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
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Date: Thursday 14 & Friday 15 September 2023
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Format: The conference is a fully virtual conference. All sessions will take place online.
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Replays: All keynote sessions will be recorded and made available to ticket holders as a replay.
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Programme: Click here.
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Ticket Prices: Click here.
Our Speakers
Click here for more information.

Professor Dawn Edge
Professor Mental Health & Inclusivity
University of Manchester

Dr Selam Kidane
Psychology Lecturer
University of West London

Kenyah Nyameche
Family Therapist & Systemic Consultant
Changing-I Ltd

Dr Jon Symonds
Senior Lecturer in Social Work with Children and Families
University of Bristol

Linda Pow
Family Therapist
CAMHS Inpatient Team

Jo Berry
Founder
Building Bridges for Peace

Dr Temitope Ademosu
Head of Children and Families Clinical Service
Birmingham City Council

Shakira Maknoon
Systemic Family Therapist
NHS CAMHS Service | Mulberry Foster Care Service

Samantha Wilkinson
Parenting Apart Practitioner
Warwickshire Children and Families

Sarah Favier
Systemic & Family Psychotherapist
Private Practice

Arlene Healey
Founder
Arlene Healey Family Consultation

Dr Don Waisanen
Professor
City University of New York

Jennifer Achan
Systemic and Family psychotherapist
Hammersmith and Fulham CAMHS

Samuel Angus
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NHS

Rosie Buckland
Systemic Practitioner & Social Worker
Adult Mental Health Services

Thupten Jinpa Langri
Founder & Chairman
The Compassion Institute

Kam Kaur
Director
Parenting Apart Programme

John Burnham
Consultant Family and Systemic Psychotherapist
Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital

Prudencia Woode
Specialist Clinical Practitioner
Children and Families Clinical Service

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...