Mission: Connecting people in the international sphere on a deep personal level, enhancing mutual understanding through an intense group analytic experience
Aim: To strengthen group analytic identity and to develop group analysis as well as GASI through attracting people from all over Europe and beyond, offering affordable access to high level group analysis.
Method: A 3-4 days summer school for group analysts in training or already trained group analysts as well as other people with an interest in groups. Its program includes diverse elements: small groups, large groups, lectures, discussion- and supervision groups – the format is established but open to further developments.
Partnership: The summer school born out of a partnership between GASI and different group analytic institutes or societies. Such institutes preferably should be members of EGATIN. The choice of partners is influenced by an appreciation of the varying conditions in different potential host countries.
Organization: The summer is jointly organized by an international organizing team, including a bridging member of the previous local organizing committee, and the local organizing committee of the current summer school.
Staff: The task of the staff group is to hold and contain the summer school. There are two subgroups: a local staff, chosen by the local organizing committee of our partner organization and an international staff that is chosen by the international organizing committee of GASI. Criteria for the composition of staff include a broad diversity considering such dimensions such as nationality, gender, age/experience etc.
Participation in the staff is on a rotation base. Furthermore implied is the intention to invite into the staff people, who are not yet prominent in the group analytic community, so as to encourage and to develop new generations of group analysts. This, in turn, extends GASI’s base.
Frequency: The summer school is held annually – in non-symposium years – each year in a different country. Summary: The summer school is an immediate expression of the internationalization of our society. Its goals are foremost developmental in character: Spreading and developing group analysis as method and theory, supporting group analytic organizations, developing people by providing group analytic experiences, developing the members of staff by encouraging them to take responsible positions and to contribute to the further development of GASI by attracting new people with their various experiences that have to be integrated into our thinking and our organization.
Regine Scholz & David Glyn London, November 2015