In 2011, May 29th, 2011 - till  May 31th, in Riga (Latvia)

2011 FORGE RIGA

We started with lunch in a restaurant at noon and then we visited Riga Gestalt Institute (Latvia).
The first meeting started a the Elisabethe Hotel with Anne and honorary president Serge Ginger joining us on skype. We were altogether 32 participants taking part in the conferenc. For list of participant see another place.

Still with Anne and Serge joining us on skype we started by a short welcome by the president Gro Skottun. We made a round where everyone presented him or herself . In this round subjects that wanted to be discussed where brought in and written down on a flipover. Later we made a priority list of these subjects. During the three days we covered the following list: 

1.    a) Ethical transference/countertransference between trainers and students. We shared different ways of evaluating students and handle critic. We also discussed the concept of transference and countertransference. b) complaine procedures between therapists. c) how to deal with clients on internet (facebook, website etc)
2.    Research in Gestalttherapy. Information about research is in a German book of  Uve Strümpfel (Therapi der Gefühle) and shortened into English in the International Gestaltjournal (2004).  Another book is: Philip Brunell: Book for Theory, Research and Practice. Cambridge Scholars Publication, 2008.
3.    a) Complain procedures b) therapists on internett (facebook etc)
4.    News in the field of philosophy and gestalttherapy.
5.    Developing the teams of trainers. How to build a team of trainers. We shared how the different institutes deals with the subject.
6.    Training of supervisors.
7.    Difference between gestalt counselling and therapy.
The first evening the participants went sightseeing in Riga together in a very old tram. The next evening the Riga Institute invited everyone to a meal in a nice restaurant where we enjoyed ourselves with food, dring and singing.

The last day the board had a meeting. See the minutes from the meeting another place.

Dates for FORGE meeting next year: 20-21-22 May in Paris. Next year will be on the EAGT conference in Krakow. 2014 will be 1-2-3 June in Kiev


Present: Sergio, Daan, Anne, Artur, Natasja, Gonzague, Gro

1.    All the members of the board want to continue. We think that it is important with a stable board when Serge i not present anymore.
2.    New members of FORGE: We accept the Ukrainen association represented by Larissa from Lviv and the institute from Caracas, Venezuela represented by victoria and Alfredo.
3.    FORGE e-mail list is not updated. Natasha will update it. Gro and Birgita will send her their lists. Natasha will send the list to Artur. Artur will make this e-mail list into a googlegroup list so that informations easely can be sent out.
4.    Old members: Natasha has sent out e-mails to old members of FORGE and asked if they want to keep their membership. Only two answered saying no to continue. We agree about taking away all the old members of the list and from internet.
5.    Website. Artur wants the members to use the website more for informations. The new and old members have to check the website and take care of how they are presented on the website. They send the informations directly to Artur.
6.    Students exchange between institutes is a tradition in FORGE. If some institutes have offers for students to take part in some training in their institutes, they can send out informations on the googlelist.

Refrent: Gro