EFAT Conference 2023

Growing*Together
Thursday 15th - Saturday 17th June 2023
Art Academy of Latvia / Rīga Stradiņš University

For information about the programme and to register, VISIT OUR DEDICATED CONFERENCE WEBSITE

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Conference theme

“The tree is more than first a seed, then a stem, then a living trunk, and then dead timber.
The tree is a slow, enduring force straining to win the sky."
(Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

Imagine that EFAT is a tree – young but with deep historical roots. It is a solid base for art therapists working together to strengthen the core of art therapy in Europe. Continually growing, strengthening its trunk, it is expanding the branches on which new leaves grow, flowers blossom and fruits ripen. Like tree branches, art therapy has branched out to work with different populations, settings and situations. New methods, knowledge and outcomes are its fruits and flowers. The earth in which this tree is growing has changed radically in the past two years, with pandemic, war and economic crisis. We will be dealing with the continuing social issues of war, poverty and unrest for a long time. With the help of EFAT, art therapists have received professional support, and it has made our tree sturdier as well as more flexible and diverse, using our inherent creativity to adjust to online work, community needs and professional insecurity.

What do we have in common? What can we learn from each other and how can we support each other? What is central to art therapy in Europe at this point in time? What new leaves, roots and fruits are we generating?
This conference aims to promote a context where evolving art therapy research, practices, projects, methods, theory, philosophy and ethics can be presented and shared.

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What does “Growing * Together” mean to art therapists, namely:

in relation to EFAT as an organisation:
in regards to belonging and developing as a professional community, creating common values and new identities in light of social changes and cross-cultural influences
for art therapy as a profession:
in regards to bridging philosophical divides, to developing innovative theoretical and methodical approaches, in relation to shifting ecological and societal contexts, and for developing our research
and in the art therapy process:
in regards to growth, of both the client/patient and the art therapist, within the individual or group/couples/family therapy relationship, but also in/through supervision, concerning aspects such as resonance, co-creation and co-production ..

EFAT aims to organize a bi-annual art therapy conference in a different European country every other year. In 2021 we held an online conference for the postponed 2020 event and have since decided to adopt a 2021-2023-2025 ... pace.

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