International Development Committee Report
The Sixth GASi Summer School was held in Maynooth, Ireland from 27th to 31st of July 2022, in cooperation with the Irish Group Analytic Society (IGAS). The title of the Summer School was “In Dreams Begins Responsibility”.
Preparation started under Tija Despotovic’s leadership for the event to be held in 2021 until the Covid pandemic intervened and the face-to-face event was therefore postponed to 2022. Preparations resumed in the summer of 2021 under the leadership of Marit Joffe Milstein, the new chair of the GASi International Development committee.
The GASi Summer School Sub-committee comprised Bessy Karagianni, Andrew Mallett, Francesca Bascialla, Sanja Janovic (bridge person from the previous Summer School in Rijeka) and Marit Joffe Milstein (chair of the Summer School Sub-committee). The Local Organizing Committee (LOC) comprised Sheena Eustace (former chair of IGAS), Teresa Mason, Cariosa Walsh, Brendan Thornton and Christine Christie as co-chair of the Summer School. This combined team carefully prepared all the necessary conditions and created a holding environment during the event itself.
Location
St. Patrick’s College in Maynooth, was the location chosen by the LOC. It was recommended due to its big enough hall for lectures, the large group and social dreaming matrix. Two other buildings held the small groups and the supervision groups, and there was also a big dining room and diverse affordable accommodation facilities. At the time of planning, a key concern was enabling social distancing and a safe-enough environment for a face-to-face event during the ongoing Covid pandemic. The venue, with its big rooms, huge garden, closeness to the services of the small town and distance from Dublin, appeared to provide a solution to these logistical requirements. We also heard about a successful event that had been held there a few years earlier by EGATIN.
Participants
Over 100 people (104 students + 11 staff members) attended the event with representation from 16countries broken down as follows Albania (1), Argentina (1), Austria (1), Croatia (4 + 1), Czech Republic (2), Greece (1 + 1), India (7), Ireland (42 +5), Israel (5 + 1), Italy (7 + 1), Serbia (2), Slovenia (3), Spain (2 + 1), UK (7 + 3).
The staff members were: Christine Christie, Sheena Eustace, Teresa Mayson, Cariosa Walsh, Brendan Thornton (from Ireland), Andrew Mallett, Anne Aiyegbusi and David Glyn (from London), Alfonso D’Auria (Italy), Francesca Bascialla (Italy/Greece), Marit Joffe Milstein (Israel), Sanja Janovic (Croatia) and Bessy Karagianni (Greece). Unfortunately, three days before the event we were informed that Bessy was very sick with Covid and would not be able to attend. Luckily, Maria-José Blanco (Spain/UK), a long-time participant in previous summer schools, was able to take her place.
Programme
The structure of the school programme was generally kept as in previous schools. We had small groups, lectures, supervision groups and a large group (LG). This time, under the inspiration of the theme, we decided to add a social dreaming matrix (SDM) on the three full days instead of the discussion groups. We were also aware of participants’ former feedback and wishes for more free time.
The school began on Wednesday afternoon with a welcoming by David Glyn and Marit Joffe Milstein, followed by the first lecture and discussion by Christine Christie: ‘The Musical Matrix – Sweet Dreams are Made of This’. Christine opened our process with enthusiastic attention to the non-verbal primary cues in our personal and social matrix and the role of the conductor.
The first LG, conducted by Sheena Eustace and Marit Joffe Milstein, came after that. Following on from the LG, there was a welcome reception at the campus dining room, attended by all participants.
The second, third and fourth days had almost the same structure: SDM, lecture and discussion, small groups, supervision groups (2nd and 4th days) and large group.
On Thursday Jane Clark, award-winning Irish poet and GA, gave a lecture: ‘When winter comes: Mutual illuminations from poetry and Group Analysis’. Her lecture was vivid and inspiring, aided by her special voice reading her poems to us. She shared her development as a poet emerging from her training and practice as a Group Analyst, and drew parallels between her creative process and that of conducting a group.
On Friday, in what turned out to be a case of perfect timing with regard to the ongoing process of the school, Anne Aiyegbusi gave the lecture “International group analytic community: Dream scenario or dream on?”, encouraging us to have a real encounter with our own racism.
Finally, on Saturday Alfonso D’Auria gave a lecture: ‘Group Analysis and Business: Dream or reality?’ Again, the timing was apposite in terms of his talk providing a bridge to considering the responsibilities in developing clinical practice “out there” once the school was over.
The small groups, conducted by the group analysts from the international and Irish staff team, were an appreciated part of the event. The supervision groups, conducted by two supervisors each, allowed students who presented their work to experience different modes of supervision and interaction with other students.
The LG was a place where current and past traumatic events from previous summer schools were able to be reprocessed and recovered. As group analysts, we know that when we come together we will be profoundly affected by both world events and our attempts in the social unconscious to give voice to, and make sense of, our experiences. There will be hurts, or rages, that will want to emerge. We need persons or groups who can receive and express these powerful emotions. We can get hurt, or feel angry, or misunderstood, but we need time, both as individuals, and as a community to revisit and process these experiences, and begin to think and understand what happens when we meet internationally.
A special social programme was planned for participants by the LOC. We were invited to a pop-up choir during the five days and two musical evenings were set up for us in the nearest pub. On one of these evenings, the widower and son of Julie Howley (an Irish GASi member who died a few years ago) were invited to play for us with their band. On the last night, all participants were invited to enjoy buffet supper in the campus dining room, followed by a dancing party with a special class in Irish dance, led by one of our Irish staff members, Brendan Thornton.
The staff team, convened by David Glyn, met every day after the programme. The LG conveners also chose to have another meeting with David every day. These meetings gave us an opportunity to discuss our experiences and to feel supported and contained in the very exhausting and deep work.
Sunday, the fifth day, was without a lecture. There was a small and a large group, and we had a closing session during which gratitude was expressed to each other, a new poem about the experience was read by one of the participants and thoughts were shared about the future. After the school, all participants were invited to send their lectures and free contributions to Viv Harte to be published in Contexts. Christine Christie was chosen to be the bridge person and member of the Summer School sub-committee for the next Summer School and we said goodbye to Sanja Janovich.
Finance
The school had two types of fees as in previous GASi Summer School. The distribution of fee types was 30 Lower Fee places and 60 Higher Fee places.
A number of registrants were unable to attend due to Covid-19. The Summer School Committee decided to refund the full registration fee for those who were impacted by Covid-19.
The GASIF Committee approved 2,000 Euros for bursaries which is to be repaid in the event of a profit. 2000 Euros was given from GASi surplus. Bursaries were given to nine applicant from three countries. 50% of the bursary amount covered the registration fees. The remaining bursary amount was given to the applicants to help towards accommodation or travel costs.
The income from the registration fees and a book sale covered all expenses (including registration fee refunds). The surplus from the event will cover 50% repayment of the bursary amount.
Overview
The school was successful. There were more local participants than before. It was international (16 countries), with a growing number of students and members of the younger GA generation. It seems it has become a regular GASi event with its own continuous life, in which we can begin to understand the meaning of this ongoing process and recognize the growing value the Summer School offers during the process of becoming (and being) a group analyst, in providing an opportunity to keep on learning through experience, to maintain our curiosity and tolerate our blind spots with tenderness.
It also provided an experience in which participants found themselves challenged to continue thinking in the face of painful and complex material, reflective of the multiple and often traumatic social unconscious strands in both the foundation and dynamic matrices of the school. Inevitably, within the necessary limitations of the time frame, there was much that could not be made explicit, but participants were able to communicate on a deep level during the school and not just within each person’s own institute or country.
These strands related to, amongst other aspects, the physical location, the international composition of the school’s membership and histories (personal, institutional and cultural) where themes of colonialism, power and difference were to the fore. An important emerging theme was the challenge faced by GASi in its wish to be international and how this entails its own colonial dynamics and the causation of unintentional hurt – something that will no doubt continue to be thought about in the ongoing development of both GASi and future summer schools.
Summer School 2024
There will be no Summer School next year due to 2023 being the Belgrade Symposium year. We are thinking about the next location and meanwhile have received an initiative from colleagues in Italy.
