2018-08-15
August 15th is the 60th monthly meeting for Systems Thinking Ontario. Please register on Eventbrite.
Psychotherapeutic Systems
Nozomu Ozaki will introduce us to the systems and cybernetic theory inspired practice of family therapy, a discipline that has presented a paradigm shift in approaching mental health issues and relational challenges. Despite their differences, all family therapy approaches share a relational epistemology that expands the view of mental health beyond individuals to include those relationships that constitute a whole ecology of interactions and meanings in their lives. Nozomu will introduce some of the major family therapy approaches while relating their historical and social context, key contributors, and conceptual foundations. Then, we'll be invited to witness and become part of a demonstration of a family therapy session through a use of Reflecting Team (Anderson, 1987). Reflecting Team's were invented by Tom Anderson who was inspired by the ideas of Gregory Bateson (1972, 1979) and Humberto Maturana (1978) and their ideas of multiple perspectives and realities. In this therapeutic process, observers of a therapy session explore and generate alternative descriptions and explanations of clients’ presenting problem - in the presence of clients - thereby potentially contributing new, constructive alternatives for their living reality, moving forward.
Nozomu Ozaki, Ph.D., RP (Qualifying) is a Family therapist working in brief collaborative, strength-based individual, couple, and family therapy across the age continuum; and is also an experienced presenter, researcher, and author in systemic family therapy, brief therapy, and single session therapy.
Venue:
Suggested pre-reading:
The Reflecting Team: Dialogue and Meta-Dialogue in Clinical Work
Review of the Reflecting Team Process: Strengths, Challenges, and Clinical Implications
Agenda
Post-meeting artifacts
Bloggers are encouraged to write about their learning and experiences at the meeting. Links will be added to this page.