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About the European Personal Construct Association (EPCA) |
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In
1990, during the 2nd
British Conference on Personal
Construct Psychology,
it was decided to establish a pan-European organisation aimed at
spreading the core ideas of Personal Construct Psychology. It was
supposed to act as an umbrella for the existing national organisations
and as a
source of information for people in other countries who often did not
have
access to information but also no chance of getting in touch with
colleagues
with similar interests. These endeavours resulted in an Inaugural
Conference in York, UK in
1992 and the foundation of the European
Personal Construct Association - EPCA.
Since then, eleven biennial conferences have been organised, and for many
years a newsletter
served as the main device for spreading information as well
as for staying in touch. The
advent of the
Internet during the late nineties had of course a considerable impact
on the
way a transnational association operates. A printed newsletter was
abandoned
at one stage, as other sources of information became easily
available on
the Internet. Furthermore, more national organisations were founded,
and
individuals in countries without a PCP or constructivist
organisation can
now find their way into professional circles quite comfortably
- thanks
to Google...
In the EPCA
business meeting at
the Belgrade conference in 2010, it was decided that
EPCA
should in the future mainly act as an umbrella sponsoring the
biennial conferences – that were considered to be very successful,
thanks to
the efforts of the local organisers – and promoting transnational
activities, such
as the European
Constructivist Training Network (ECTN) that currently
encompasses
groups in four countries (Italy, Serbia, the UK, and the Czech
Republic).
Individual membership in the EPCA then did not seem to make much sense
anymore, especially
in the age of the Internet with its easily accessible resources and
facilitation of electronic communication.
The last
"Guidance
Panel" or Steering Committee was elected during the 9th EPCA conference
in
London in 2008. A new
Guidance Panel has not been installed since.
In 2012, the Eleventh
Biennial EPCA conference was organised by the Irish
Constructivist Psychotherapy Association in Dublin. The 2014
conference will be held in Brno in the Czech
Republic.
The EPCA Committee used to maintain a web site, at http://www.epca-net.org, which is currently not being updated.
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