1. Second issue of Explorations: An E-Journal of Narrative Practice now launched and on website

The second issue of Explorations: An E-Journal of Narrative Practice is now available on the Dulwich Centre website! We’ve been delighted with the response to the first issue and are now very pleased to offer another collection of thoughtful papers. For this edition, John Winslade and the editorial team have gathered together a series of papers from New Zealand practitioners. These writings describe innovative narrative practices in relation to critical incident debriefing, restorative practices in schools, undercover anti-bullying teams, responses to children’s sexuality, ‘lines of flight’, and explorations of masculinity. A letter from David Epston to the inaugural ‘Narrative Therapy as Contextual Practice in South Africa Conference’ is also included as are two thoughtful reviews. We look forward to your responses, reflections, and feedback as Explorations continues to make narrative therapy ideas as accessible as possible to readers in different parts of the world.

2. Watch this space … new possibilities on the horizon for Dulwich Centre

As a result of some unexpected opportunities, we’re almost in a position to let you know of some very exciting news for Dulwich Centre and the Dulwich Centre Foundation. One of these involves building upon our relationship with St Johns, on Halifax Street, just around the corner from us. Over the last decade, we have used the St Johns Hall whenever our events are too large to hold at Dulwich Centre. This is where Michael White held many of his training events in the latter years of his life and it is where we are soon to hold our International Summer School. St Johns also provides award-winning services for homeless young people in South Australia. The work of Michael Lapsley and the Institute for the Healing of Memories, while based in South Africa, is also linked to St Johns and Dulwich Centre has a long-standing relationship and great respect for this Institute. By the time of our next email news, we should be able to let you know more information about these new possibilities.

3. Ongoing international training programs

At present, Dulwich Centre is involved in four ongoing international training programs in narrative therapy:

• The 5th Dulwich Centre International Graduate Diploma in Narrative Therapy and Community Work consists of two teaching blocks here in Adelaide, one in Toronto, Canada, and a significant online component. Within this program, we currently have practitioners from Denmark, Brazil, Belgium, USA, UK, Ireland, Hong Kong, Australia, and Argentina! The current program will come to its conclusion in December 2010. Due to a marked increase in enquiries/requests for this Dulwich-based course, we are now considering the possibility of holding our next International Training Program earlier than we had planned, maybe beginning at the end of this year. It would be good to hear from interested people as we really need to make this decision soon. So, if you are interested in attending the next International Graduate Diploma program which will probably start in late 2010 or early 2011, please email dulwich@dulwichcentre.com.au Thanks.

• A Graduate Certificate in Narrative Therapy Program in Singapore is being co-hosted by Dulwich Centre and the Academy for Human Development. It consists of a series of shorter workshops throughout 2009–2010 and an online certification module. The most recent workshop in this series was held last week on behalf of Dulwich Centre by John Stillman (USA) on the theme of ‘Narrative therapy and couple relationships’.

• A Graduate Certificate in Narrative Therapy Program is also being held in Greece. This is being organised in conjunction with Adam Harvatis. Already, Angel Yuen (Canada), and Yael Gershoni & Saviona Cramer (Israel) have offered workshops in Greece. In March this year, David Newman (Australia) will be offering the next workshop as part of this program. An online certification process is also soon to begin.

• A further ongoing narrative therapy training program is being coordinated by Dulwich Centre at the Trauma and Rehabilitation Centre in Ramallah, in the Palestinian Territories. Recently, we organised for Sue Mitchell (Australia) and Jill Freedman (USA) to conduct workshops as part of this program. In March 2010, Geir Lundby (Norway) will continue this program. The aim is to enable local Palestinian practitioners to become trainers in narrative therapy.

We would like to thank all the members of our International Faculty for making these programs possible. If you are interested in establishing an ongoing narrative therapy training program in your context, please contact us.

4. Supervision in narrative practice now available

Regular consultations for individual practitioners or organisations in relation to narrative therapy practices can now be arranged through Dulwich Centre. 'Supervision' should not only provide us with good opportunities to describe the challenges and dilemmas that our work in counselling present us with but also provide opportunities to give full accounts of what sustains us in the work we do. Based at Dulwich Centre, Carolyn Markey will be extending  opportunities for individual workers and teams to engage in supervisory conversations using narrative ideas. For more information contact dulwich@dulwichcentre.com.au

5. Call for presentations for Brazil 10th International Narrative Therapy and Community Work Conference: July 2011

We are now inviting practitioners who are interested in sharing their work at the 10th International Narrative Therapy and Community Work Conference to get in contact with us. This conference is to be held in July 2011 in Salvador, Brazil. We are so looking forward to it! For information about the call for papers write to Virginia c/o dulwich@dulwichcentre.com.au We hope to see you in Brazil in 2011!

6. International Summer School in Adelaide, March 2010 ... includes free events

Please click here to view the draft program for the 5th Dulwich Centre International Summer School of Narrative Practice that will take place here in Adelaide from 3-5 March 2010. Coinciding with WOMADelaide, the vibrant world music festival, these three days will offer opportunities to practise your skills and stretch your thinking. The Summer School will feature presentations from Australia, UK, Israel, USA, & Canada. Whether you are new to narrative ideas or an experienced practitioner, this event has been designed with you in mind. For those who are attending the summer school, a number of FREE pre-summer school events are also on offer on 1st and 2nd March:

• FREE Responding to families in which parents/care-givers have significant mental health issues
• FREE Appreciative inquiry and narrative practice
• FREE Family group conferencing and narrative practice
• FREE Introduction to narrative therapy

Workshop with Walter Bera: Innovative and creative therapy approaches for working with those who have experienced or perpetrated sexual abuse.

To register, please email: dulwich@dulwichcentre.com.au

7. FREE workshops: The Kite of Life - Responding to inter-generational conflict & The Team of Life

Due to funding that we have received, the Dulwich Centre Foundation is delighted to be able to offer a free workshop to those working with migrant/refugee communities. This workshop will focus on innovative ways in which narrative practices can be used to address inter-generational conflict in migrant/refugee communities. It will also feature the ‘Kite of Life’ – a collective narrative methodology developed in partnership with representatives of the Tamil community of Toronto, Canada. This workshop will take place in Adelaide, in August 2010.

We have also received funding to offer a free one-day workshop on the Team of Life. This is a narrative way of working that use sporting metaphors to engage with young people. If you are working with vulnerable young people, particularly if you are working in refugee communities or Aboriginal communities, you may be interested in this innovative collective narrative practice methodology. Originally developed for use with former child soldiers, it is now being put to use in a range of different contexts both in Australia and overseas. This workshop will take place in Adelaide, on 22 April 2010.

These workshops will be facilitated by David Denborough. For more information, or to register, please email dulwich@dulwichcentre.com.au

8. Advanced training: Narrative responses to trauma – training event in Rwanda in 2010

We have recently been approached by a number of graduates of our longer-term training programs to provide an advanced training event for narrative therapy practitioners. We have decided that this will be held in Rwanda in conjunction with our colleagues from Ibuka – the national genocide survivors association. This event will be held from November 8–12. If you have already undertaken a significant amount of training in narrative therapy and you would be interested in attending this five-day event, please contact us c/o dulwich@dulwichcentre.com.au We are still in the process of finalising the details of this event, but we will be holding it in conjunction with Jill Freedman from Evanston Family Therapy Center and the Dulwich Centre International Faculty. The week will provide an opportunity for narrative therapists to stretch their skills in relation to responding to trauma and also to engage with the work of Ibuka’s trauma counsellors.

9. Corporate stories: Pierre Blanc-Sahnoun visiting Australia

Dulwich Centre, in conjunction with Charing Cross Narrative Therapy Centre (Sydney) and the Babel Fish Group (Melbourne), is delighted to be bringing Pierre Blanc-Sahnoun (France) to Australia to speak about the ways in which he is using narrative practices within organisations. A workshop entitled ‘Corporate identities: How to bring narrative into the business world’ will be held in Sydney on 26 March (Contact David Newman ph. 0402 257 652, email: david@charingcrossnarrativetherapy.com Pierre will also be conducting a workshop titled ‘Corporate stories and narrative coaching’ in Melbourne on 29 March. Pierre’s workshops provide practitioners with the opportunity to learn of powerful ways to work with corporate identities, company culture and values, teambuilding, organisational change, and motivation. More information about Pierre’s workshop in Adelaide will be available soon!

10. Tree of Life workshop

Due to requests, we are announcing a further one-day workshop on the Tree of Life approach to working with vulnerable children. This will take place on 21 April. For more information click here. To register, email: dulwich@dulwichcentre.com.au Due to requests, we are announcing a further one-day workshop on the Tree of Life approach to working with vulnerable children. This will take place on 21 April. For more information click here. To register, email: dulwich@dulwichcentre.com.au

11. Register now for the International Summer School of Narrative Practice, Toronto

It’s now possible to register at the early-bird rate for the International Summer School of Narrative Practice which is to be held in Toronto in July next year! The call for papers/presentations is also now open. Confirmed presenters to date include: Jill Freedman, Gene Combs, Tod Augusta-Scott, David Denborough, Lorraine Hedtke, Walter Bera, Angel Yuen, Loree Stout, Mariana Sussi, Mimi Kim, Ruth Pluznick, Cheryl White, Jim Duval, Laura Beres, Karen Young, John Winslade, Mike Boucher, Jodi Aman, Carolyn Markey, and Stephen Madigan. The Toronto International Summer School of Narrative Practice is a partnership between Dulwich Centre, Narrative Therapy Centre of Toronto, and Oolagen Community Services. For more information, contact Virginia on dulwich@dulwichcentre.com.au

12. Dulwich Centre narrative therapy intensives and on-line training for 2010

If you are interested in knowing more about narrative therapy practices and applying these in your work, one of the best places to start is with a 5-day intensive in narrative therapy. Dates for Level One and Level Two intensives for 2010 are now available. Due to demand, we have recently added another Level One workshop in April 2010. For more information about training at Dulwich Centre, please see our training calendar.  2010 will also see the launch of a series of online courses in narrative therapy. Stay tuned for further information!

13. Subscriptions to this FREE Dulwich Centre Email News

If you would like to subscribe to Dulwich Centre Email News, please do so via this link. If you know of others who would like to subscribe, please simply direct them to: www.dulwichcentre.com.au/email-news.html Thank you!

Well, that’s all for now! Phew … there is a lot going on. We hope that 2010 treats you kindly and that we will get to see you sometime during the year.