The first day of the IPT conference has come to an end. The morning began with Heather Flynn welcoming everyone and introducing the conference with an opening speech. She expressed gratitude to John Markowitz for his significant contributions over the years. Benjamin Hankin then shared about him and his team’s important research, in memory of Nancy Groth, on expectant mothers and their efforts to prevent mental health issues in both parents and children. The day continued with presentations of significant projects underway in various parts of the world, including my own study on how therapists and patients collaboratively develop the “Mood-event” strategy in IPT. In the afternoon, I attended a workshop on levering systemic interventions while practicing IPT. The evening concluded with a medieval dinner here in Newcastle, which around our table could be summed up as enjoyable and “interesting.”
It strikes me every time we meet over time that we are not just researchers, psychotherapists, and other forms of adult professionals in the IPT- community. Everyone is entirely normal, lovely people. One of the questions I got tonight at dinner, for example, was about my top five favorite characters in Game of Thrones…. In other words, entirely normal conversations around the kitchen table. Very much IPT 🙂 See you all tomorrow.
Malin
