ICQI Last Day: Magic is Possible

Well today truly was one of those days in your career you will look back at as a real turning point. In terms of learning I was really able to consolidate my aim to learn narrative inquiry, listening to so many presentations using this method and getting such a real hold on what it looks like in practice. I felt like the method jumped out of the textbook I have been following and became real. I also learned how to enhance the method: using 'overlapping', using visual media, with children and how to conduct discourse analysis rather than the naive approach I have been using.

More importantly, however, were the personal relationships I consolidated, aided by beer and double Scotches at Murphy's Bar and many other venues. I made lasting friendships with members of the Special Interest Group in Psychology (and became an Organising Committee Member for 2016), Heather Adams, Michael Kral and others..you rock!!!!. I also met two Norwegian researchers who I really connected with, one of whom is actually colleagues with one of my heroes, the originator of Open Dialogue or Network Therapy. (We all plan, by the way to go to Blue Note Jazz Club in Chicago on our last night in USA tomorrow).

Next year I am very keen to bring some of my students to ICQI2016. It has truly been a place I feel like I belong in, a home for researchers who, despite their differences, share a desire to participate in liberative processes in society, not just researching for their own careers, but allowing for stronger lives and communities. I felt real solidarity with so many people that I met and I leave more confident in my ability to make a difference in psychology back home.