- 1 Daleham Gardens London, NW3 5BY
- +44 (0) 207 435 6611
- office@groupanalyticsociety.co.uk
Menu
GASi provides opportunities for the international exchange of Group Analytic theory and practice and is open to anybody interested in its application in any setting. As Group Analysis is rooted in a theory that fundamentally recognises the social nature of people, it seeks to understand and enrich the psychological, emotional, cultural and socio-political experience of individuals and groups in both clinical settings and beyond. Recognising the complexity of this task, and aiming to include people from any background, no matter how diverse, GASi is committed to providing meeting places where open reflection on the ways in which we include and exclude one another is expected.
The Society works through a number of committees and provides:
The Group Analytic Society International was founded by Dr. E.J. Anthony, Dr. P.B. de Maré, Dr. N. Elias, Dr. S.H. Foulkes, Mrs. E.T. Foulkes, Mrs. M.L. Abercrombie in London in 1952 as a learned society to study and promote the development of Group Analysis in both its clinical and applied aspects. The first regular weekly seminars were given by Foulkes in 1952. Members of the Society come from different countries and from many fields and disciplines, including psychology, psychiatry, sociology, medicine, nursing, social work, counselling, education, industry, forensic and prison services, management and organisational consultancy, architecture, anthropology and the clergy.
At the heart of Group Analysis is the idea that human beings are fundamentally social beings, whose lives are inextricably linked with other people in manifold ways. The source of personal puzzles that are difficult or impossible to resolve, or behaviors or motives that are difficult to understand, which individuals may encounter in their personal lives and at work, are to be found not only in the dynamics of the groupings that they inhabit in the present, but also in the groups in which all of us are rooted, across time and throughout our development. These groupings include the family, friendship groups, schools and so on. On the basis of this S.H Foulkes, the founder of group analysis, reasoned that as one’s difficulties arise in groups, then these difficulties are best explored, understood and changed specifically in a group context. Foulkes, in the 1950s, proposed that there is no such thing as an individual that exists apart from and outside the social (Foulkes, 1948; Foulkes & Anthony, 1957).
GAS became GASi in 2011. The Society, which has charitable status (Charity Registration Number: 281387) is a learned society and non-profit organisation, holds regular scientific meetings and organises various workshops. A triennial International Symposium is held at various locations – the 17th was held in Berlin in August 2017 and the next (before the Covid cirisis) was due to be held in Barcelona but is now to be held online instead (4th – 6th September, 2020). An annual S. H. Foulkes lecture for a wider public has been held in London since 1977 – the 43rd was celebrated in 2019 – and the lectures are published in the journal of the Society. Past issues of Group Analytic Contexts, the digital (since January 2016) Newsletter of the Society, are available in full from the Publications section of this site.
GASi provides opportunities for the international exchange of Group Analytic theory and practice and is open to anybody interested in its application in any setting.