Quarterly Meeting for Members And Colleagues (QMMAC)

Friday 6th September 2025, 9.30am – 4.00pm (GMT)

Edinburgh Quaker Meeting House, Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh

Finding my way into the Large Group: An intimate reflection

Fiona Parker

I would like to share with you some of the ways in which I think Large Group ‘Sociotherapy’ is very different to Small Group ‘Psychotherapy’ having spent 6 years in a Median Group at Creating Large Group Dialogue workshops with Teresa von Sommaruga Howard (2025 Foulkes Lecturer). After this short presentation we will move into a Social Dreaming Matrix returning to the circle for reflection.

Pat de Maré is the founding father of Large Groups in Group Analysis, I would like to share some quotes from his book ‘Koinonia’ which are meaningful for me. I wonder what you make of these quotes. Perhaps these quotes might set the cornerstones for the day. I look forward to meeting with you all.

1. ‘In brief, the larger group is a micro-culture of society’ [p.21]

2. ‘it functions without final truths’ [p.47]

3. ‘… Structures of redundant hierarchy can give way to systems of affiliative self-regulation…..’ [p.93]

4. ‘...the only truly effective way of coping with redundant institutionalization, redundant hierarchy, redundant bureaucracy and the problems that arise from traumatic social crises lies in pitting large group against large group, pitting microculture against established macroculture.’ [p.99]

Fiona Parker DCounsPsych retired from the National Health Service (NHS) in October 2022 having worked as a Group Analyst in a Tertiary Psychoanalytic Service in the Northeast of England for 12 years. Having grown up amidst the ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland, was inspired by the Peace work at Corrymeela (NI) as a teenager gave her hope during difficult times. Fiona feels most at home in the Median Group and has recently been appointed as Convenor for GASi Quarterly Membership group in London. Fiona is a Supervisor and Group Therapist at the Immigration Counselling and Psychotherapy Charity (ICAP) based in London supporting the Irish Diaspora in the UK. Fiona is also the Chair of the Board of Trustees for Group Analysis North and is the Membership Secretary for GASi.

Programme

09.30 Registration

10.00 Large group

11.30 Break

11.50 Presentation

13.15 Notices

13.30 Lunch

14.30 Large Group

16.00 End

Fees

£40 (£25 for students).

If you have any difficulty registering, please email: training@groupanalysis-uk.co.uk

Future Dates

5th December 2025  

QMMAC offers the exciting opportunity to meet colleagues and students from group analysis, psychoanalysis and related professional fields for a shared experience of large group work and presentations relevant to working in psychotherapy. This quarterly meeting provides an enjoyable and supportive space for thinking, dialogue and learning. The regular meetings aim to reduce feelings of professional isolation, stimulate creative discussion and develop a sense of community among those involved in psychodynamic work. Through shared learning and dialogue, we grow stronger and more confident about our work and its place in the psychotherapeutic milieu.

Suitable for past and present trainees in group analysis (at any level), group analysts, individual analysts and colleagues in other fields with an interest in groups.

Register here