In early November, The International Focusing Institute celebrated Focusing-Oriented Therapy (FOT) with an online conference. The conference brought together 338 registrants from 38 different countries, with 38 presenters and panelists offering a variety of presentations and contributions to three different panels. It seems 38 is our lucky number! If you missed the conference, you can find information below on how you can still purchase the recordings.
The event was initiated a year ago when TIFI’s director, Catherine Torpey, contacted me and asked if I would be interested in planning an FOT conference. I said yes, with the request that she and I have ongoing conversations about how we can promote FOT. I have been delighted by her support as training future FOTs and promoting FOT globally is a lifelong passion for me. The growth of FOT will positively contribute to the Institute as more new therapists are trained and see firsthand the value of being involved. A conference like this is only possible when people are willing to volunteer and be involved through planning, presenting, or supporting the conference.
Over the years, I have been given the opportunity to plan conferences - an International here in Seattle and the Weeklong for three years. Through these experiences, I have made so many friends and broadened my understanding of our community and this is what I hoped the planning committee members would experience as well. The committee included Rachel Hendron, Randi Love, Julie Ramsey, Naty Calviño, Agathi Lakioti, and myself. We put in a lot of time reaching out to presenters, creating interesting panels, and discussing what is so meaningful about FOT. To share a little more about the committee, I’ve linked their bios below:
Bios (in English): https://focusing.org/resources/planning-committee-fot-conference-2023
Bios (in Spanish): https://focusing.org/resources/planning-committee-fot-conference-2023-espanol
We as a community are blessed with an abundance of riches through such wise and wonderful FOTs who presented individually and on panels. We had a mixture of both familiar and new faces offering so many kinds of presentations with different perspectives on many topics. I was impressed with the diversity of people, ideas, presentations, and participation, and invite you to see the conference lineup though the links below for more about each of them:
Conference lineup (in English): https://focusing.org/event/focusing-oriented-therapy-conference-2023
Conference lineup (in Spanish): https://focusing.org/resources/focusing-oriented-therapy-conference-espanol
An event like this takes a lot of effort and what impressed me the most was the amazing behind-the-scenes work that enabled things to run so smoothly. Melanie Korpi and her Zoom team, the translation team, and the recording team along with Elizabeth Cantor rocked! It was such a delight to be supported by all these folks, with many volunteering to make it all happen.
Of course, none of this would have happened without Catherine’s guidance and her ability to bring people together. Thank you one and all.
Carrying forward our next steps:
Looking ahead, we as FOTs realize the need for further conversations about the development and growth of FOT. We have a YouTube channel with great videos, and would like to revitalize the International Association of Focusing-Oriented Therapy’s website creating a hub supporting FOT. There are also discussions about updating how FOT is represented on the TIFI website. Together, and in cooperation with TIFI, we look forward to bringing FOT into the mainstream of conversations about experiential and embodied practices for change.
Jeffrey Morrison is an FOT and Coordinator who specializes in working with complex trauma. He has developed a Training Program, which blends Gendlin’s psychology and philosophy, mythology, spirituality, and other embodied practices for unwinding trauma and restoring wholeness.