well done to Theresa Hendra for getting a double page spread on “We are family” in the Unite Health union magazine for health professionals.  It is a lovely article about family therapy and a lovely photo of Theresa too.  For those who are not members of Unite we have put a copy on our website.

Cabinet Office Meeting - On Friday 7th March, Peter Stratton, Roger Stanbridge, Judith Lask and Jan Parker attended a meeting with the Cabinet Office Social Exclusion Task Force which went very well.  Jan Parker our Communications Officer writes: “Exciting news! Lead researchers from the Cabinet Office want to hear about AFT members’ work. Researchers with the Social Exclusion Task Force requested a meeting as part of their exploration of effective family-sensitive work in public services.
They were particularly interested in hearing about systemic work with families and drugs and alcohol misuse, ways of engaging marginalised families and communities, trainings in systemic skills and practice and the SCORE project (developing a short self-report measure of family functioning and change during therapy – visit AFT’s website at www.aft.org.uk for details). We also discussed the role of family and systemic psychotherapists in creative multi-disciplinary team working across service and sector boundaries, fitting services to families' needs rather than expecting families to fit services.
The discussions were part of the Cabinet Office’s 'Think Family' review, a rolling consultation and report process which, it hopes, will drive a radical 'shift in mindset' throughout public services to 'focus on the strengths and difficulties of the whole family rather than those of the parent or child in isolation'.
If you’d like the Government to know about the work of your team or service, please email details to me at janparker@aft.org.uk. AFT members’ contributions have informed and enriched our recent submissions to Government bodies and, it seems, we’ve sparked their curiosity and wetted their appetite to find out more.”

Branches - It is great to see the network of Branches thriving, as you will see in the special feature “Roots, shoots and branches” in this issue.  We are glad that new branches have now formed in Sussex and in South and West Wales.  South and West Wales will be holding their inaugural meeting on Thursday 24th April from 3.30pm.  Please email Tessa Jones for more information on Tessa.Jones@thefca.co.uk  If any other members feel they would like to form a Branch in their area and want to discuss this, then please contact the AFT office.  We are also looking for Branches to express their interest in hosting the 2009 AFT National Conference and 2009 Eileen Jamieson workshop.  Interested Branches are invited to do this by 12th May.

Northern Ireland Celebrations - We wish Northern Ireland every success with their 30th birthday celebrations and their workshop to celebrate this on the 16th May, facilitated by Arlene Vetere and Rudi Dallos.  Details of the workshop can be found on the website. 

In the next issue of Context we look forward to reporting on the Eileen Jamieson workshop that took place in Surrey on the 14th March and on my trip to Porto in Portugal to represent AFT at the IFTA (International Family Therapy conference).  There are some benefits to being Chair!

Best wishes

Dorothy Ramsay

Top

AFT news February 2008

I hope 2008 is proving to be a good year for you. Since the last AFT news there has been a lot of activity happening at AFT and we have really been raising the profile of family therapy in what are exciting and interesting times.  The Cabinet Office have launched “Think Family: Improving the life chances of families at risk” and Peter Stratton attended the launch day.  The report flags up a radical shift in government thinking from supporting children and adults in isolation to a recognition of the importance of supporting all family members to break cycles of disadvantage and complex and often multiple problems they may have struggled with for generations.  We have put this report on the AFT website.  Every pathway is acceptable to get families to be empowered and I would like members to think about creative ways that AFT can raise funds, so that it can support more creative ideas. The Board will be discussing this at their next meeting on the 29th February, and talking to the Family and Parenting Institute.  If you have any comments on the report or ideas please let me know.

AFT’s submission to the Cabinet Office Social Exclusion Task Force, compiled by Jan Parker with contributions from many leading family and systemic psychotherapists, is also available to download from the AFT website (see  ‘Current Practice, Future Possibilities’, on the website’s News Updates page). AFT members are already using it as a training resource as well as a useful reference to the latest NICE and other guidelines which highlight the importance of Family Therapy and family interventions.                                                                                                               

We are grateful to Lorraine Davies-Smith and Mary Swainson who presented at a Westminster Briefing conference about family therapy.  This was well received and appreciated – well done to both of you.

In November I attended the “Psychological Therapies in the NHS conference” with Peter Stratton and Jan Parker.  AFT promoted the fact that family and systemic psychotherapy is one of the evidence-based psychological therapies, we welcomed the opportunity to contribute to discussions on the challenges and opportunities of evidence-based practice and hoped this would generate opportunities for further interdisciplinary collaboration.  AFT is now a signatory to the New Savoy Declaration, which congratulates the Government for its commitment to improving access to psychological therapies , calls for people to be given a choice of appropriate, evidence-based therapies and urges the Government to invest in their further development and evaluation.

You may be pleased to hear that Professor Peter Stratton is currently updating the Report on the Evidence Base of Systemic Family Therapy document in his role as Academic and Research Development Officer for AFT.

Just before Christmas we heard about the Government plans to cut back on funding for students who are studying for a qualification which is at an equivalent or lower level than one that they already have, which will affect the majority of students on family therapy training.  AFT responded to the Higher Education Funding Council consultation seeking exemption from withdrawal of funding for students embarking on trainings in Family Therapy, stating the case that to not do so would not only jeopardise the trainings of essential workers in UK health, education and social services but also the health and well-being of the vulnerable children, adults, families and communities they are trained to work with and for. This would fly in the face of the Government’s recognition of the importance of developing such trainings and services.  The AFT response to the consultation is on the AFT website.

We are in communication with UKCP over the draft secondary legislation, which would take 'practitioner psychologists' into regulation by the Health Professions Council (HPC).  More information on this can be found on the department of health website http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Consultations/Liveconsultations/DH_081518 

One of the priorities for UKCP is to decide how to manage the response to these consultations.  James Antrican, Chair of UKCP, says “It is envisaged that we will need to create a system of cascading responses to consultations that relies on communication to maintain our solidarity. We also have to show how we embrace the diversity of responses that may come from our registrants, MO's, Sections/Colleges and Central UKCP. The future shape of the UKCP will be determined not only by the responses to and outcome to these consultations, but how we manage them. Ultimately our role as Voluntary Regulator is in the process of being changed for ever.”

Other committees within AFT continue with their stirling work and if you feel you would like to get involved with the work of AFT please contact myself or Sue Kennedy at the AFT Office, as more help is always welcome.  We must thank Isobel Reilly for her work as Chair of the CRED committee.  Isobel has performed this role with the highest degree of professionalism and a diligent eye to detail.  We are pleased she has agreed to remain on the committee and are grateful to Annie Turner and Paula Boston for agreeing to take over this role in a co-chairing capacity. 

There are a number of Branch workshops taking place around the country, do look on the website under “About AFT” to find details of your local branch and forthcoming activities.  In the next issue of Context I look forward to reporting on the Wales Day to take place on 24th January in Cardiff.  This is an opportunity for members and those interested in family and systemic work in Wales and surrounding areas to come together and look at the benefits of forming a branch or support group, to meet the needs of people in this area of the UK. 

Here’s to a busy and exciting year.  I look forward to keeping in touch with you.

Dorothy Ramsay

Chair

 

AFT news December 2007

We have now had our EFTA/AFT 2007 conference in Glasgow. This was a very busy and lively conference, both academically and socially, with a great atmosphere.  We would like to thank people for their comments and it is good to see that so many people enjoyed it.  One member wrote:

“Congratulations to all of you for the way the event went. I thought it was fantastic in many ways. I enjoyed the different presentations, workshops, stimulating discussions, the networking and re-connecting with friends and colleagues in the field.”

At the conference we had our AGM and I was elected as Chair of AFT.   I thought it may be helpful if I told you a little about myself.

I have worked for 16 years as a full time therapist, both in a prison and a University in Wales, and have spent the past 10 years within psychology service in the NHS. Where sadly the change is more into the direction of diagnosis and expert knowledge, contrary to our systemic aspirations. I have also worked in the past as a volunteer counsellor and a negotiator in neighbourhood disputes and as a Lecturer in Art.  My own narrative has been coloured by dyslexia, which tried to tell me that I could not be academic.  However, I have had to alter my set of stories now that I hold two MA’s.  I found in my academic training, first as a person-centred counsellor, and subsequently as a systemic family therapist, no great conflict between the basic philosophies of both models, which is to respect and listen to others.  As Chair of AFT I look forward to listening to you, the membership, to see how we need to take AFT forward over the next few years.  Please write or email me at the AFT office and I look forward to meeting you at AFT workshops and conferences.

As Chair I am looking forward to working with Erica Widdowson, who was elected as Treasurer, the Board and Executive.  We have to say a very big thank you to Barbara Warner and Robert McCandless for all the work they have done for AFT as Chair and Treasurer respectively, but are very glad to know that they will still remain as Board members and it is great news that Barbara has agreed to take over the role of Chair of the Ethics Committee. Details of the current Board membership can be found on the AFT website.  If you have not looked at the AFT website recently then can I encourage you to do so: www.aft.org.uk  We are working to make this more informative for the public, training courses, employers and our membership, who will soon have their own password protected area.   

We would like to thank those members who have donated via Gift Aid to AFT, see details on the members section of the website.  We would also like to acknowledge the kind donation from our members in the Norfolk area.  Unfortunately the Norfolk Branch closed some time ago. but we are grateful for the transfer of funds from their bank account to our creative initiative fund and the fund will be £457.56 better off because of this.  We do still have an active branch in East Anglia, contact Ian Lea for more information ian.lea@nemhpt.nhs.uk   

We are now looking forward to 2008 and the workshops and conferences we have planned.  In March the Surrey AFT will be holding the Eileen Jamieson Workshop and details can be found on the inside back cover of this issue.  The Leeds Family Therapy Centre and AFT are hosting a joint evidence based practice two day workshop on the 22nd and 23rd May 2008.  In September we have our National Conference in Manchester, so please remember to put the 12th and 13th September in your diary.  The organising committee are currently calling for workshop proposals and abstracts, the theme being "Linking the old and the new" regeneration within therapies and therapists.  Having two Welsh grandchildren, I am very enthusiastic about the possibility of creating our new branch in Wales.  Members in Wales are holding an initial meeting to discuss forming a Branch on 24 January 2008 at the University of Glamorgan.  As I worked at the University of Glamorgan for three years as student and staff counsellor, it will be really nice for me to visit my old haunts.

I would like to end by wishing you all the very best for the New Year.

Dorothy Ramsay

Chair AFT

To all members of AFT

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Thank you from Barbara Warner

Those of you who were present at the AGM at the Glasgow EFTA-AFT Conference will have seen that Iwas presented with gifts from AFT following my 3 year term as Chair of the Association. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as Chair, have met many of you and been incredibly well supported by all the AFT staff - Sue Kennedy in particular, the Executive and Board. Thank you all for your support and for the gifts, the AFT Chairs' paperweight which takes pride of place on my desk, some very pretty earrings and a theatre voucher which I shall enjoy spending. I look forward to my continuing involvement as post-Chair and Chair of the Ethics Committee.

With very best wishes. Barbara Warner