Julie Donovan (fictitious name) Julie Donovan, Ph.D., CGP, has worked since 1995 as an SCT 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 New York City and Hoboken, NJ. She leads Systems-Centered training events as well as communications training and consultation in the SAVI (System for Analyzing Verbal Interaction) model.

Jack Kingston (fictitious name) Jack Kingston, LCSW, has ten years of experience in clinical settings, and has presented workshops at two California State Social Work Conferences on working with couples, which was also an area of concentration during his graduate studies. He has been involved in SCT training for the past three years, and has developed a new, one-hour workshop on ways to combine traditional approaches to marriage therapy with an SCT approach to clinical work.

Kathryn Ekenridge (fictitious name) Kathryn Ekenridge, Ph.D. holds a doctorate degree in organizational development from the Karolinska Institutet, is a senior level supervisor in a multinational OD consultant firm, and is a founding member of Svenska SCT-föreningen. As a licensed Systems-Centered Practitioner she leads experiential and didactic seminars in several European countries, as well as at the SCT Annual Conference in the United States.

• Learning objectives, or learning outcomes, are statements that clearly describe what the learner will know or be able to do as a result of having attended an educational program or activity.
• Learning objectives must be observable and measurable.
• Learning objectives should (1) focus on the learner, (2) contain action verbs that describe measurable behaviors, and (3) focus on skills that can be applied in psychological practice or other professional environments.

Verbs to consider when writing learning objectives:
• list, describe, recite, write, identify
• compute, discuss, explain, predict
• apply, demonstrate, prepare, use
• analyze, design, select, utilize
• compile, create, plan, revise
• assess, compare, rate, critique

Verbs to avoid when writing learning objectives:
• know, understand, practice
• explore, discover, develop
• learn, appreciate, reflect
• become aware of, become familiar with, recognize

Feel free to adapt this statement to your presentation. Please add at least one to two sentences that are specific to the material that you are presenting. Your narrative must establish the link between your learning objectives and supporting references.

Agazarian’s (1997) theory of living human systems, with its systems-centered approach to group practice, represents a developed and comprehensive systems theory applied to groups, individuals and couples. A theory of living human systems has defined theoretical constructs and operational definitions that implement and test the theoretical hypotheses in its practice. This theory and its methods are accepted among group practitioners as evidence-based by SCTRI’s 2010 recognition for “Outstanding Contributions in Education and Training in the Field of Group Psychotherapy” awarded by the National Registry of Certified Group Psychotherapists. SCT methods are regularly cited or included in handbooks and reviews of group psychotherapy practice. There is also significant peer-reviewed published support for the theory and its practice, including over 45 articles in the International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, Group Dynamics, Small Group Research, Organizational Analysis,Group Analysis, GROUP, and other scientific journals as well as numerous books.

The systems-centered approach to group and organizational work has been in the field for over 30 years. Its methods incorporate techniques linked to successful strategies for improvement in group and individual psychotherapy, for example, modifying cognitive distortions, increasing group cohesion, lowering scapegoating, and reducing somatic defenses.

Feel free to use these if they apply, while adding others that are specific to your presentation. Additional references are available at https://www.systemscentered.com/SCT-Center/Readings

Your proposal must include at least 3 current and relevant references published within 10 years of the conference year and no more than one authored by any of the presenters. Please limit your total references to 5.

Gantt, S.P. (2024). Systems-centered therapy and training groups online: Adapting to the driving and restraining forces in an online context. In H. Weinberg, A. Rolnick & A. Leighton (Eds.), The virtual group therapy circle: Advances in online group theory and practice (pp. 124-134). New York, NY: Routledge.

Agazarian, Y.M., Gantt, S.P., & Carter, F. (Eds.) (2021). Systems-centered training: An illustrated guide for applying a theory of living human systems. London, UK: Routledge.

Gantt, S.P. (2021). Systems-centered theory (SCT) into group therapy: Beyond surviving ruptures to repairing and thriving. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 71(2), 224-252. doi: 10.1080/00207284.2020.1772073

Gantt, S.P. (2021). Systems-centered training for group leaders: Weakening social survivor roles that undermine women (and men) in leadership. In Y.I. Kane, S.M. Masselink & A.C. Weiss (Eds.), Women, intersectionality and power in group psychotherapy leadership (pp. 236-253). London, UK: Routledge.

Gantt, S.P., & Badenoch, B. (2020). Systems-centered group psychotherapy: Developing a group mind that supports right brain function and right-left-right hemispheric integration. In R. Tweedy (Ed.) The divided therapist: Hemispheric difference and contemporary psychotherapy (pp. 149-180). London, UK: Karnac Books.

Gantt, S.P. (2019). Implications of neuroscience for group psychotherapy. In F.J. Kaklauskas & L.R. Greene (Eds.), Core principles of group psychotherapy: An integrated theory, research, and practice training manual (pp. 156-170). New York, NY: Routledge.

Gantt, S.P. (2018). Developing groups that change our minds and transform our brains: Systems-centered’s functional subgrouping, its impact on our neurobiology, and its role in each phase of group development. Psychoanalytic Inquiry: Today’s Bridge Between Psychoanalysis and the Group World [Special Issue], 38(4), 270-284. doi: 10.1080/07351690.2018.1444851

Maher, M. (2018). From group analytic to systems-centered consulting: A comparison of experience. Journal of Social Work Practice, 32(4), 423-432. doi: 10.1080/02650533.2018.1503163

Whitcomb, K., O'Neill, R.M., Burlingame, G.M., Mogle, J., Gantt, S.P., Cannon, J., & Roney, T. (2018). Measuring how systems-centered® members connect with group dynamics: FSQ-2 construct validity. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 68(2), 163-183. doi: 10.1080/00207284.2017.1381024

Åkerlund, M. (2017). Leadership - a team process developed through context awareness. Scandinavian Journal of Organizational Psychology, 9(2), 6-18.

Gantt, S.P., & Agazarian, Y.M. (2017). Systems-centered group therapy. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 67(sup1), S60-S70. doi: 10.1080/00207284.2016.1218768

Agazarian, Y.M. (2016). Contrasting interpersonal and systems-centered approaches using two observation systems to analyze the communication patterns in two videotapes of the interpersonal approach to group psychotherapy. GROUP: The Journal of the Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society, 40(1), 71-88. doi:10.13186/group.40.1.0071

Finlay, L.D., Abernethy, A.D., & Garrels, S.R. (2016). Scapegoating in group therapy: Insights from Girard’s mimetic theory. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 66(2), 188-204. doi: 10.1080/00207284.2015.1106174