Systemic Family and Group Psychotherapy
Scientific Supervisors & Trainers
Sophia Athanasiadou, Antonis Antoniou, Maria Giourgi, Giorgos Gournas, Nikos Kaitsas, Christina Karavia, Lykourgos Karatzaferis, Olympia Kastania, Athanasia Kati, Dimitris Kokkalis, Dimitra Kottorou, Angela Menni, Pepi Belekou, Mina Polemi-Todoulou, Kyriaki Polychroni, Dionysis Sakkas Salavou Varvara, Pavlos Salichos, Marialena Semitekolou, Eirini Todoulou, Vasilis Charalampopoulos
Οκτώβριος έως Ιούνιος, με έναρξη νέου κύκλου κάθε χρόνο
Duration
3-year program, held once a month
ΑIΑ
It constitutes an integrative process that combines the two seminars — family therapy and group therapy — into a unified educational program.
After all, the family is the primary group in human life, while the dynamics of each participant’s family also emerge within every group.
This enables trainees, even when engaged in individual counselling or psychotherapy, to keep in mind the principle of the whole, which may be greater — or even smaller — than the sum of its parts.
It also helps them understand how the principles of dialectics are realized: how all parts of a system are interconnected, and how differences and oppositions, through mutual interaction, may lead to harmony and to new differences within a spiral evolutionary process (described by our teachers Giorgos Vassiliou and Vasso Vassiliou as “anotropic”).
The educational group, with the relationship among its members as its most important tool, joins the trainees in a journey of co-evolution, in which clients, therapy participants, and members of the community with whom they collaborate — both within and outside AKMA — also take part.
Didactic therapy — primarily group therapy — and experiential training, together with the cognitive and emotional integration that accompanies them, are complemented by a variety of activities in different settings, as well as by supervision and interprofessional consultation.
Biological, psychological, social, economic, and cultural factors — together with their interactions — give rise to a polyphonic dialogue of the multiple roles and qualities of each person’s self. Through communication, reflective processes, and participation in groups, these dynamics may lead to desired personal growth and co-evolutionary relationships.
Description – Objectives
The Seminar is primarily experiential in nature and supports participants in learning and practicing how to understand group processes at the multiple levels at which they develop within each specific context. It also helps them develop themselves in the role of facilitator of the process — someone who, from a position of responsibility (therapeutic, educational, or consultative), fosters the appropriate foundation and development of the group and acts as a positive catalyst contributing constructively to the group’s progress toward its goals.
In addition, training in Family Therapy helps trainees — through one-way mirror observation, participation in reflecting teams, involvement in therapeutic group practice both within and outside AIA, and group supervision — to understand family dynamics and explore/implement therapeutic approaches. At the same time, the theoretical component of the program, based on the Dialectical Systemic Approach, connects observation and therapeutic methods and techniques with the schools and developments of Systemic Family Therapy as they continue to evolve today.
Who is this seminar for
The seminar “Systemic Family and Group Psychotherapy” is addressed to professionals who wish to establish and further develop their skills in utilizing group process and family dynamics as tools for education, prevention, counselling, and psychotherapy within their professional settings, communities, therapeutic or educational centres, and other organizations.
Participants may join the three-year seminar provided they have successfully completed both the “Formation of Systemic Thinking” Seminar and the “Dialectical Systemic Applied Epistemology” Seminar, and are also committed participants in didactic Group Therapy.
Accreditations
Upon completion of the three-year Seminar and fulfillment of the required training hours, trainees receive certification from the Greek associations Hellenic Society for Systemic Therapy and Hellenic Society of Systemic Thinking and Family Psychotherapy, as well as from the European associations European Association for Psychotherapy and European Family Therapy Association.