This afternoon session explores how professional communities in psychotherapy and counselling can engage constructively with disagreement and conflict when deeply held values are at stake. Rather than viewing disagreement as failure, the event examines what tensions and different perspectives reveal about professional responsibility, social justice, ethics and identity.
Drawing on organisational psychology, systems thinking and relational approaches, the discussion will address how power and context shape whose voices are heard, how strongly held ethical commitments can coexist with openness to dialogue, and how organisations respond when trust has been tested or competing accounts of events exist. Particular focus will be given to activism, advocacy and the relationship between professional responsibility and wider social engagement.
The aim is to develop collective capacity to engage with complexity without polarising positions, distinguish critique from personal attack, remain curious about different perspectives, acknowledge difficulty without premature interpretation, and sustain meaningful dialogue even where significant differences persist. Presentations and discussions run from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm at DoubleTree by Hilton London - Ealing, followed by a networking reception at Metanoia Institute from 5:00 pm. Participants will receive 3 CPD hours.
