Liberec training in family therapy of psychosomatic disorders

We will introduce the present format of a four-year complex training in family therapy of psychosomatic disorders, which is approved for health service. It is being developed since 1997 when we opened our first course. From the very beginning, this training was conceived as integrative in many respects. In the personalities of supervisors, various therapeutic approaches meet and integrate: family therapy (Trapková, Chvála), Gestalt (Knop), Pesso- -Boyden (Fürst). The participants comprise a heterogeneous community of men and women where dialogue and collaboration are taught among doctors, psychologists, and other humanities-trained experts from helping professions, dealing with common patients/clients with psychosomatic symptoms. Whereas four small self-experiential groups serve the individual development of the personalities of future family therapists, the purpose of training groups is to train skills on the basis of an expounded theory. The training is organized over six weekends in a year, supplemented by three-day trips in the first and second year. An essential part of training is the regular writing of essays. In the interim periods, this puts students to the mood for the next topic in advance, and teachers have the opportunity to prepare a monothematic weekend programme on the basis of students’ individual preparation. Each weekend has its fixed three-dimensional structure, with the emphasis gradually shifting (from the first until the fourth year) from theory to practice, from personal material from the participants’ own families to the families of patients/clients, from external instructors in the first year to samples of clinical work of internal teachers to the reflection of the participants’ own work with patient/client families, and their first experience with supervision. Findings from the various courses inspired us to modify the programme in the subsequent cycles, making it more focused.

Ludmila Trapková, Liberec Institute for Family Therapy and Psychosomatic Medicine, Liberec, Czech Republic e-mail: trapkova@mybox.cz

Vladislav Chvála,Liberec Institute for Family Therapy and Psychosomatic Medicine, Liberec, Czech Republic e-mail: rchvala@sktlib.cz