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Call for Proposals - FOT Conference 2023

CALL FOR PROPOSALS for presentations, demos or panels.

We are delighted to extend an invitation to Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapists to submit a proposal to offer a live online presentation at this conference.

We welcome proposals that are:

  • Presentations which reflect the theme The Fresh Urgency of Now, The Transformational Power of Focusing Oriented Therapy.
     
  • Demonstrations of you working with someone who volunteers to be the “client.”
     
  • Be a panelist, where you could be one of 3 or 4 people speaking on one of the topics below as part of a moderator-led discussion and responding to questions from the moderator and live audience (please read below).

To submit a proposal for a presentation/demo or be a member of the panel you must either have a Focusing-Oriented Therapy certification from TIFI or let us know what experience you have which would be appropriate for this conference. Additionally, you will need to let us know what your experiences are around your chosen topic.

FOR PRESENTATIONS
Please submit a brief summary of your plan for your presentation (not more than 1-2 pages) including the following information:

  1. Photo in jpg or png format
  2. Name and a bio of 100 words or less
  3. Please indicate if you have an FOT certificate from TIFI.  If not, please describe the background you have that is appropriate to this conference.
  4. Title of your presentation
  5. Briefly describe your topic for the conference web page.  This should also be about 100 words.
  6. Outline what you plan to do, incorporating discussion or experiential time. (This is further information for the planning committee and will not be posted.)  Please include two or three points describing the content that will be covered.

Note that the time slot is two hours. Spanish translation may take up to half of the time.

We will not be having breakout rooms as an option (see note below for why).

FOR DEMO PRESENTERS
Please submit the following information:

  1. Photo in jpg or png format
  2. Name and a bio of 100 words or less
  3. Please indicate if you have an FOT certificate from TIFI.  If not, please describe the background you have that is appropriate to this conference.
  4. Title of your presentation with the word ‘demonstration’ as part of the title.
  5. Briefly describe what you hope to highlight in the demo for the conference web page.  This should also be about 100 words.
  6. Briefly describe your experience in working with clients for posting on the conference web page.  This should be about 50 words.
  7. Share with us your experience of working with clients around this topic and what you hope to demonstrate, (This is further information for the planning committee and will not be posted.) 

Note that the time slot is two hours. Spanish translation may take up to half of the time, though the translators will only translate what the therapist says.

We will not be having breakout rooms as an option (see note below for why).

FOR PANELISTS
We will be forming 3 discussion panels of 3-4 panelists each.  The panels will be a total of 2 hours each in length, each panelist presenting for about 10 minutes, and then having a moderated conversation among themselves and with the Zoom audience.  We will provide the moderator, who will convene with panelists in advance once or twice.  The 2 hours includes time for translation.

We are considering forming panels to discuss the following topics:

Panel Themes:

Theme:  The Urgency of Making Focusing-Oriented Therapy More Findable

There is growing interest in experiential, embodied, somatic, relational, body centered, spiritually, mindfully, and process-oriented therapies. How can we distinguish Focusing-Oriented Therapy from other modalities, help therapists find training programs, and help clients find Focusing-Oriented Therapists? We are seeking panelists who will offer concrete ideas about how FOT’s and TIFI can work together to make Focusing-Oriented Therapy better known and findable.

Theme: The Urgency of Widening Our Lens of Inclusivity

How do we see our role(s) as agents of change in therapy, community, and wider systems? Do we have a role in change beyond our therapeutic work? Can the Philosophy of the Implicit and Focusing-Oriented Therapy widen our lens and practice of inclusivity, diversity, and equity? If we are interaction with everything, are we not ethically responsible to reflect on how we can be more inclusive of all living beings and systems?

Theme: The Urgency of Teaching the Essence of FOT to a New Generation

What is needed to preserve the uniqueness of Focusing-Oriented Therapy and pass it along to a new generation? How can we share how we teach, mentor, supervise and promote FOT? While we embrace a diversity of approaches, can we also encourage a community of mutual support and development? What needs to occur, so we preserve the wisdom of our elders, bring along new teachers and therapists, and create an “all flourishing is mutual” approach to sharing curriculum, teaching, and learning.

Please submit the following information:

  1. Photo in jpg or png format
  2. Name and a bio of 100 words or less
  3. Please indicate if you have an FOT certificate from TIFI.  If not, please describe the background you have that is appropriate to this conference.
  4. Which panel you would like to speak on, why this is of interest to you and what experience and knowledge you bring.


Notes
Note on the reason we don’t allow the option of breakout rooms: Breakout rooms tend to assume a capacity for participants to engage fully, which is simply not always the case. The nature of online conferences is that some participants will “lurk” with their cameras off; this could be because it’s 3am where they are, or they don’t know Focusing and wouldn’t feel safe being put in a room with strangers, or any number of reasons.  We find that many people will leave the workshop the minute breakouts are created.

Please organize your topic keeping in mind that your audience will be a mixture of people familiar with FOT, and others who are not.

Proposals must be emailed no later than August 21st 2023.  Send your proposal by email to [email protected]  You may also write us at that address with questions.

Please be aware that we have limited spaces for workshops, so we may not be able to include all presentation proposals.  We will let you know whether your proposal has been selected by September 15,  2023.

Presenters and panelists whose proposals are selected will receive a 25% registration discount off of whatever registration price is chosen.

If you have any questions, please email us at [email protected]