Newsletter 2006-1
Report on the NFTO / EFTA activities from
January till June 2006
January till June 2006
This Newsletter reports basically on the EFTA/NFTO Meeting that took place in Valencia, Spain on 13th - 15th January 2006. In terms of content and subjects, the Newsletter covers the main activities during the first half of the year as well as some plans regarding EFTA/NFTO.
General Matters - New NFTO Board
In Valencia, the reconstituted NFTO board met for the first time after succesful election that was held by mail last year. All the members of the board were present, becoming acquainted first and then dealing with all the work soon afterwards. The members of the NFTO Board for the period uptill the next election in 2007 are as follows:Chair and Treasurer:
Eric Louis (Switzerland)
Vice-chair:
Annette Kreuz (Spain)
Secretary:
Mina Polemi-Todoulou (Greece)
Corina Ahlers (Austria)
Julia Hardy (Hungary)
David Skorunka (Czech Republic)
Eija-Liisa Rautiainen (Finland)
Chair of the NFTO Board
It was decided that Eric Louis continues as the chair and also the treasurer of the NFTO board. Annette Kreuz was chosen as the vice chair of the board and she continues to be the general secretary of the whole EFTA. Eric and Annette will represent the NFTO board in the Coordinating Body of EFTA (In Coordinating Body there are two representatives from each of the three Boards of EFTA).NFTO Board - replacement
There was a discussion of how to take care of the continuity of the work done in NFTO board. NFTO Board will prepare a proposition in order to face the possibility, in the future, of one or more members resigning before the end of their term in the board.This issue will be brought to NFTO Chamber Meeting in Krakow this June.NFTO Chamber – Membership
Mina Polemi – Toloudou presented her work that she with her secretary has done to re-establish connections with all the member associations. As a result of this effort, 25 associations or federations are being registered now as members of the NFTO Chamber of EFTA. There are still some potential new members as other members of the board suggested. Julia Hardy, Eija-Liisa Rautiainen and David Skorunka announced their plans to make contact with those countries such as Romania, Estonia, Slovakia and Slovenia.NFTO Profile
Mina Polemi-Todoulou has worked on the NFTO Profile report, a summary report on organizations of family/systems therapy in Europe. This important work will continue and the report will be sent to all members of the NFTO Chamber for corrections and additional information. For this project that can help to raise both the profile and the knowledge about family/systemic therapy in Europe, a cooperation with all the representatives is crucial.EFTA/NFTO Website
The importance and current status of EFTA website was discussed. David Skorunka represents NFTO Chamber in the website committee of EFTA. He is determined to continue in his work with the aim to improve both the EFTA website and NFTO Chamber part of the website. In the website committe as well as during the General Board of EFTA David proposed some basic changes with regard to the structure and design of the general EFTA website. The proposed changes seemed to be agreed upon by members of the general board. During NFTO board discussions David also offered a possibility of contacting some reliable webdesigners in his country who would take care of the NFTO website. First of all, new information and important changes could be implemented more rapidly without placing unnecessary burden on current webmasters. Given the number of associations in the NFTO Chamber a more direct control on this part of website could make the website maintanance easier and more effective. It is planned that the website issue will be discussed in the next NFTO Chamber meeting.NFTO Chamber Meeting
The next General Assemnly of the NFTO Chamber is to be held on 16th – 18th June 2006 in Krakow, Poland, together with General Assembly of EFTA. All representatives of the National Associatios are invited to attend and participate at this event.For the NFTO Chamber meeting in Krakow, some themes were discussed, such as website, research, raising the public profile and training and psychotherapy criteria. It was decided to carry on the mutual work in task groups during the Chamber meeting as in London.
EFTA Congress 2007
The next EFTA congress will be held in Glasgow in 2007. The first annuncement are available both on the Congress website and on the website of EFTA. It was emphasised that early annoucements and advertisement is very important for the attendance at the Congress. In all chambers of EFTA and also within congress committee many ideas regarding the title, themes, inviting plenary and subplenary speakers were discussed that were then brought to the general board of EFTA.On behalf ot the NFTO Board
Eija-Liisa Rautiainen
David Skorunka