SCT Conference Program

In this five-day experiential training, members learn to create a systems-centered (SCT) environment and to facilitate group development through the use of functional subgrouping, the signature method of SCT. Members participate in the sequential modification of group defenses that allows development of the system’s capacity for solving problems and applying commonsense to everyday conflicts.

Group practicum, experiential | Foundation Level | 7.5 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Apply the skill of functional subgrouping to contain differences necessary for the group as resources for growth, as an alternative to stereotyped subgrouping that occurs spontaneously in response to differences and personal defenses
• Apply the skill of exploring their experience in the here-and-now as differentiated from the feelings generated by familiar cognitive misconstructions of reality
• Demonstrate skills for reducing anxiety
• Demonstrate skills for reducing tension
• Demonstrate skills for reducing depression
• Demonstrate skills for reducing outrage to support the development of the members

Rich O’Neill, Ph.D., FAClinP, CGP, ABPP, is Associate Professor and Director of SCT Training at the State University of New York-Upstate Medical University. He is a founding member of SCTRI and its Board of Directors. Rich is also SCTRI Research Director Emeritus and has numerous scientific publications, including several on SCT and functional subgrouping. He is a licensed SCT consultant who specializes in SCT foundation and intermediate skill training for individuals, partners and groups, and presents SCT on the radio and YouTube in some of his "Checkup from the Neckup" productions.

Erika Ekedal, MSc, is a licensed psychologist who counsels individuals and groups, trains leaders and consultants, and manages change in organizations on the basis of SCT. Her experience includes teaching leadership and OD at the medical university Karolinska Institutet, with SCT theory and methods as part of the curriculum. Erika is a licensed Systems-Centered Practitioner, and chairperson of the Swedish SCT Association. She leads and co-leads regular SCT trainings in Sweden and the US, and has coordinated several international SCT workshops.

Participants will use SCT methods to explore current experience and reduce barriers to taking up member role. They will build capacity to organize energy, self-correct and move toward system goals. Please assess your readiness for this Intermediate level training by completing the Application Form below, due 21 March 2016.

Experiential | Intermediate Level | 7.5 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Practice building a systems-centered group that explores current experiences
• Practice skill in maintaining member role
• Discriminate and assess the difference between person (individual) and member roles
• Apply capacity to self-correct and move toward system goals
• Assess how one's own behaviors can be a driving or restraining force towards systems goals
• Select and plan to reduce at least 2 restraining forces that you as a member of this training have identified as getting in the way of taking up your member role

Use these documents to assess your readiness for this training and apply:

• Intermediate Training Group Application and Criteria

Sven-Erik Viskari is a licensed psychologist and psychotherapist who also works with team building, group development and coaching of leaders. He holds a position as OD consultant on part time with a company that provides occupational healthcare, and works in private practice with a mix of clinical and OD work. He is also a licensed Systems-Centered Practitioner and a member of the Board of the Systems-Centered Training and Research Institute.

Heather B. Twomey received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Miami University in 1997. She began training in SCT in 1996, her internship year at Emory University. She has trained steadily with Susan Gantt since the mid-90s and became a licensed Systems-Centered Practitioner in 2007. She has led systems-centered training groups and events and leads systems-centered therapy groups in her private practice in Carrboro, NC.

In this advanced intermediate workshop participants will create an SCT group as a context for exploring phases of group development. Participants will create force fields each day to create a map of driving and restraining forces reflecting phase-related behaviours. The work of the group will connect to the theory of phases of group development. Prerequisite: Completion of Mentor Training and/or Intermediate 3-Year Training Group and/or previous roles workshop. Note: Participation in intermediate level training requires actively receiving consultation from an SCT Licensed Practitioner

Experiential, didactic | Intermediate Level | 7.5 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Describe the phases of development in an SCT group
• Construct a force field to explore the driving and restraining forces in each phase
• Describe specific behaviours which are driving or restraining toward the goal
• Describe the defenses to be reduced in each phase
• Analyze the one-up/one-down roles in the authority phase
• Critique the theory of human living systems, and apply the theory to my group experience

Mike Maher, MA, PGCE, is a psychotherapist, trainer and organisational consultant. He is a Licensed SCT Practitioner and Associate Director of SCTRI and leads an ongoing SCT training group. He was Deputy Director in a Therapeutic Community and subsequently he has developed a specialism in working with staff who work with client groups – adolescents and adults - characterised by their challenging natures. He has written papers and book chapters in working with staff groups, organisational issues in mental health reform, managing self-harm behaviours and other subjects, and has presented at many national and international conferences.

Nina Klebanoff, Ed.M., LCSW, CGP, Licensed SCT practitioner, has been a psychotherapist for twenty-nine years. Nina works in Manhattan with individuals, groups, couples and couples groups. In addition she leads an ongoing SCT training group. Nina also does organizational consulting and ongoing staff development and individual consultations for psychotherapists and OD professionals. Nina specializes in working with creative artists and therapists. She has taught group psychotherapy as an adjunct faculty at NYU School of Social Work and is particularly interested in training and consultation groups. She is a member of the SCTRI Board of Directors in the role as Treasurer and is developing workshops for therapists in dealing with financial issues that have to do with maintaining a practice as well as the issues that directly impact the therapeutic relationship.

Advanced members apply the Theory of Living Human Systems (TLHS) and SCT methods to build and develop a systems-centered group context within which they can explore intimacy phase roles that impact the capacity for member role in the group and the conference-as-a-whole. Prerequisite: Completion of Authority Issue Group, active Membership in SCTRI Force Field application required, contact Fran Carter, carter2229@aol.com

Experiential, review | Advanced Level | 7.5 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Apply the concept of a member role to practice shifting from one's personal experience to one's experience in a larger context
• Use the method of functional subgrouping to test the hypothesis that discrimination and intergration of difference contributes to survival, development and transformation
• Discuss the similarities and differences in experience at different system levels: person, member, subgroup and group-as-a-whole
• Identify and reduce the restraining forces appropriate to the phase of development
• Articulate fresh ways of taking up membership by exploring and reducing stereotyped habits of membership
• Discover and discuss the function of the "advanced" group in the system-as-a-whole

Frances Carter, MSS, LSW, CGP, is a Licensed Social Worker, living and working in the Philadelphia area. She maintains a clinical and consulting practice working with individuals, couples, groups and organizations. Fran is a founding member of Systems-Centered Training and Research Institute, a current Board Member and System Mentor. She is a licensed Systems-Centered Practitioner and a senior trainer, leading workshops, ongoing training and consultation groups and intensive training blocks throughout the US and Europe. She is also a principal in SAVI Communications and the SAVI Network where she works with others to develop training in the SAVI approach to communication.

Lawrence J. Ladden, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and a senior instructor with the Penn Program for Mindfulness where he has designed and led numerous grant funded applications of mindfulness. A licensed Systems-Centered practitioner, he has led the five-day Intermediate Skills Training at the SCT Annual Conference. He writes and teaches on “Contemplative Group Dynamics” - an integration of systems-centered and mindfulness-awareness practices with contemporary insights into embodiment, empathy, and culture.

Functional subgrouping is the core method used in SCT to implement the theory statement that all living human systems survive, develop and transform by discriminating and integrating differences in the apparently similar and similarities in the apparently different. This workshop will introduce and practice the behaviors that support functional subgrouping.

Format: Didactic, experiential practice | Open to All Levels | 1.5 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• State one goal of functional subgrouping
• Apply two behaviors that support functional subgrouping
• Describe one impact on the communication climate of functional subgrouping

Erika Ekedal, MsC, is a licensed psychologist who counsels individuals and groups, trains leaders and consultants, and manages change in organizations on the basis of SCT. Her experience includes teaching leadership and OD at the medical university Karolinska Institutet, with SCT theory and methods as part of the curriculum. Erika is a licensed Systems-Centered Practitioner, and chairperson of the Swedish SCT Association. She leads and co-leads regular SCT trainings in Sweden and the US, and has coordinated several international SCT workshops.

Introduction to a Theory of Living Human Systems which defines a hierarchy of isomorphic systems that are self-organizing, goal-directed and self-correcting.

Format: Didactic | Open to All Levels | 1.5 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Describe how the theory of Living Human Systems (TLHS) introduces an innovative approach to the existing person-centered, member-centered, leader-centered and group-as-a-whole approaches currently used in the field of psychology
• Define the major constructs of System Hierarchy and System Isomorphy
• Describe the SCT method of Functional Subgrouping and use it to enable the discrimination and integration of differences as an alternative to ignoring or scapegoating them

Heather B. Twomey received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Miami University in 1997. She began training in SCT in 1996, her internship year at Emory University. She has trained steadily with Susan Gantt since the mid-90s and became a licensed Systems-Centered Practitioner 2007. She has led systems-centered training groups and events and leads systems-centered therapy groups in her private practice in Carrboro, NC.

Explaining is a defense that keeps us in familiar territory; we go to what we already know, telling a story that goes down a well-worn track. When exploring, we are on the edge of the unknown, discovering what we don’t already know. This workshop will introduce the fork-in-the-road as a method to increase awareness between explaining and exploring, giving a choice as to where to direct our energy. We will go to the edge of the unknown ourselves and see what is different when we don't yet know, with opportunities to link experience to literature, improvisation, the arts, and other domains of experience.

Format: Didactic, experiential, discussion | Open to All Levels | 1.5 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Describe the fork-in-the-road as a method to vector energy
• Apply explaining versus exploring as a fork-in-the-road
• Practice using the fork-in-the road method

Mike Maher, MA, PGCE, is a psychotherapist, trainer and organisational consultant. He is a Licensed SCT Practitioner and Associate Director of SCTRI and leads an ongoing SCT training group. He was Deputy Director in a Therapeutic Community and subsequently he has developed a specialism in working with staff who work with client groups – adolescents and adults - characterised by their challenging natures. He has written papers and book chapters in working with staff groups, organisational issues in mental health reform, managing self-harm behaviours and other subjects, and has presented at many national and international conferences.

Learning to see systems and not just people is the heart of applying systems thinking. Participants will be introduced to the “theory” behind the theory chart through “circles and arrows” as representations of the abstract ideas in a Theory of Living Human Systems.

Format: Presentation, discussion | Open to All Levels | 1.5 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• State the connection between theory (TLHS) and practice (SCT)
• Practice thinking systems and not just people
• Describe and diagram the essential system variables identified in a theory of living human systems

Susan P. Gantt, Ph.D., ABPP, CGP, DFAGPA, FAPA, is a psychologist in private practice in Atlanta and worked for Emory University School of Medicine in the Psychiatry department for 29 years where she taught and coordinated group psychotherapy training. She is the Director of the Systems-Centered Training and Research Institute, which was recognized with the 2010 Award for Outstanding Contributions in Education and Training in the Field of Group Psychotherapy by the National Registry of Certified Group Psychotherapists. She trains, supervises and consults in the practice of SCT in the USA and Europe and leads ongoing training groups for therapists and consultants in Atlanta, San Francisco and Amsterdam. She has published numerous journal articles and co-authored the texts Autobiography of a Theory, SCT in Action, and Systems-Centered Therapy: Clinical Practice with Individuals, Families & Groups with Yvonne Agazarian. She co-edited the book The Interpersonal Neurobiology of Group Psychotherapy and Group Process with Bonnie Badenoch in 2013. She was awarded the 2011 Alonso Award for Excellence in Psychodynamic Group Psychotherapy by the Group Psychotherapy Foundation for her work in editing (with Paul Cox) the special issue of the International Journal of Group Psychotherapy on “Neurobiology and Interpersonal Systems: Groups, Couples and Beyond.”

SCT identifies three sources of anxiety. These will be introduced and normalised at the same time as recognising that anxiety is often a barrier between the individual and authentic experience. The workshop will enable people to consider the discrimination between anxiety and sitting at the edge of the unknown.

Format: Didactic, experiential | Open to All Levels | 1.5 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• List the three sources of anxiety identified in SCT
• Describe the discrimination between mind reads and negative predictions
• Describe the discrimination between anxiety that defends against experience and anxiety at the edge of the unknown

Rick Campa, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Austin, Texas. Rick was formally trained in Boston and moved to Texas in 1991. He served as director of the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit at the San Antonio State Hospital and later moved to Austin to open private practice. Rick divides his time working with couples and groups in his private practice and working as a consult to the State of Texas making determinations for the federal Social Security Disability program. He began studying system-centered training in 1998 and is currently a licensed Systems-Centered practitioner.

Consultation offers practice in the systems-centered protocol for a ten-minute consult, based on applying the SCT principles for guiding the client into their professional role and resolving their personal roles by drawing their attention to the context of their problem.

Format: Didactic, experiential | Open to All Levels | 1.5 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Practice consulting within a ten-minute frame
• Discuss the difference between vectoring the consultation to the person and vectoring it to the problems the consultee has in his or her role in a specific context
• Employ centering as the first step in developing a mutual system between the consultant and the consultee

Yvonne M. Agazarian, Ed.D., CGP, DFAGPA, FAPA, developed the Theory of Living Human Systems; founded the Systems-Centered Training and Research Institute and works as a therapist, consultant and trainer in Philadelphia. She has introduced the innovative method of goal-oriented Functional Subgrouping which requires people to build on the similarities between them rather than emphasizing their differences. She is clinical professor in the Adelphi postdoctoral group program. She gives presentations and seminars on the Systems-centered approach nationally and internationally. She was awarded the Group Psychologist of the year by the American Psychological Association in 1997 "For expanding our knowledge of the boundaries between clinical and social psychology with the investigation of living human systems and systems-centered group and individual therapy. Her considerable body of work illustrates the highest blend of creativity and learning.”

This workshop offers the opportunity to learn more about the theory behind the SCT distraction exercise. Participants will have the opportunity to practice and explore their experiences with the distraction exercise as well.

Format: Didactic, experiential | Open to All Levels | 1.5 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Describe the theoretical underpinnings of the distraction exercise
• Practice the protocol of the distraction exercise
• Describe how the distraction exercise contributes to building a system

Lawrence J. Ladden, Ph.D., CPsychol., is a Clinical and Health Psychologist. He teaches mindfulness at the LOC (Leaders in Oncology Care) in London and is an external supervisor at the Maudsley Hospital. He served as a senior instructor with the Penn Program for Mindfulness of the University of Pennsylvania Health Care System in the United States from 1998 until 2013. He is a licensed SCT practitioner. He founded and teaches Contemplative Group Dynamics - a formal approach to integrating mindfulness-awareness with group work.

Introducing the theory behind the creation of the SAVI system for analyzing verbal interaction. The SAVI grid is introduced as a format for understanding that how you say what you say determines how likely it is that the information in your communication will get across. It is assumed that it is the pattern of verbal interaction that determines the probability, not the individual's intention, nor a single communication.

Format: Didactic, experiential | Open to All Levels | 1.5 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Identify active verbal behaviors defining communications
• Describe the SAVI grid as a form in which different kinds of communication behaviors can be identified
• Give examples of verbal behaviors serving as either driving or restraining forces to the transfer of the information contained within the communication

Yvonne M. Agazarian, Ed.D., CGP, DFAGPA, FAPA, developed the Theory of Living Human Systems; founded the Systems-Centered Training and Research Institute and works as a therapist, consultant and trainer in Philadelphia. She has introduced the innovative method of goal-oriented Functional Subgrouping which requires people to build on the similarities between them rather than emphasizing their differences. She is clinical professor in the Adelphi postdoctoral group program. She gives presentations and seminars on the Systems-centered approach nationally and internationally. She was awarded the Group Psychologist of the year by the American Psychological Association in 1997 "For expanding our knowledge of the boundaries between clinical and social psychology with the investigation of living human systems and systems-centered group and individual therapy. Her considerable body of work illustrates the highest blend of creativity and learning.”

The force field, as developed by Kurt Lewin, is the SCT map for collecting information about the forces that drive systems towards their goals (driving forces) and the forces that get in the way (restraining forces). Building a force field related to a particular goal helps identify which restraining forces to reduce so the driving forces can be released. The group will use force fields to clarify goals, identify driving and restraining forces, identify solutions to problems, and make decisions in various contexts.

Format: Didactic, experiential, practicum | Open to All Levels | 1.5 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Demonstrate a basic theoretical understanding of force fields through group discussion
• Construct a force field by identifying a goal, and driving and restraining forces to that goal
• Use the force field in problem-solving to move toward a goal

Mindy Lemoine, MS Geography, is a project manager in the Philadelphia office of the US Environmental Protection Agency. She uses SCT theory and methods to help groups in her organization develop their capacity to set and achieve goals related to watershed management and adoption of greener manufacturing practices.

Jonas Eriksson Bergdahl, BSc in Business Administration and Economics, is working as Head of Negotiations & Labour Law at a north European bank. He first got in contact with SCT in 2006 and now uses SCT theory and methods to establish a climate so that both parties in a negotiation can understand their role, goal and context and thereby develop their common skills to reach long-term agreements at the workplace.

SCT work is always in the context of the phases of system development. Each phase of development is operationally defined as a force field of driving and restraining forces. This enables identifying phase-specific interventions that weaken the restraining forces relevant to the phase. Aligning change strategies to the phase context lowers frustration.

Format: Presentation, discussion | Open to All Levels | 1.5 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Explain the phases of system development defined by SCT
• Describe at least one developmental challenge inherent in each phase
• Describe and apply the hierarchy of defense modification weakening restraining forces relevant to the phases of system development

Susan P. Gantt, Ph.D., ABPP, CGP, DFAGPA, FAPA, is a psychologist in private practice in Atlanta and worked for Emory University School of Medicine in the Psychiatry department for 29 years where she taught and coordinated group psychotherapy training. She is the Director of the Systems-Centered Training and Research Institute, which was recognized with the 2010 Award for Outstanding Contributions in Education and Training in the Field of Group Psychotherapy by the National Registry of Certified Group Psychotherapists. She trains, supervises and consults in the practice of SCT in the USA and Europe and leads ongoing training groups for therapists and consultants in Atlanta, San Francisco and Amsterdam. She has published numerous journal articles and co-authored the texts Autobiography of a Theory, SCT in Action, and Systems-Centered Therapy: Clinical Practice with Individuals, Families & Groups with Yvonne Agazarian. She co-edited the book The Interpersonal Neurobiology of Group Psychotherapy and Group Process with Bonnie Badenoch in 2013. She was awarded the 2011 Alonso Award for Excellence in Psychodynamic Group Psychotherapy by the Group Psychotherapy Foundation for her work in editing (with Paul Cox) the special issue of the International Journal of Group Psychotherapy on “Neurobiology and Interpersonal Systems: Groups, Couples and Beyond.”

Force field analysis is a tool used in SCT to track the driving and restraining forces of system development. Force fields allow us to identify the explicit and implicit goals of a system at any level (e.g., person, member, subgroup, group-as-whole/organization). This two-day intermediate level training focuses on the practice of building a force field. How do we know what is driving or restraining in any given system? How do we collect observable data? We will learn how to build force fields together based on experiential exercises with the group. Meets Monday & Tuesday.

Didactic, experiential | Intermediate Level | 3.0 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Discriminate observable data from opinions and stories
• Describe Kurt Lewin’s concept of a force field and how it relates to system development from an SCT perspective
• Practice using force fields to clarify implicit and explicit goals of a system

Susan Beren, Ph.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist who has been in private practice in New York City for the last 17 years, doing therapy with individuals, couples and groups and providing supervision and consultation. Susan has taught, done research on and co-authored several papers on the multiple causes and treatment of eating disorders and obesity. She is a licensed Systems-Centered Training practitioner.

Rick Campa, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist in private practice in Austin, Texas. Rick was formally trained in Boston and moved to Texas in 1991. He served as director of the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit at the San Antonio State Hospital and later moved to Austin to open a private practice. Rick divides his time working with couples and groups in his private practice and working as a consult to the State of Texas making determinations for the federal Social Security Disability program. He began studying system-centered training in 1998 and is currently a licensed Systems-Centered practitioner.

This intermediate level training focuses on the practice of SCT leadership through introducing functional subgrouping, the distraction exercise and the fork-in-the-road to discriminate between explaining and exploring – core SCT methods. Participants practice through role-plays in different contexts (clinical, OD, etc). This training dovetails with Intermediate Skills Training (IST) and is for people who have taken IST and for those who are considering IST. Please self-assess your readiness for this training by reviewing the criteria for Intermediate Level training at http://www.systemscentered.com/Training/TrainingCurriculum Meets Wednesday - Friday.

Didactic, experiential | Intermediate Level | 4.5 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Practice using the skill of functional subgrouping in a group, building a context where members join on similarities, while differences are contained and explored, rather than scapegoated
• Apply the concept of role, goal and context in the system, by using the distraction exercise to bring energy across the boundaries in time, space and reality so individuals take up their member role in a given context
• State and apply the fork-in-the-road technique that helps build the discrimination between explaining or exploring an experience

Susan Beren, Ph.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist who has been in private practice in New York City for the last 17 years, doing therapy with individuals, couples and groups and providing supervision and consultation. Susan has taught, done research on and co-authored several papers on the multiple causes and treatment of eating disorders and obesity. She is a licensed Systems-Centered Training practitioner.

Madeline O’Carroll, MSc, is a Senior Lecturer at City University London and has worked in mental health nursing for 30 years as a clinician and educator. She is a qualified teacher with extensive experience of developing and delivering education and training and she also runs therapy groups for people with psychosis. Madeline is a licensed Systems-Centered Training practitioner and is interested in supporting student nurses to manage the emotional impact of working in mental health.

This workshop is for Intermediate and Advanced members who are interested in reviewing and exploring more deeply the current protocols in the revised Foundation Manual. The work will focus on the understanding of the system developmental goal, vector and function of each protocol, particularly the newer additions. Prerequisite: Completion of Mentor Training and in active consultation. Note: Participation in intermediate level training requires actively receiving consultation from an SCT Licensed Practitioner.

Discussion, role play | Intermediate Level | 7.5 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Apply an understanding of the goal and vector of a protocol to the specific steps
• Apply an understanding of the theoretical context for the use of SCT protocols
• Apply an understanding of the Phases of System Development to the use of SCT protocols
• Describe the relationship of Structural, Functional and Vectoring interventions to System development.
• Describe the hierarchy of defense modification and its relationship to the Phases of System Development
• Describe the importance of the sequence of defense modification outlined in the Hierarchy

Frances Carter, MSS, LSW, CGP, is a Licensed Social Worker, living and working in the Philadelphia area. She maintains a clinical and consulting practice working with individuals, couples, groups and organizations. Fran is a founding member of the Systems-Centered Training and Research Institute, and a Board Member and System Mentor. She continues to be interested in the development of training,curriculum and research and has contributed her time to these work groups within SCTRI. She is a licensed Systems-Centered Practitioner and a senior trainer, leading workshops, ongoing training and consultation groups and intensive training blocks throughout the US and Europe. She is also a principle in SAVI Communications and the SAVI Network where she works with others to develop training in the SAVI approach to communication. She brings to all her work the energy and creativity of her early background as an artist.

Annie is a Social Worker who specialises in working with children and their families. Annie is Director of Family Operations for a large local authority in England and is engaged in applying systems-centred theory and methods to enhancing leadership capacity and capability in complex organisational contexts. She is a licensed Systems Centered Practitioner and Board Member.

In this training, members practice applying the SCT protocols related to Modules I and II of the Hierarchy of Defense Modification. Each day will cover a theory component, videotaped practice sessions, and a force field review of the videotapes. By application to Dorothy Gibbons (dorothygibbons2@gmail.com) APPLICATION DEADLINE: February 28, 2016 with response by March 13. Note: Participation in intermediate level training requires actively receiving consultation from an SCT Licensed Practitioner. 7-day group, continuing from the weekend.

Lectures, videotaped practices, group discussion, experiential | Intermediate Level | 30.0 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Demonstrate an ability to introduce functional subgrouping to a group
• Demonstrate ability to use SCT protocols for undoing distractions, anxiety, tension, depression, outrages, and role locks
• Apply a basic understanding of the theoretical context for the use of SCT protocols
• Prepare a force field to analyze what helps or hinders the application of protocols
• Demonstrate ability to provide feedback based on facts, not opinions
• Demonstrate ability to lead a small task group

Use these documents to assess your readiness for this training and apply:

• Intermediate Skills Training Application and Criteria

Dorothy Gibbons, MSS, LCSW, is a licensed Systems-Centered Practitioner. She is in private practice in Philadelphia, PA. She works with individuals, groups, and couples. She also works as an organizational consultant to a social service agency in Philadelphia. Ms. Gibbons is the former Director of the Adolescent Sex Offender Unit at the Joseph J. Peters Institute in Philadelphia and has extensive experience working with both victims and offenders of sexual abuse. She is on the Board of Directors of the Systems-Centered Training and Research Institute. She is also a graduate of the Gestalt Therapy Training Institute in Philadelphia.

This intermediate level training combines experiential work, focusing on crossing the boundary from person to member systems, with in-depth theory and force field work on the phases of system development (diagnosis, dynamics, driving and restraining forces). This 3-year course is open to be repeated as long as members find it meets their goals. Membership requires a commitment to attend all three yearly sessions in any one cycle. SCT Conference 2015 began the latest cycle of this 3 year group. Group is now closed to new members until a new cycle begins in 2018. Contact Joy Luther (joyluthersoffice@gmail.com)if you have questions about the next cycle. Note: Participation in intermediate level training requires actively receiving consultation from an SCT Licensed Practitioner.

Experiential practicum, force field development, theory | Intermediate Level | 15.0 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Recognize and reduce restraining forces to moving into member role by exploring boundary between person and member systems in context of the phase of system development
• Apply SCT methods and techniques to reduce restraining forces in group development
• Practice containing person system experience as potential resource for group development
• Apply force field structure to organize observations of group development as well as to one’s driving and restraining forces for moving from person to member role
• Assess group implicit goals and phase of development from force field data
• Discuss theory and phases of group development, relating to force field data and assessment

Claudia Byram, Ph.D., CGP, has worked since 1980 as a clinician and trainer. She began work with Yvonne Agazarian in the early 80s, and has developed as a clinician and trainer as Systems-Centered therapy developed. Currently, she is a licensed Systems-Centered Practitioner with a clinical practice in Philadelphia. She leads Systems-Centered training events as well as communications training and consultation in the SAVI (System for Analyzing Verbal Interaction) model.

Joy Luther, LCSW, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. She maintains a clinical and consulting practice in Austin, Texas, working with individuals, couples, families, groups and organizations. She is a licensed Systems-Centered Practitioner, Trainer and Consultant in SCT, in the USA and Canada, and currently leads an ongoing training group in Austin and at the annual SCT Conference. She has forty years experience as a psychotherapist and is a past Board Member of the Texas Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, the Texas Society of Clinical Social Workers and the Dynamis Chapter of the American Business Women’s Association. Joy currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Systems-Centered Training and Research Institute.

This whole morning training has two roles: being a Container, and Observing the Containers. Participants with SCT Intermediate Skills Training will be Containers in the Foundation Group. Those with SCT Intermediate experience will Observe the Containers at work. Late morning we will review the Container work and role play the Container role. By application to Rowena Davis and Norma Safransky (rdavis@rdaconsulting.net; nsafransky@gmail.com). APPLICATION DEADLINE: February 8, 2016 with response by February 28. Note: there are a maximum of 4 places for each role. See application process and entry criteria below.

Didactic, group practicum | Intermediate Level | 15.0 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Describe three goals of the Container role
• Name three internal behaviors that support the Container role
• Name four verbal behaviors that support taking the Container role
• Name one criterion for lightening the work of a subgroup
• Name one criterion for deepening the work of a subgroup
• Practice subgrouping from the Container rather than the Member role

Use these documents to assess your readiness for this training and apply:

• Container Training Application and Criteria

Rowena Davis, MSc, is an organizational consultant working with public, private and not-for-profit organizations in the UK and internationally. Her work combines coaching individuals and teams; strategic marketing and planning; mapping systems; and running SCT and SAVI trainings in the US and Europe. She is a licensed Systems-Centered Training practitioner, a certified SAVI trainer and a member of the Systems-Centered Training and Research Institute Board. She holds an MSc in Change Agent Skills & Strategies (Distinction) from the University of Surrey, a Dott. in Sociologia from the University of Trento, Italy, and a BSc (Econ) from the London School of Economics. Rowena is based in London.

Norma Safransky, M.D., is a board certified psychiatrist in private practice in Chapel Hill, NC. She is a licensed Systems-Centered Practitioner and runs SCT therapy groups. She has a Bachelor of Science degree from Duke University and a Doctorate of Medicine degree from the University of North Carolina (UNC). She completed her residency in Psychiatry at UNC.

The Licensing Group develops itself as a work group to do the work of assessing its members and making recommendations for who meets the qualifications as a licensed SCT practitioner. This includes determining the criteria for assessing its members, its process for assessing work samples, and implementing its assessment process and making recommendations to the licensed members group. This is a closed group. 7-day group, continuing from the weekend.

Experiential, group practicum | Advanced Level | 27.5 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Develop a working group and identify and weaken restraining forces to its development
• Demonstrate membership and support the goal of building criteria without personalizing
• Practice taking and supporting task and process leadership in the service of the goal
• Assess and weaken any restraining forces related to habitual roles
• Apply the Theory of Living Human Systems (TLHS) in determining the criteria for licensing
• Utilize leadership and membership roles working in the context of developing a peer assessment group

Susan P. Gantt, Ph.D., ABPP, CGP, DFAGPA, FAPA, is a psychologist in private practice in Atlanta and worked for Emory University School of Medicine in the Psychiatry department for 29 years where she taught and coordinated group psychotherapy training. She is the Director of the Systems-Centered Training and Research Institute, which was recognized with the 2010 Award for Outstanding Contributions in Education and Training in the Field of Group Psychotherapy by the National Registry of Certified Group Psychotherapists. She trains, supervises and consults in the practice of SCT in the USA and Europe and leads ongoing training groups for therapists and consultants in Atlanta, San Francisco and Amsterdam. She has published numerous journal articles and co-authored the texts Autobiography of a Theory, SCT in Action, and Systems-Centered Therapy: Clinical Practice with Individuals, Families & Groups with Yvonne Agazarian. She co-edited the book The Interpersonal Neurobiology of Group Psychotherapy and Group Process with Bonnie Badenoch in 2013. She was awarded the 2011 Alonso Award for Excellence in Psychodynamic Group Psychotherapy by the Group Psychotherapy Foundation for her work in editing (with Paul Cox) the special issue of the International Journal of Group Psychotherapy on “Neurobiology and Interpersonal Systems: Groups, Couples and Beyond.”

Rich Armington, LMSW, CGP, is a licensed social worker with a strong interest in working with diverse populations. He began his practice of psychotherapy at the University of Texas at Austin’s Counseling and Mental Health Center and entered into private practice in Austin in 1989. He works with individuals, groups, couples, and couples' groups. His commitment to including a body orientation in his work found a natural home when he began training in SCT in 1991. A licensed SCT practitioner, he currently leads foundation and intermediate level SCT training groups as well as SCT therapy groups.

This training observes the Licensing Group to track group dynamics, phase of system development, communication patterns that support the phase, leadership interventions linking interventions to theory and group functioning. Goal of the group: To increase members' SCT training skills to apply in their work and training contexts with an emphasis on learning interventions linked to theory and phase of system development. This group is now closed. 7-day group, continuing from the weekend.

Observation, didactic, experiential, group practicum | Advanced Level | 27.5 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Analyze SCT interventions and relate to driving and restraining forces in the phases of system development
• Identify a predictable hierarchy of defense modification
• Describe observations and apply experience to a Theory of Living Human Systems and systems-centered practice
• Compare isomorphy between group being observed and observing group
• Assess effectiveness of functional subgrouping in advanced training group (Licensing Group)
• Demonstrate development of advanced training skills in the training group context

Dr. Ray Haddock, MBChB, M.MedSc, FRCPsych, Member of Institute of Group Analysis, Licensed Systems-Centered Practitioner. Qualified in medicine in 1982, trained in Psychiatry then in Psychotherapy in Leeds (UK). He has wide experience of leading SCT training groups and workshops in UK, Europe and the USA. He has practiced as a Consultant Medical Psychotherapist in the UK for over 20 years and has also had a number of management roles in the NHS, including service development and implementation of training programs for psychiatry trainees. He teaches psychotherapy based on SCT to junior psychiatrists and psychotherapy trainees for over 20 years. Clinically he uses SCT in individual and group therapy and has developed a manual to support this work. He uses the Theory of Living Human Systems in day-to-day organizational work, consultation and leadership.

One-up and one-down roles in the contexts of sex and money are difficult to explore in therapy and consultation given society's norms around these subjects. We will use functional subgrouping to reduce the restraining forces to this exploration so that clinicians and consultants can understand their own dynamics that surface around these issues in order to better understand themselves and to better address them with their clients.

Experiential | Open to All Levels | 2.0 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Identify at least one personal restraining force to exploring one-up/one-down roles in relationship to sex and money
• Describe at least two personal one-up/one-down roles in relation to money and sex
• Provide at least two examples of how various roles relating to sex and money contain implicit goals of dominance and submission

Nina Klebanoff, Ed.M., LCSW, CGP, Licensed SCT practitioner, has been a psychotherapist for thirty years. Nina works in Manhattan with individuals, groups, couples and couples groups. In addition she leads an ongoing SCT training group. Nina also does organizational consulting and ongoing staff development and individual consultations for psychotherapists and OD professionals. Nina specializes in working with creative artists and therapists. She has taught group psychotherapy as an adjunct faculty at NYU School of Social Work and is particularly interested in training and consultation groups. She is a member of the SCTRI Board of Directors in the role as Treasurer and is developing workshops for therapists in dealing with financial issues that have to do with maintaining a practice as well as the issues that directly impact the therapeutic relationship.

Over the past two years, a working group has developed a draft “map” to clarify a developmental path for OD practitioners in SCT. Here, participants will be introduced to the map, engage with it and work together to explore their reactions to see what they discover about next steps for their own development.

Didactic, experiential | Open to All Levels | 2.0 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Identify own personal pull to Dominance, Submission or Cooperation when presented with the SCT curriculum map
• Practice using Role, Goal and Context as a tool to make sense of the SCT OD curriculum map
• Describe one next step for own learning and development in SCT

Alida Zweidler-McKay, MBA, has been a consultant and coach since 1996. Through one-on-one coaching, leadership development programs and customized consulting to teams, she works with senior executives and middle managers to develop their leadership skills. Her focus is on team building, conflict resolution and effective communications. Alida is a certified trainer for Personify Leadership®, and for the Power + Systems Organization Workshop® and is working toward the goal of becoming SAVI certified. She has participated in SCT training since 2002. She has a BA from Swarthmore College and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She lives and works in Houston, TX.

Rowena Davis, MSc, is an organizational consultant working with public, private and not-for-profit organizations in the UK and internationally. Her work combines coaching individuals and teams; strategic marketing and planning; mapping systems; and running SCT and SAVI trainings in the US and Europe. She is a licensed Systems-Centered Training practitioner, a certified SAVI trainer and a member of the Systems-Centered Training and Research Institute Board. She holds an MSc in Change Agent Skills & Strategies (Distinction) from the University of Surrey, a Dott. in Sociologia from the University of Trento, Italy, and a BSc (Econ) from the London School of Economics. Rowena is based in London.

What does absence do to us and how do we get access to our curiosity when we approach it? Low energy in muscles, collapse and dissociation will be presented conceptually as levels of absence. We will explore driving and restraining forces in the process of including these phenomena in our perception of ourselves and of reality.

Experiential, didactic, practicum | Open to All Levels | 2.0 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Describe emotions and thoughts emerging when approaching what is absent
• Differentiate between different levels of low energy and absence
• Assess driving and restraining forces related to approaching low energy phenomena

Merete Holm Brantbjerg, MPF, has worked since 1980 as an individual therapist, groupleader and trainer in bodypsychotherapy and trauma-therapy. Since 2006 she has been in training in SCT. Merete has developed “Relational trauma therapy” as an approach that combines psychomotor skill training and systems oriented group work. She leads workshops and trauma-therapeutic training programs in Scandinavia, London and Vancouver.

Systems-centered systems (such as work teams, therapy groups, and school classes) come into being through the use of the four systems-centered methods: contextualizing, boundarying, vectoring and subgrouping. In this workshop we will look at the definitions of these four methods, observe a leader using these methods, and explore the impact on a developing group.

Didactic, observation, small group discussion | Open to All Levels | 2.0 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Describe leader interventions in terms of the methods of boundarying, vectoring, subgrouping and contextualizing
• Assess the different impacts of the four methods on a developing group
• Use own words to make an intervention using one of the four methods

Roelof Langman, Drs., studied Psychology and Philosophy in Amsterdam. After a career as magazine editor and IT professional, he is now working as an adult educator in Amsterdam, facilitating Dialogue groups and working with ethnically diverse groups of men to reduce the restraining forces to their full participation as citizens in Dutch society. He has been a licensed SCT practitioner since 2011, co-leads an Ongoing SCT Group in the Netherlands, and is editor of the SCT Newsletter.

This workshop will introduce participants to Mentalization Based Therapy (MBT), a specific type of psychodynamically-oriented psychotherapy designed for treatment of patients diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. The group practicum will identify the similarities and differences between MBT and SCT in relation to clinical work. Clinical examples of working with compliance, defiance and co-operation will be explored.

Didactic, group practicum | Open to All Levels | 2.0 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Demonstrate an understanding of the concept of mentalization and main techniques of Mentalization Based Therapy in clinical practice
• List the similarities and differences between systems-centered therapy and mentalization based therapy in theory and the methods used for change
• Describe how the systems-centered concept of the authority issue is useful when working with therapy teams and with patients with Borderline Personality Disorder

Jale Cilasun, BM, MRCPsych, is a Consultant Psychiatrist specialising in psychotherapy practicing in the UK National Health Service (NHS) and a trainer and educator of doctors and therapists. She has trained in SCT since 2004. Since 2012 she has developed an NHS treatment service for patients with Borderline Personality Disorder using the Mentalization Based Therapy model.

As relative newcomers to the field, how do SCT researchers manage the pull to show off our brilliance (dominance), succumb to meaningless traditions (submission), or engage in productive give and take (cooperation)? We will look at these issues while updating the status of current research projects involving SCT.

Didactic, questions and answers, discussion | Open to All Levels | 2.0 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Give a brief summary of the three current research projects involving various aspects of SCT
• Articulate one driving force and one restraining force involving the issues of dominance (one-up), submission (one-down) or cooperation (connectedness) in doing formal research
• Describe how an aspect of the theory underlying SCT led to an operational definition that was (or is) being tested in one of the research projects presented in the seminar

Dick Ganley, Ph.D., CGP, is the principal investigator of a research team that is designing a project to study the use of SCT for treating combat-related PTSD in veterans of our recent wars. He also holds a doctoral degree from Temple University in clinical psychology, has presented at major national conferences for the American Psychological Association, and the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, as well as at numerous state and local conferences. In addition to the research project, Dick is working to develop a method for individual case studies that practitioners could use in their practices to help test SCT in real-world applications. Dick is also the Director of Research for SCTRI and a Licensed SCT Practitioner.

Rich On'Neill, Ph.D., FAClinP, CGP, ABPP, was the first Research Director for SCTRI and held this position for many years. He has published several articles on The Functional Subgrouping Questionnaire, which he worked on with Susan Gantt, Ph.D., and a number of other researchers. Rich is also the Director of Systems-Centered Training, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Department of Psychiatry, where he is also a faculty member. Rich has many years of experience as a trainer at the SCTRI yearly conference.

Berry Trip, RPT, works as a CB trainer and work coach with patients who have "somatic unexplained complaints" in a Dutch healthcare company: Winnock. For the past 22 years he has worked as a group therapist in team environments with professionals from different healthcare backgrounds. This has led to an interest in investigating the similarities in differences (and visa versa) between professionals. Within the company Berry holds several positions on content development as well on organizational development. He organizes and presents workshops on different behavioral (chance) methods for healthcare and business professionals. During the last 4 years he has stepwise introduced several SCT methods into the work teams. In 2014 this resulted in a training project. Barry invited SCTRI to become involved in research on this project and together with an SCTRI international crew is investigating the effectiveness of these methods. The research group is using the TDS, Group Development Questionnaire (GDQ), Functional Subgrouping Questionnaire (FSQ-2) and demographic information, with data collected at several time points during the training project, and a hypothesis that training in SCT methods will influence the work meetings and decision making process in a positive way. In addition to his CBT work, Berry also is an MT member of KenKon, Integral Life & Training Centre where he practices and teaches Karate, Tibetan Meditation and QiGong.

SCT places a high focus on leadership activity in the early phases of group development. What happens when a leaderless group formed of intermediate and advanced members comes together for a 2 hour experiential workshop? How will we manage our authority issue processes? How will our improvisations be similar and different from a traditionally led group? Prerequisite: Completion of Authority Issue Group

Experiential | Advanced Level | 2.0 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Describe how and if the group used SCT methods to manage issues of dominance, submission, or cooperation in a leaderless group
• Apply the Theory of Living Human Systems in giving and taking authority from both leadership and membership roles
• Describe the similarities and differences between a leaderless intermediate/advanced group and groups with a set leadership

Mike Maher, MA, PGCE, is a psychotherapist, trainer and organisational consultant. He is a Licensed SCT Practitioner and Associate Director of SCTRI and leads an ongoing SCT training group. He was Deputy Director in a Therapeutic Community and subsequently he has developed a specialism in working with staff who work with client groups – adolescents and adults - characterised by their challenging natures. He has written papers and book chapters in working with staff groups, organisational issues in mental health reform, managing self-harm behaviours and other subjects, and has presented at many national and international conferences.

SCT methods are operational definitions of the Theory of Living Human Systems. Thus every intervention tests both the validity of the theory and the reliability of the practice. This workshop will explore how to think about interventions as hypotheses and identify criteria for why they work and why they don’t!

Didactic, experiential | Open to All Levels | 2.0 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Discuss interventions as hypotheses which can be tested by looking at the relationship between prediction and outcome
• Describe how the context of an intervention (i.e., the phase of system development) will influence the outcome
• Explain how the theory is useful in diagnosing the factors that lead to the driving and/or restraining aspects of an intervention

Yvonne M. Agazarian, Ed.D., CGP, DFAGPA, FAPA, developed the Theory of Living Human Systems; founded the Systems-Centered Training and Research Institute and works as a therapist, consultant and trainer in Philadelphia. She has introduced the innovative method of goal-oriented Functional Subgrouping which requires people to build on the similarities between them rather than emphasizing their differences. She is clinical professor in the Adelphi postdoctoral group program. She gives presentations and seminars on the systems-centered approach nationally and internationally. She was awarded the Group Psychologist of the year by the American Psychological Association in 1997 "For expanding our knowledge of the boundaries between clinical and social psychology with the investigation of living human systems and systems-centered group and individual therapy. Her considerable body of work illustrates the highest blend of creativity and learning.”

The workshop will present data from a study of child protection conferences in England, meetings that bring together professionals and family members. Interactional events will be examined using the Theory of Living Human Systems (TLHS) concept of roles – both functional roles and roles that elicit dominant and submissive role relationships - and their relationship to the conferences’ implicit and explicit goals.

Didactic, subgrouping to share experiences | Open to All Levels | 2.0 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Describe the explicit goals of the initial child protection conference in the English child protection system
• Identify at least two of the implicit goals detectable through examining interaction in the child protection conference
• Identify at least one functional role behavior and at least two role behaviors that reflect the dominant/submissive pattern

Juliet Koprowska, MSW, Dip.Couns., was a social worker in the mental health system in the UK, and then became a university teacher. She is the author of a text book entitled "Communication and Interpersonal Skills in Social Work." Recently, she has undertaken a research study of interaction in initial child protection conferences. She has been learning SCT and the theory of living human systems for 20+ years, and is the organizer for the annual Systems-Centered Training week in York.

SAVI lets us map the communications that define both survival roles and adaptive roles. Participants will explore internal dialogues and their impact on one’s membership of personal and work contexts. We will visit some verbal communication patterns that can signal dominant and submissive roles that surface in all living human systems.

Didactic, role play, discussion | Open to All Levels | 2.0 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Describe two communication patterns signaling dominant or submissive roles
• Give one example of an output from an internal role and its impact on morale and productivity
• Identify driving and restraining forces of at least role communication pattern

Frances Carter, MSS, LSW, CGP, is a Licensed Social Worker, living and working in the Philadelphia area. She maintains a clinical and consulting practice working with individuals, couples, groups and organizations. Fran is a founding member of the Systems-Centered Training and Research Institute, and a Board Member and System Mentor. She continues to be interested in the development of training, curriculum and research and has contributed her time to these work groups within SCTRI. She is a licensed Systems-Centered Practitioner and a senior trainer, leading workshops, ongoing training and consultation groups and intensive training blocks throughout the US and Europe. She is also a principle in SAVI Communications and the SAVI Network where she works with others to develop training in the SAVI approach to communication. She brings to all her work the energy and creativity of her early background as an artist.

Claudia Byram, Ph.D., CGP, is a licensed Systems-Centered Practitioner with a clinical practice in Philadelphia. She leads systems-centered training events, as well as communications training and consultation in the SAVI (System for Analyzing Verbal Interaction) model. Byram has worked since 1980 as a clinician and trainer, with a doctorate in developmental and clinical psychology from Bryn Mawr College. She began work with Yvonne Agazarian in the early 80s, shifting from psychoanalytic practice toward systems as systems-centered therapy developed.

Work-style assessments can provide useful information to individuals about how they work towards goals and relate to others, including their tendency to go one-up or one-down. After taking a brief assessment, participants will explore how awareness of their work-style influences how they cooperate in a subgrouping task group.

Didactic, experiential | Open to All Levels | 2.0 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Describe personal work-style, particularly related to tendency to go one-up or one-down
• Demonstrate skill in subgrouping in a task group with team members with similar and different work-styles
• List 3 ways in which having information about a member’s typical work-style can be a driving and/or restraining force in relation to a team’s goal

Neal Spivack, Ph.D., FAGPA, CGP, is a clinical psychologist for the Veterans Administration (VA) at the Manhattan Campus of the New York Harbor Healthcare System. He is a Certified Group Psychotherapist (CGP) and a Fellow of AGPA (FAGPA). Dr. Spivack has been a member of the monthly SCT training group run by Yvonne Agazarian and Fran Carter for approximately 11 years and is currently at the intermediate training level within SCT. He is as a member of SCTRI’s newsletter workgroup. Outside of SCT, he has served on the Board of Directors of the Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society (EGPS) for 11 years including as President from 2011-2013. He currently serves as co-chair of the Conference Committee’s Plenary Subcommittee and helping in the Society’s effort to revamp its website. He teaches and supervises group psychotherapy at the VA and has made numerous presentations at the AGPA, SCT, and EGPS annual conferences.

Mindy Lemoine, MS, is a project manager in the Philadelphia office of the US Environmental Protection Agency. She uses SCT theory and methods to help groups in her organization develop their capacity to set and achieve goals related to watershed management and adoption of greener manufacturing practices.

We will compare two models of organizational systems: SCT’s and that of Barry Oshry, which focuses on common power patterns in organizational role relationships between and among Tops, Middles, Bottoms and Customers. We will explore the similarities and differences between the two models and discuss implications for OD practitioners.

Presentation, group discussion | Open to All Levels | 2.0 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Describe Oshry’s model of common role relationship patterns in organizational life and the contexts that give rise to them
• Discuss key concepts from SCT that relate to organizations, including phases of system development, isomorphy and role, goal and context
• List three apparent similarities or differences between the SCT and Oshry perspectives

Alida Zweidler-McKay, MBA, has been a consultant and coach since 1996. Through one-on-one coaching, leadership development programs and customized consulting to teams, she works with senior executives and middle managers to develop their leadership skills. Her focus is on team building, conflict resolution and effective communications. Alida is a certified trainer for Personify Leadership®, and for Oshry's Power + Systems Organization Workshop® and is working toward the goal of becoming SAVI certified. She has participated in SCT training since 2002. She has a BA from Swarthmore College and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She lives and works in Houston, TX.

In this workshop men will subgroup around the experience of working together in a same-sex context. We will reflect on driving and restraining forces to male-only contexts such as men's psychotherapy groups, and share our experience with the complex issues that arise. Men Only.

Experiential | Open to All Levels | 2.0 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Employ functional subgrouping as a method of collecting data on men-only groups
• Practice the explain-explore fork-in-the-road to gather phenomenological information on masculinity
• Identify at least one driving and one restraining force for men-only groups

Peter Bernhardt, MFT, leads men’s groups in Albany and San Francisco. He has studied SCT since 1998 and has completed the authority issue level of training.

Let's explore our relationship to political systems. How do we take up our role as citizens? Are we relating from a compliant, defiant or functional member role? We will use functional subgrouping to explore our political experience and ask how we can engage effectively, individually, within our communities, and as a nation.

Experiential | Open to All Levels | 2.0 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Identify and describe one of own role relationships to politics
• Name one restraining force to crossing the boundary between being a person and being a member of a political system
• Use functional subgrouping to explore the differences, roles, and role-locks we have in our relationship to political systems

Norma Safransky, MD, is a board certified psychiatrist who is a licensed practitioner is Systems Centered Therapy. She runs SCT psychotherapy groups with Heather Twomey, Ph.D., in Chapel Hill, NC.

Peter T. Dunlap, Ph.D., is a psychologist working in private and political practice. Peter is engaged in research at the interface between group theory, systems-centered training (SCT), and emotion-centered work in psychotherapy and groups. He leads a group for community activists focused on the development of emotionally-centered leadership capacities. He is also the author of a book and many articles and papers in the area of political psychology.

The workshop will use fictional film clips to introduce and explore how family members, friends, therapists, chaplains and medical professionals can use systems-centered theory to support those systems following the reception of a terminal diagnosis.

Didactic, film clips, subgrouping | Open to All Levels | 2.0 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Describe the developmental tasks facing the members of a living human system when a terminal diagnosis has been received by a member of the system but death is not imminent (prognosis of life expectancy is several months)
• Describe the developmental tasks facing the members of a living human system when a person’s death is imminent or a member of the system is unable to communicate following a trauma
• Apply the theory of living human systems to support persons, families, and other living human systems accomplish the developmental tasks described previously

Brian Conley, M.Div., MBA, has worked as a chaplain since 1992 and became an Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE) Supervisor in 2006. He has been involved in SCT training since 2006.

This workshop will explore and expand the application of SCT and a Theory of Living Human Systems to long-term complex clinical work, considering the refinements and developments of SCT methods, the integration of methods from other models and the value of hypothesis testing and refinement of interventions over time. This will be a participatory workshop.

Didactic, discussion, consultation | Open to All Levels | 2.0 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Describe how formulating micro hypotheses can inform SCT interventions that build towards the use of an SCT protocol
• Explain why breaking down the SCT methods into smaller steps is helpful in working with those with long-term complex problems
• Discuss how to assess the success of a therapeutic intervention through the lens of the Theory of Living Human Systems

Dr. Ray Haddock, MBChB, M.MedSc, FRCPsych, Member of Institute of Group Analysis, Licensed Systems-Centered Practitioner. Qualified in medicine in 1982, trained in Psychiatry then in Psychotherapy in Leeds (UK). He has wide experience of leading SCT training groups and workshops in UK, Europe and the USA. He has practiced as a Consultant Medical Psychotherapist in the UK for over 20 years and has also had a number of management roles in the NHS, including service development and implementation of training programs for psychiatry trainees. He teaches psychotherapy based on SCT to junior psychiatrists and psychotherapy trainees for over 20 years. Clinically he uses SCT in individual and group therapy and has developed a manual to support this work. He uses the Theory of Living Human Systems in day-to-day organizational work, consultation and leadership.

Participants will first review an SCT-based force field of Phases of Development to identify how dominant, submissive and cooperative behaviors impact on working with peers and leaders. They will then explore a specific time when they behaved in a dominant, submissive or cooperative way and how these behaviors helped or got in the way of supporting the goals of their context and taking up their organizational role.

Didactic, group practicum | Open to All Levels | 2.0 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Identify the SCT Phases of Development in which dominance, submission and cooperation occur
• Name one driving force and one restraining force of dominance, submission and cooperation according to the SCT Phases of Development
• Describe one dominant, submissive or cooperative behavior which proved helpful in taking up an organizational role

Katarina Billman, MSc Psychology, has worked as an organizational psychologist and consultant since 2000. Prior to that she was a Human Resource specialist and manager. She began her training with SCT and Yvonne Agazarian in 2001. She is a licensed psychologist and a licensed Systems-Centered practitioner. She is co-founder and co-owner of Billman Engquist & Company and Vector Group Consulting. She specializes in leadership development through coaching, team development and organizational change. Speaking five languages fluently, she is based in Sweden but works internationally.

Rowena Davis, MSc, is an organizational consultant working with public, private and not-for-profit organizations in the UK and internationally. Her work combines coaching individuals and teams; strategic marketing and planning; mapping systems; and running SCT and SAVI trainings in the US and Europe. She is a licensed Systems-Centered Training practitioner, a certified SAVI trainer and a member of the Systems-Centered Training and Research Institute Board. She holds an MSc in Change Agent Skills & Strategies (Distinction) from the University of Surrey, a Dott. in Sociologia from the University of Trento, Italy, and a BSc (Econ) from the London School of Economics. Rowena is based in London.

This workshop will present SCT groups for mental health nursing students and a staff supervision group in a university setting. The goal of the student group is to learn about the emotional impact of working in mental health. Material from both groups will be used to explore the authority phase. Participants will be invited to share their own examples.

Didactic, experiential, discussion | Open to All Levels | 2.0 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Apply the three-systems hierarchy to a system of one's own
• Discuss the relationship between context and goal in different settings, e.g., educational, organisational and clinical
• Describe two examples of flight behaviours in an educational context

Madeline O’Carroll,MSc, PG Diploma, RMN, RGN, is a Senior Lecturer at City University London and has worked in mental health nursing for 30 years as a clinician and educator. She is a qualified teacher with extensive experience of developing and delivering education and training and she also runs therapy groups for people with psychosis. Madeline is a licensed Systems-Centered Training practitioner and is interested in supporting student nurses to manage the emotional impact of working in mental health.

Our personal roles, social roles and citizenship roles all have different goals and each develop within our three different subsystems: inner-person, inter-person and system-as-a-whole. This workshop alerts us to identifying when our roles induce role-locks in ourselves and others and when they contribute to our personal and social survival, development and transformation.

Didactic, experiential, discussion | Open to All Levels | 2.0 CE Credits

After this workshop, the participant knows or can:

• Analyze the difference between the role systems of person, member, and person-as-a-whole
• Contrast the subjectivity of the survivor roles with the objectivity of the curious observer roles
• Describe how different roles relate to different levels of the person system hierarchy

Yvonne M. Agazarian, Ed.D., CGP, DFAGPA, FAPA, developed the Theory of Living Human Systems; founded the Systems-Centered Training and Research Institute and works as a therapist, consultant and trainer in Philadelphia. She has introduced the innovative method of goal-oriented Functional Subgrouping which requires people to build on the similarities between them rather than emphasizing their differences. She is clinical professor in the Adelphi postdoctoral group program. She gives presentations and seminars on the systems-centered approach nationally and internationally. She was awarded the Group Psychologist of the year by the American Psychological Association in 1997 "For expanding our knowledge of the boundaries between clinical and social psychology with the investigation of living human systems and systems-centered group and individual therapy. Her considerable body of work illustrates the highest blend of creativity and learning.”