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Building Bridges for Peace - Promoting Peace And Conflict Resolution

We look forward to welcoming you to the AFT Virtual Conference 2023.  This year’s two-day conference is in association with Confetti (Confederation of Family Therapy Training Institutes) and the UKCP College of Family, Couple and Systemic Family Therapy.

This year is about healing, reaching out and reconnection – to celebrate where we have made real progress, and think together where there is work to be done.

We have a fantastic line-up of interesting and exciting speakers, including Jo Berry from Building Bridges for Peace, who has kindly agreed to join us. Jo founded the charity after losing her father Sir Anthony in the Brighton bomb in 1984 and since 2000 she has been working with the ex IRA combatant Patrick Magee who was convicted for the Grand Hotel bombing. In the last 22 years they have spoken together over 300 times and Jo draws on this experience in all the work she does.

The lessons she has been learning are now part of her work in demonstrating the power of empathy, how we can not choose revenge and blame. Above all she is working for a world where no one is demonised, where everyone has their truth and we find ways to resolve conflict so all win (buildingbridgesforpeace.org).

We also had confirmation that Thupten Jinpa will be joining us at our conference. Thupten Jinpa, Ph.D. is the founder and chairman of Compassion Institute, and the principal author of Compassion Cultivation Training™ (CCT©), the Institute’s flagship compassion education offering, developed while Jinpa was at Stanford University. Jinpa also serves as an adjunct professor at the Faculty of Religious Studies at McGill University, Montreal, and is the founder and president of the Institute of Tibetan Classics. He has been a core member of the Mind and Life Institute and its chairman of the board since January 2012. Jinpa has been the principal English translator to H.H the Dalai Lama since 1885. His work is focused on how ethics is grounded in compassion.

Quick Facts
  • Date: Thursday 14 & Friday 15 September 2023

  • Format:  The conference is a fully virtual conference.  All sessions will take place online.

  • Replays:  All keynote sessions will be recorded and made available to ticket holders as a replay.

  • Programme:  Click here.

  • Ticket Prices:  Click here.

Our Speakers

Click here for more information.

Prof Dawn Edge photo

Professor Dawn Edge

Professor Mental Health & Inclusivity

University of Manchester

Dr Selam Kidane photo

Dr Selam Kidane

Psychology Lecturer

University of West London

Kenyah Nyameche photo

Kenyah Nyameche

Family Therapist & Systemic Consultant

Changing-I Ltd

Dr Jon Symonds photo

Dr Jon Symonds

Senior Lecturer in Social Work with Children and Families

University of Bristol

Linda Pow photo

Linda Pow

Family Therapist

CAMHS Inpatient Team

Jo Berry photo

Jo Berry

Founder

Building Bridges for Peace

Dr Temitope Ademosu Photo

Dr Temitope Ademosu

Head of Children and Families Clinical Service

Birmingham City Council

Shakira Maknoon photo

Shakira Maknoon

Systemic Family Therapist

NHS CAMHS Service | Mulberry Foster Care Service

Samantha Wilkinson photo

Samantha Wilkinson

Parenting Apart Practitioner

Warwickshire Children and Families

Sarah Favier Photo

Sarah Favier

Systemic & Family Psychotherapist

Private Practice

Arlene Healey photo

Arlene Healey

Founder

Arlene Healey Family Consultation

Dr Don Waisanen photo

Dr Don Waisanen

Professor

City University of New York

Jennifer Achan photo

Jennifer Achan

Systemic and Family psychotherapist

Hammersmith and Fulham CAMHS

Samuel Angus photo

Samuel Angus

.

NHS

Rosie Buckland Photo

Rosie Buckland

Systemic Practitioner & Social Worker

Adult Mental Health Services

Thupten Jinpa Langri photo

Thupten Jinpa Langri

Founder & Chairman

The Compassion Institute

Kam Kaur photo

Kam Kaur

Director

Parenting Apart Programme

John Burnham photo

John Burnham

Consultant Family and Systemic Psychotherapist

Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital

Prudencia Woode photo

Prudencia Woode

Specialist Clinical Practitioner

Children and Families Clinical Service

Elaine Holliday Photo

Elaine Holliday

Systemic Family Therapist and Art Therapist

Independent Practice

AFT Symposium Preview - please take some time to view a preview of the Symposium that took place in July in Birmingham...

Keynote Presentations

A fantastic selection of presentations available on a range of interesting and relevant topics, delivered by our international panel of expert speakers.

Conference
Fringe
Sessions

Each day of the conference will feature an optional pre-event wellbeing session to get attendees raring to go.

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AFT Bursary Scheme

The new AFT Bursary Scheme aims to support AFT members to attend conferences or training where the cost would otherwise be prohibitive, and to support programmes aimed at groups currently under-represented in our activities and the profession.

Money cost saving or money reserve for goal and success in school, higher level education
Discussion Sessions

Each Keynote will be followed by a 30 minute discussion session.  This is a great opportunity for attendees to put questions to the presenter and discuss relevant topics.

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Visit the Bookshop

The bookshop, provided by Bookmark, is open again this year, stocking a range of relevant books, including suggestions from our speakers.

Book Shop Shelf
Virtual
Exhibition

The conference will feature a virtual exhibition space featuring various forms of creative expression from AFT Members.

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