Quarterly Meeting for Members And Colleagues (QMMAC)
- IGA Admin
- Mar 4
- 2 min read
Friday 13th June 2025, 9.30am – 4.00pm (GMT)
Edinburgh Quaker Meeting House, Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh
"The therapeutic function of the Neuron-Immune mirrors during group analytic psychotherapy and their impact on trauma's transformation and the suffering body."
Infants who experience warm reciprocal interactions with the adults who are caring for them develop secure relationships and come to expect positive responses from others. Well-timed, synchronous ‘conversations’ with their caregiver teach infants that their feelings can be understood and regulated. We know that difficulties in developing these reciprocal and mutually rewarding interpersonal relationships can have a long-term impact but, reassuringly, that attachment relationships are open to change if given the correct support.
Parent-infant art therapy groups mobilise the potential of the art-making process to draw parents and infants together in playful, sensory interactions. They aim to build caregiver’s capacity to pick up on cues and offer sensitive responses while supporting the caregiver’s own mental health, which in turn allows them to be more available to the relational overtures of their infant.
There are group membership benefits of common experiences, potential modelling of positive behaviours, and the chance to experience themselves differently as a dyad within a new group context. Facilitators manage a layered set of interpersonal dynamics, with individuals, dyadic relationships, and wider group relationships all in interaction. This presentation will share case examples from practice as well as the theoretical approach to supporting early relationships.
About the Speaker
Dr Vicky Armstrong is an HCPC registered art psychotherapist in the NHS Tayside Infant Mental Health team, running a parent-infant art therapy service with Dundee Contemporary Arts. Vicky is also a lecturer in psychology at the University of Dundee and her research focuses on evidencing the benefits of shared art making for early relationships and supporting pre-birth communication.
Vicky has published several book chapters and academic papers and runs Art at the Start research project:
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 September 2025
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.
Comentários