CFP: Orienting Solutions 2013

Submission deadline: June 15, 2013

Conference date(s):
September 19, 2013 - September 20, 2013

Go to the conference's page

Conference Venue:

University of Hertfordshire
Hatfield, United Kingdom

Topic areas

Details

Solution-focused, enactive and narrative practice research conference: Theory in action, practice in focus  

This conference explicitly connects the existing non-pathologising and language focused practices of solution-focused (SF), narrative and discursive therapies with recent theoretical developments in enactivism, Wittgensteinian, narrative and discursive psychology.    

SF therapy has been seen in the past as a neat practical twist for working with clients. This conference is about setting SF work in a wider landscape of ideas,  to show this simple practice in a richer and more compelling light. We also seek connections with academics and  others looking for practical aspects of post-structural linguistics and  enactive/embodied cognition.     We invite academics, practitioners, managers and policy makers to see both practice and theory in a new light. The event is a collaboration between SFCT and the philosophy and nursing/social work departments at UH. This event is a start to building better and more useful connections between theory and practice.    

The conference will present and build dialogues around these topics:

  • The future of therapeutic  practice from non-pathologising, enactive and post-structural perspectives
  • The latest research into SF work in all fields – therapy, social work, educational and organisational  contexts
  • Different conceptions of ‘theory’  and how it can play a role in the famously atheoretical  world of SF practice
  • Different modes of research  which can be applied in this area
  • Latest developments in enactive, embodied and narrative thinking
  • Issues for future policy in health and other circles
  • Further ways to develop connections between academic s and practitioners for the benefit of all  concerned.

Invited speakers, already attending, include:

  • Dr Alasdair Macdonald (former  research co-ordinator, EBTA): The fast-expanding field of SF outcome research
  • Prof Dan Hutto (University of  Hertfordshire): Radical enactivism and narrative practice 
  • Prof Gale Miller (Marquette  University, Milwaukee) 
  • Prof Janet Bavelas (University of Victoria): Microanalysis of therapeutic conversations (tbc)
  • Chris Iveson (BRIEF, London): From solution to description 
  • Michael Durrant: (University of  Sydney)
  • Dr Mark McKergow: SF work and the emergence of narrative
  • Rayya Ghul (Canterbury Christchurch University): Research methodologies 
  • Dr Daniele Moyal-Sharrock (University of Hertfordshire): SF work as applied Wittgenstein

We invite presentations/sessions of 30 and 45 minutes, and also poster presentations. Please submit an abstract of up to 500 words to  https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=sfct2013 by  June 15, 2013. Presenters will not be required to submit  papers in advance of the conference. We  are intending to offer publication of papers later in a special issue if the  SFCT journal  InterAction (http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/sfct/inter) and possibly elsewhere.           

Potential topics for sessions might  include:

  • New research or  work-in-progress into solution focused practice in any field
  • Historical developments of SF  work  from different perspectives
  • Frameworks of how we might view  and understand what happens in SF work – from a variety of perspectives
  • Engaging policy makers and other professionals  in seeing the benefits of SF work

Conference committee: 

  • Prof Dan Hutto, Dept of  Philosophy, University of Hertfordshire
  • Prof Brian Littlechild, School  of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, University of Hertfordshire
  • Dr Mark McKergow, Dept of  Philosophy, UH and SFCT Board member
  • Louise Doel, Lecturer, Nursing  and Social Work, UH
  • Kirsten Dierolf, President,  SFCT 
  • Dr Daniele Moyal-Sharrock,  University of Herfordshire and British Wittgenstein Society

The conference is now online at:

Supporting material

Add supporting material (slides, programs, etc.)