Athens Meetings

May 28-29, 2004

Thank you to our Greek colleagues for their kindness and generous hospitality in hosting these meetings!

We are writing with a summary of the NFTO Chamber meetings and EFTA General Board meetings for those NFTO representatives who were able to attend, and to provide an update for those NFTO representatives unable to attend. The meetings were very enjoyable, and conducted within an enthusiastic atmosphere of co-operation! We had a very good attendance, and we were able to welcome representatives from Bulgaria and Cyprus, and welcome back Austria! Many NFTO representatives were able to bring a guest from their National Association to participate in our expanded Chamber meeting and discussion of the NFTO Vision Statement. The countries who participated at this NFTO Chamber were: Malta, Switzerland, UK, Austria, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Spain, Greece, Bulgaria, Hungary, CZR, Holland, Israel, Cyprus, Ireland. We had apologies from Portugal and Iceland.

Updates by Country

Our expanded Chamber meeting gave us the time to invite important updates about the situation of family therapy in each country. This was welcomed by the Chamber as it gives us an opportunity to offer each other practical support and to compare and contrast the regulation and registration arrangements for psychotherapists in Europe. There is wide variation amongst us: some countries are seeking to found and establish associations or federations of family therapy; some countries have laws restricting psychotherapy practice; and some countries have a flourishing professional climate.

The NFTO Vision Statement

We discussed the NFTO Vision Statement at length, both in small groups and in the Chamber. All representatives were enthusiastic about developing and owning a shared vision.

Our priorities crystallised into four broad areas, and the following countries indicated an interest in taking the ideas forward following the Berlin elections:

1. European Journal/Magazine of Family Therapy

(CZR, Israel, Norway, UK, Germany, Malta)

2. Raising the Profile of Family Therapy and Systemic Practice

(Norway, Arlene Vetere, Ireland, Charis Katakis, Denmark, Eric Louis)

3. Training and Practice Standards

(Spain, Austria, Israel, Finland, Cyprus, CZR, Switzerland)

4. Research and Scientific Exchange

(Charis Katakis, Jaakko Seikkula, Holland, UK, Bulgaria, Sweden, Austria, Greece, Germany)

Members of the current NFTO Board who agreed to be liaison persons for each grouping are:

The EAP and the European commission

Mony Elkaim, who represents EFTA on the EWO Committee of EFTA, reported that the European Parliament had recently voted on an amendment to include the profession of psychotherapist, amongst doctors and dentists, as professionals able to work across member state borders and have their professional qualifications acknowledged. However, the European Commission did not accept this amendment as psychotherapy as a profession is not recognised nor regulated across Europe. A legal opinion was sought. The EC decision will be challenged using Article 15, which recognises a “common platform” at European level, in the absence of formal registration. We shall be using our agreed minimum criteria for the training of family therapists as our common platform, showing the value of our earlier work in EFTA for this!

This also shows the value of having legal advice as we seek to further establish family therapy as a psychotherapy profession. This means of course, we need the funds to secure legal advice as we need it!

Fees

The NFTO Chamber voted to raise the subscription fee by 100 Euros to 800 Euros for the year 2004. A 15 per cent increase in the 200 Euros fee was agreed for the year 2005. The increase is intended to support new NFTO Working Party activities. We discussed how we could continue to support our “Vision” through increased funding for the future.

Travel Fund/Sponsorship

Some countries were not able to bring a “guest” from their National Association Board because of the high costs of travel and accommodation. The Chamber agreed that the NFTO Board would explore how to set up a travel fund, primarily to assist NFTO representatives to attend annual Chamber meetings, where their countries experienced exchange rate disparities with the host country. In addition, we agreed that some wealthier NFTOs would sponsor such countries, to reduce the impact of having to apply to a travel fund.

May we remind all NFTO representatives to ask their National Association Boards if they would be willing to sponsor a country under such circumstances. The NFTO Board will help to co-ordinate these arrangements as necessary.

The Trainers’ Criteria

Roberto Pereira proposed the formal acceptance of the Trainers’ Criteria. The NFTO Chamber voted unanimously to adopt them.

The New EFTA Statutes

Jaakko Seikkula proposed the formal acceptance of the new EFTA Statutes. There was some discussion clarifying the autonomy of the three Chambers and the three Boards; and that Belgian law would not preclude EFTA joining the Social Platform of NGOs. The NFTO Chamber voted unanimously to adopt the Statutes. Jaakko breathed a sigh of relief!

EFTA Conference, Berlin, 2004

Kurt Ludewig provided an overview of the Conference programme and updated us on current arrangements. Nearly 3,000 people have registered. Kurt is trying to organise presentations by language to help with translation. Nearly all workshop submissions have been accepted. EFTA will host a stand

at the Conference, promoting membership of the three Chambers. Anyone interested in helping out, please let us know!

Proposed European Journal of Family Therapy

There will be a meeting of Europe wide editors of Family Therapy Journals and magazines at the EFTA conference in Berlin, hosted by Ivan Eisler, editor of the UK Journal of Family Therapy. Please let Ivan know the name and contact details of your family therapy journal so the editor can attend the meeting if possible. The meeting is a further attempt to help set up an electronic journal, with translation, of some of the key peer reviewed papers from around Europe. (email: i.eisler@iop.kcl.ac.uk)

EFTA Website

We agreed that all National Association websites should be linked to the EFTA website. Rodolfo de Bernart agreed to co-ordinate this task for us. Please send your website address to Jannigje, nfto@nvrg.nl, and she will then send them all to Rodolfo.

In addition, we had some discussion about how we use the EFTA website, and what could a member of the public learn about family therapy from visiting the website. We shall return to this discussion again.

NFTO Chamber Elections in Berlin

Please email Jannigje to confirm who will be the NFTO representative for your National Association from September 2004. Please bring a signed letter from your Board with you to Berlin and/or post it to Jannigje.

Please let Jannigje know immediately whether your Board will nominate you as a candidate for election to the Board of the NFTO Chamber. We shall circulate the list of nominations as soon as possible. The closing date for nominations is the July 31^st, 2004. Please remember that you can exercise a proxy vote if you are unable to attend the Berlin voting meeting.

Thank you

And to finish, a very big thank you to all NFTO representatives for their support this year; thank you to Jannigje for her diligence, patience and hard work for all of us, and thank you to the Board! It is much appreciated!!

See you in Berlin!

Arlene Vetere

Chairperson, NFTO Board

June, 2004