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Breakout Sessions

Genetic Alliance has been invited by the organizing committee of the conference to create our own track within the conference. We recognize the enormous value being brought by all of the speakers, and it is difficult to choose to miss any of them. At the same time, we consider it a unique opportunity for Genetic Alliance’s community to integrate the core messages from Attachment Theory, neuroscience, and conflict transformation into our way of being in the world. So, we have chosen to have two breakout sessions, in addition to the specially-scheduled one with Sue Johnson. Following are introductions to the primary topics that we will consider in these breakout sessions.

Genetic Alliance Council: Attachment in an Organizational Context

Friday morning, April 1, 2011

The great majority, if not all, of us attending this conference work with others in organizational settings. We are challenged daily to maintain good working relations. At the same time, we know that truly healthy organizations have something about them that empowers those involved—tapping their passions, engaging their sense of personal responsibility for individual and collective outcomes, and releasing their creative energies for productive contribution. How does this happen? Attachment Theory offers significant insights into how to create a culture and environment within organizations, no matter how small or large, that does this. We will share Genetic Alliance’s early experiences with this work and then open the space for all to participate in and contribute to deepening our understanding and application of Attachment Theory to our organizational settings.

Sue Johnson: Attachment in Families with Chronically Ill Family Members

Friday afternoon, April 1, 2011

Sue Johnson is a uniquely gifted psychotherapist, researcher, and teacher who has developed a methodology for working with couples through her Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) model. She is committed to doing clinical research to validate the work done by herself and others she works with, and EFT is now one of the most validated couples’ intervention in North America. You will have heard her speak on Thursday night, and this session will give us the opportunity to engage with her directly.

Among other things, Sue has worked with and done research on marital interventions with couples who have chronically ill children. This will be her starting place for the session as we look at the mindset and practices that EFT and Attachment Theory in general can provide to couples and families with children and family members who have genetic diseases.

Genetic Alliance Community: Reflection and Integration

Saturday mid-morning, April 2, 2011

One of the core components of Genetic Alliance’s approach to transformation is the simple debrief and reflection process. It has been demonstrated in multiple contexts that reflection on experience is one of the ways in which adults learn and integrate their learnings for greatest benefit. We expect that this conference will generate lots of insight and potential for application in our personal lives, as well as in our organizations and beyond. We then will structure time in this session to share what we’ve learned, work off of one another’s insights and aha moments, and make meaning out of the richness of all we have experienced.

EMU Breakout Sessions

See the full set of breakout session descriptions on the EMU website.