9th Conference of the European Family Therapy Association
Dear members of EFTA, Dear Colleagues,
In these difficult times of unrest our EFTA conference decided to ‘migrate’ from north to south. This seems quite a paradox and intriguing – let us share with you how this developed:
For a year EFTA and our Dutch NFTO organisation, NVRG, have put a lot of time and effort into the preparations for EFTA 2016 in Amsterdam. This has led to a program full of stimulating content, entitled: “Origins and Originality in Family Therapy and Systemic Practice“. The program was built on the Dutch colleagues’ fondness for Aristotle’s philosophy of Ethos, Logos, Techne and Polis.
This conference tried to come to life in the venue of a former factory in Amsterdam, but unfortunately the expenses of the production got higher and higher; to make the conference happen we would have needed to increase dramatically the fees for participants. This would have put attendance out of the reach for numerous EFTA members and more worryingly most students and trainees. EFTA and our Dutch colleagues were concerned and all together we tried to find solutions. Nonetheless our possibilities were limited and therefore we had to think ‘out of the box’.
Nothing seemed closer than considering to accompany Aristotle on his journey to his origins and to change place by moving to the origins of Europe, to Greece. The year 2016 is suggested to be proclaimed the Aristotle Anniversary Year (2400 years) by UNESCO which is an excellent coincidence with our conference theme.
And here we are: the conference is relocating itself to ATHENS!
The last two months EFTA is closely collaborating with ETHOS, the Greek national family and systemic therapy association. ETHOS now became a real pillar of the conference and we do hope to create together an experience full of LOGOS and TECHNE in the POLIS of Athens.
We welcome you from all corners of Europe and the world to take together with us this challenge to make this conference a unique event for all of us.
Keep in touch, and stay tuned with the EFTA Athens 2016 news!
With our best regards,
Maria Borcsa, President EFTA
Ingeborg Siteur, President NVRG
Mina Polemi-Todoulou, President ETHOS
