ICECAP- International Society for Existential Psychotherapy and Counselling

The International Society was founded on 2 July 2006 at the end of the 10th Anniversary conference of the NewSchool of Psychotherapy and Counselling, in London. The meeting had been convened by Prof. Emmy van Deurzen and was chaired by Mike Harding, who recorded the events as follows:

‘For the record, the vote to create an International Society was taken on July 2nd 2006 at 3:55 pm, and the vote that it should include both psychotherapy and counselling in its title was taken at 4:01 pm. A working committee was formed immediately afterwards with the agreement to hold an internet conference call during September. It was also agreed that those attending from abroad would inform me of other existentially-orientated groups or individuals who might wish to participate in this project. So, please pass the word around, and ask them to contact Mike Harding or Karen Weixel-Dixon so that they may be included in future mailings.

During the meeting some of those who attended gave their name and e-mail address so that they could be kept informed of the next steps of the development of the society. These are:  Victor Rodrigues (Portugal), Dan Stiwne (Sweden), Joris van Gerven (Netherlands), Oliver Frawley (UK), Bernie Joy (UK), Robina Husain-Naviatti (UK), Frieda Reeves (UK), David Horne (UK), Anthony Venditti, (UK), Elena Manafi (UK&Greece), Marcia Gamsu (UK), Elisabeth Malm (Sweden), Vita Poskute (Eastern Europe), Denise Ielitro (UK and Italy),  Alison Strasser (Australia), Emma Jartell (UK and Sweden), Daniel Sousa (Portugal), Mike Simonson (UK), Laura Barnett (UK) and Ulla-Stina Johansson (UK), Emmy van Deurzen (UK and Netherlands), Paul Smith Pickard (UK), Karen Weixel-Dixon (UK, USA, France), Lucia Moja-Strasser (UK and Romania),  Diana Mitchell (UK), Digby Tantam (UK), Freddie Strasser (UK and Hungary) and Mike Harding (UK).

As the Chair of the meeting I would like to record my thanks to Emmy for inviting so many of us to the 10th Anniversary of the New School, and for using this achievement,  which could have been a very private gathering, to  promote a more inclusive vision. Also special thanks to those who traveled from abroad; your enthusiasm and willingness to take part  is greatly appreciated -and here I include  the Chair of the SEA, Paul Smith-Pickard, who cut short his holiday on an immaculate Greek island to be with us.     

What happens from now on is up to all of you. By this I mean everyone to whom I have written, and to those whose names you may wish to be included on future listings.

My own position on the ad-hoc committee is to hold a data base of names and to forward messages to all concerned.’ Below is a picture of the groups of people who managed to stay until the end of the afternoon and who were part of the formation of the Society and its interim committee.’  

Many other colleagues had been in touch from abroad to indicate their wish to be part of the International Society whilst unable to come to London for the day.  Some of them wrote short papers explaining the current situation of existential therapy in their own countries, which were read out at the conference on 1st July. These short presentations also spoke of people’s hopes for the future of existential therapy in a number of countries and included:

Dan Stiwne for Sweden also said a few words about Denmark, since Bo Jacobsen was unable to attend. For Eastern Europe: Rimas Kociunas had written a report which was read by Vita Poskute. For Mexico and South America: Yaqui Andres Martinez has sent his report which was read out and added to by Marco Cortez. Steve Ticktin’s report on Canada was read by Diana Mitchell in a shortened version. Dan Burston’s report on the USA was read by Karen Weixel-Dixon. Australia was directly represented by Alison Strasser and Portugal by Daniel C. Sousa. Finally the SEPTIMUS project, which teaches existential psychotherapy in eight European countries was introduced by Christopher Blackmore.

Since the creation of the Society the international steering committee has been in touch by email and has had one meeting in a chatroom on the website presently being used for the ISEPC: www.existentialpsychotherapy.net. There is a public forum on this website that all those who are interested may contribute to.

At the first meeting of the steering committee officers were elected as follows:

Co- Chairs: Digby Tantam and Emmy van Deurzen
Hon. Secretary: Karen Weixel-Dixon
Memberships Secretary: Alison Strasser
Treasurer:  to be elected.
External Relations: Paul Smith-Pickard
Conference organizer: Lance Cederstrom
Webmaster: Chris Blackmore
Newsletter editors: Marcia Gamsu and Elena Manafi

It was noted that Lucia Moja-Strasser and Mike Harding had also indicated they were prepared to play a role, but since they were unable to attend the meeting this will need to be considered at the next meeting. There will of course be room for many others as well and anyone who feels they have the energy and the ability to contribute to the success of this new International Society is invited to contact the committee members. 

It was also agreed that those who represent national societies will speak to their membership to find out how the International Society can be financed from national members.  A small extra fee on top of national contributions may need to be asked for. The Society for Existential Analysis will need to consider in particular how it may propose to relate to the International Society and what contribution it may be able to make to give it a kick start. We would like to create an excellent website that can become a resource for all those across the globe who want to find out about existential psychotherapy. 

We agreed that the external relations officer will need to ensure that ISEPC will be represented forthwith in the European Association for Psychotherapists. A first conference will be organized by Lance Cederstrom, who is the President of the Swedish Society for Existential therapy. There were many other exciting ideas mooted and discussed, but the meeting ended rather suddenly as the newly set up chatroom could not encompass all the excitement any longer and aborted further debate.  It is clear however that this medium will allow us, with a bit of tweaking, to have regular international meetings from the comfort of our own armchairs in our various countries and continents. Since the meeting Dan Burston has had to withdraw from representing Northern America, for this year and he has been replaced by Daniel Martino, also from Duquesne University.

After the first meeting of the committee a proposal was put forward by the co-chairs to rename the organization a cooperative, i.e. the International Cooperative of Existential Counsellors and Psychotherapist, or ICECAP for short. Response to this idea has been positive, since the organization is meant to bring together various national organizations and aims to play a collaborative role in coordinating existential therapists worldwide. 

In line with this brief we hope that many of you will write in to comment on these new developments in the field of existential psychotherapy and that you will propose yourselves to make whatever contribution you can to the work that will need to be done to make this organization a success. You may contact any of the officers of the organization and below are some contact details.