Monthly Meetings
This working group will hold monthly two-hour Zoom meetings open to the community. We plan three organizers and six facilitators, each leading two sessions per year. Topics may include discussions on specific themes, integrating EA into practice, sharing research, or exploring EA alongside other psychotherapy models.
We will start with English and Spanish groups, with the possibility of adding more languages. The endeavour is for twelve two-hour zoom meetings a year but can be more hours or meetings depending on the need.
Would you like to join us in building EA community sessions?
Käri-Ann Thor at: existentialanalysis@icloud.com
Victoria Larrain at: psvictorialarrain@gmail.com
Peer Supervision for Trainers
This working group is to gather interested EA Trainers from around the world who would like to share ideas, experiences, learnings, and support. We are privileged to be able to bring the wonderful training to our trainees in the various corners of the world. We also have the responsibility to carry forward the heartbeat of EA, phenomenology as our foundation…. and
also, to model and advocate a dialogical existence. Here is an opportunity for conversation and there is much we can learn from each other.
So far, Käri-Ann Thor, Natalia Bondarenko, and Irina Ryazanova have met and extend an invite to any trainer who would like to help bring this group to a concrete formation with co-creating objectives for the coming year. Some ideas for an initial dialogue could be:
- what is our experience being a trainer
- what are we needing
- discuss our teaching methods
- share ideas of how we do supervision
- challenges we may face
- other
This is an opportunity to have time with our EA peers and colleagues, to encounter each other, to understand each other, to build connections.
Are you interested in being a part of our first gathering?
Käri-Ann Thor at: existentialanalysis@icloud.com
Natalia Bondarenko at: natlbond67@gmail.com
Irina Ryazanova at: rusachokster@gmail.com
Call of Art
The working group Call of Arts is experiential; to approach beauty and uniqueness of a Person
in touch with artistic or creative expression.
Whether it means to open some possibilities to meet both in person and on-line, and develop or renew creative potential through different artistic ateliers (such as fine arts, exterior or interior design, music, drama, dancing, writing, or even cuisine) or through events, exhibitions, and designed interactive places. Not so much for the purpose to perform, but rather to experience collaboration, understanding, harmony, and attunement among us, the community of colleagues and friends. And to enjoy what it brings.
The Call of Art is to explore and develop the therapeutic dimension of arts in Existential Analysis and Logotherapy. But it is also to share our “passion for being in a dialogue” with a wider community of people. It will provide us with good resources to enrich our understanding of people from different cultural contexts.
Being a therapist carries a dimension of art. The touch with arts can develop our experiential
side. Moreover, the symbolic language offers us a freedom-friendly space for in-depth
interaction.
We imagine the group meeting regularly bi-monthly. Each gathering could focus on one form of artistic exploration (for example, a drawing evening, a poetry circle, or a shared cooking session), with space afterwards for reflection and dialogue. There will be a space for artistic ateliers and perhaps concerts during our regular conferences.
Contact: Timotea Vráblová – timotea.vrablova@gmail.com
Mentoring Progam
The Mentorship & Exchange Program is designed to strengthen connections within the ISEA by facilitating meaningful exchanges between members. This initiative pairs Existential Analysis (EA) practitioners with
others seeking to explore new perspectives—whether through cross-cultural dialogue, integrating EA with other therapeutic approaches, or deepening specific practice areas. Participants may be looking to learn about a particular method, expand their understanding of EA in different contexts, or share their experiences with complementary approaches. The program fosters collaboration by matching individuals based on their interests, creating opportunities for mentorship, skill- sharing, and professional growth across regions and disciplines.
Sandy El Chaar at: sandy.elchaar@gmail.com
The Pilgrim Friends
Making a journey is a great existential action. Throughout the centuries, it has been deeply rooted in cultures. People have always reflected on how to undertake a journey or pilgrimage.
In the 16th – 18th centuries, it even became an art, ars apodemica, with books and advice literature offering not only some useful information on places, but also inspiration on how to make a journey an inner experience: what to pay attention to, and what to reflect on. Making a journey was understood as a way to create value and add depth to a person’s life.
Symbolically, it has been connected with themes such as self-reflection, growing in maturity, studying, enhancing skills, but also with searching for change, self-distance, inner
transformation, direction in life, and spirituality. Can you imagine going on an EA mountain or river journey, or reflecting on different places and noticing how much they are places of and for life, whether in nature or within a city?
In EA, pilgrimages are welcomed opportunities for self-distancing, deepening connection, and entering into dialogue with ourselves and the world. We may practice the art of truly encountering places, making journeys, and then planning them as a team for others. We will then also share our experiences with our wider EA family, continuing the journey in dialogue.
Contact: Timotea Vráblová – timotea.vrablova@gmail.com