WNFAST Newsletter

September 2015

Creativity Contest:  And the winner is…

We had an upsurge of people looking at the entries, but the number of votes were still low.  Technically, Rick Whiteside had the most votes for his Client-Focused Therapy, but since Rick is one of the founders of WNFAST it didn’t seem right to give him a prize.

Instead, he’s authorized us to give WNFAST members free access to his online work, The FLEX-ible Therapist, for one month.  So if you’d like an opportunity to learn how to use this overlay to make your own work more Client-Focused, go to http://flex-ible.com/FLEXTFree/story.html to access it until 15 October.

Serious Issues regarding AAMFT:

Earlier this year, Frank Dattilio asked our members to participate in a poll for the keynote talk he was delivering at the annual AAMFT Conference.  The poll results included mostly negative feedback, with our members indicating that while they valued collaboration, they did not want AAMFT to impose their values or structure on other family therapy practitioners or associations around the world.  I was then asked by Frank to create a short video that could be shown during his keynote which explained how family therapy functioned in New Zealand and to explain WNFAST (the video can be seen by clicking here).  Shortly before the conference, AAMFT censored the video from the talk, saying that it was “promotional”.

We felt that given the time our members had spent on the poll, they should be acknowledged.  We wrote AAMFT to make the case that the piece was informational, rather than promotional.  We received a very negative email in response, citing us as aggressive and offensive; what’s more, they have now started a campaign to undermine our association, in part by challenging the copyright of many of the materials on our resources page. Given that nothing is posted except at the direction of the author/creator, we have not violated any rules, although dealing with the queries from publisher’s legal teams has been annoying and time-wasting.

We fear that AAMFT has taken this non-collaborative position toward WNFAST because they see us as a threat to their 10 year plan, which states in detail how they want to spread their influence globally.  We are asking our members to boycott AAMFT global events until they can work more collaboratively with WNFAST and other international associations.

Training Page:

Several new training opportunities posted including the A Bitter Pill to Swallow conference and a Contextual Family Therapy Course:  “The Many Faces of Destructive Entitlement”, featuring Contextual Family Therapy Authors, Pioneers and Colleagues of CFT founder Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy.

Remember, WNFAST is YOUR network.  Please let us know what you’d like to see developing or how we can better connect.  Email wnfast@wnfast.com with your ideas, stories, news, resources, or comments.

Frances Steinberg, PhD

Communications Coordinator

THE MILTON H. ERICKSON FOUNDATION
2632 East Thomas Rd., Suite 200, Phoenix, AZ 85016
P: (602) 956-6196 | F: (602) 956-0519
erickson-foundation.org

July 2013

It’s been an amazing first month since the launch of the World Network of Family and Systemic Therapies (WNFAST).  With nearly 27,000 members and more than 50 Affiliated Associations (click here to see the list), we’re off to a great start connecting everyone interested in family and systemic practice.

New on the Website: 

• Resources Page—Interesting new additions include:  An Interactive Guide to Family Therapy, Shake-Up, PowerofTwoMarriage.com, and Expanding the Practice of Sex Therapy.  Linda Bell has also made her Family Matters:  A Family Wellness Course for People in Prison Workbook and Leader’s Manual available to WNFAST members free of charge.  Remember, as a WNFAST member, you’re able to promote your resources on the website, so if you have something to share, go to http://wnfast.com/products.html and use the form.

• News Page—Be sure to check out Phoebe Prosky’s search for others wanting to discuss the integration of Zen and Family Therapy, Nina Lavrova’s article on  System Family Psychotherapy with Elements of Mediation, and AFTA’s position paper on the new DSM-5.  There’s also the preliminary flyer for the March 2014 joint NZAFT-WNFAST conference—more on that below.

• Forum Page—While we had a number of WNFAST members register for the Forum, no one was posting!  So we decided to shift the discussions to our Facebook Page.  Rick Whiteside will moderate the discussions there.  Besides general chat, you can post positions available or needed, connect with other members to discuss research, training, ethical matters, innovative techniques, or whatever you’d like.  Just be aware it is a public site, so no client details please.  Be sure to visit the page to “Like” it and become a friend.

• SkypePals—the initial connection of members wanting to be SkypePals has begun.  If you want to join in the global network, click here to send in your details.

• Training Page—Lots of conferences listed, but not many training workshops that have not passed their date, so please remember that as a WNFAST member or affiliated association, you can have your course or training event listed.

Of particular note is the announcement that WNFAST will connect with the New Zealand Association of Family Therapy (NZAFT) to hold a joint conference March 18-20 2014.  So if New Zealand has been on your bucket list, you want high quality professional development, and you want to benefit from the low WNFAST member rate, check out the preliminary announcement flyer.

Remember, WNFAST is YOUR network.  Please let us know what you’d like to see developing or how we can better connect.  Email wnfast@wnfast.com with your ideas, stories, news, resources, or comments.

Frances Steinberg, PhD

Communications Coordinator