New Honorary Member

To put it simply, group analysis in Spain would be almost non-existent without the hard-working figure of José Miguel Sunyer Martín.

Juan Campos was a direct disciple of Foulkes and the first to bring his ideas on group work to Spain. But it was the training program in group analytic psychotherapy launched by OMIE (Basque Foundation for Research in Mental Health) in the late 70’s, and in coordination with the University of Deusto (Bilbao) as a Masters degree in the late 80’s, that really popularized group analysis in the country. Thousands of mental health professionals have completed the training, still going on today.

The true soul of this training program has been José Miguel, first in Bilbao, where he trained himself, then in Barcelona, where he taught and coordinated the program for more than twenty years, and now in Madrid. He was a founding member of APAG (Spanish Association for Group Analyitic Psychotherapy).

He knows mental health inside out, having begun his career as an occupational therapist to later become a Doctor of Psychology and the head of the psychiatric day hospital of Basurto (Bilbao). Later in Barcelona he was a Psychology professor at the Universitat Ramon Llull.

He is a respected clinical and organizational supervisor, and has inspired scores of mental health professionals to do group work not only with their patients but within their organizations.

He has always shared with his students his passion to read and his need to write, and tirelessly insisted that they must write about their group experiences. He is the author of many articles and several books on group work and group analysis, and launched a journal entirely devoted to the subject.

He has not only been the absolute national reference in the group analytic scene, but  has for many years been our true international ambassador. He is still an active member of EGATIN, and has brought colleagues such as Morris Nitsum and Farhad Dalal to teach in Spain.

So it is only fair that GASi decided to bestow him honorary membership on the occasion of its First Online Symposium, the one that was originally due to take place in his native city of Barcelona.

Master Miquel, may you keep teaching, writing (and urging us to write!), and inspiring us for many more years.