At a meeting held on Friday, 3 December 2010, a group of interested Solution-Focused people decided to form The Australasian Association for Solution-Focused Brief Therapy. This new association aims to further the practice of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (and the use of the Solution-Focused approach in other contexts) in Austalia and New Zealand. The exact ways in which this will happen are to be explored — however, there is an aim to host an Australasian Solution-Focused conference in late 2011 or early 2012.
In many ways, the formation of the Association is the next logical step in the development of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy "down under". The European Brief Therapy Association (EBTA — founded by a group which included Steve de Shazer and Insoo Berg) has been holding conferences, promoting research and coordinating information in Europe for around 15 years. The Solution-Focused Brief Theraspy Association (SFBTA) has been playing a similar role in North America for most of the last decade. It was about time that we think about how to develop some kind of "identity" for Solution-Focused in Australia and New Zealand.
The meeting was held in Sydney; however, many colleagues from other Australian states and from New Zealand have encouraged us to continue. It is early days — an interim committee has been appointed and it will begin to explore a draft constitution and the practical details of establishing an association.
More information here SOON.
Express your interest in the Association here!
You are not committing to anything — it just means we will keep you informed of what's happening — and it allows us to gauge some idea of what kind of interest is "out there"!
The interim committee is:
| President | Michael Durrant |
| Brief Therapy Institute of Sydney & University of Sydney | |
| Secretary | Belinda Gottschalk |
| Private practice, Sydney | |
| Committee members | Brent Gardiner |
| Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand | |
| Kylie Johnson | |
| NSW Dept of Corrective Services | |
| Mario Mihalich | |
| Adolescent Mental Health, NSW Greater West Area Health | |
| Albert Morrison | |
| Therapy Team, Mental Health, NSW Central Coast Health | |
| Carmel O'Connell | |
| Alpha Counselling, Sydney | |
| John Penny | |
| Catholic Education Office, Parramatta | |
| Ian Ryder | |
| Mental Health, Invercargill, New Zealand | |
| Lyn Worsley | |
| Alpha Counselling, Sydney |
For the moment, email queries to Michael Durrant