The Collaborative Network Approach Statewide Planning Committee invites you to the 11th Regional Gathering for Dialogic Practice on Monday, June 9th and Tuesday, June 10th at Common Ground, in Starksboro, VT. We encourage folks to arrive at 8:30am to connect and settle in so that we can begin our program by 9am and conclude at 5pm on both days.
Please click on this link to register by May 19th: https://forms.gle/BeomrPpXsxjqKcyk6
Please spread the word to your networks!
About the Program:
As is our custom, we will have both pre-planned events AND time/space to co-create dialogues on areas of interest to us while we are together. On Monday, we will spend the first half of our day hearing from each other about our dialogic work in Vermont including a presentation on our statewide Collaborative Network Approach (CNA) initiatives featuring Jeffrey Rothenberg (Washington County Mental Health Services) and others. We will take the opportunity to recognize the invaluable support of Vermont DMH in helping us grow and sustain dialogic practice in Vermont since 2012.
On Monday afternoon, we will hear from Pina Ridente who spent her career as an innovator of and psychiatric practitioner in the Trieste (Italy) system of care. Trieste once had 1200 mental hospital beds for 240 000 people; and now instead has six general hospital beds and 30 overnight community center beds. At the Regional Gathering, Pina will be sharing about the Trieste system of care, and how beginning in the 1980s, it was built in a dialogic process with the community, and how it was influenced by Open Dialogue. Pina’s presentation will be followed by break-out groups on a range of topics, and the day will conclude with time in the full group.
On Tuesday we will offer both full-day and partial day workshops and break-out groups on topics proposed by gathering participants. One of our full-day workshops on Tuesday will be co-faciliated by Pina, and will offer small and full group exploration of tolerating uncertainty and polyphony in the context of extreme political polarization and threats to greatly diminish the social safety net. Please scroll all the way down for Pina’s bio.
This year’s Regional Gathering will be free for all attendees. We are grateful for the support of the Vermont Department of Mental Health to make this possible. It is the last year that we will have this support from the VT DMH. We encourage all Regional Gathering participants to consider making a contribution towards future events we plan to hold to support the continuation of our dialogic practice community.
Please join us for dinner (and a bonfire!) on the evening of Monday, June 9th for $28/per person. Gathering participants (and family members) are very welcome. If you are game for rustic accommodations, cabins (without plumbing/electricity) are available at Common Ground Center for the duration of the Gathering, and camping is available as well. If you would like assistance finding other lodging, please reach out to us at zalpern@csac-vt.org.
Looking forward to our time together!
Zelda Alpern
Statewide Coordinator, Collaborative Network Approach
Regional Gathering Planning Committee: Zelda Alpern, Paule Bezaire, Sarah Binshadler, Lisa Dobkowski, Per Eisenman, Denise Guttler
Statewide CNA Planning Committee: Zelda Alpern, Paule Bezaire, Lisa Dobkowski, Per Eisenman, Beth Goss, Vic Martini, Jeffrey Rothenberg, Sandy Smith, Greg Tomasulo, Ashley Wight
