UK Union Condemns IARPP Conference

The Psychotherapy and Counseling Union of the UK (PCU) supports the Palestinian Union of Psychologists and Social Workers (PUSWP) protest of the IARPP decision to hold its 2019 annual conference in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Here is the text of the November 1st, 2018 letter:

Dear Dr Iyad Dothman and Dr Samah Jabr,

Please find below a letter of support re the decision of the International Association of Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy to hold its 2019 annual conference in Tel Aviv, Israel.  We have copied the President of IARPP, Dr Steven Kuchuck.

We write with reference to your Statement of October 1st 2018 in connection with the decision of the International Association of Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy to hold their 2019 annual conference in Tel Aviv, Israel.

As a Union, we wish to support the positions that PUSWP has articulated so clearly. Your summary of the issues surrounding the conference is cogent and reasoned.

As psychotherapists and counsellors, we specifically wish to endorse what you say about mental health and, above all, about the values that inform the practice of psychotherapy and counseling in all contexts.

We are copying this supporting message to the President of IARPP. For reference, here is a link to the PUSWP Statement:

We send all our good wishes and feelings of solidarity. Please feel free to circulate this message.

Signed on behalf of PCU

Richard Bagnall-Oakley, Chair
Dr. P. Cox, Committee member

November 2, 2018

Dear Dr. Cox,

We are very happy and encouraged by the courageous letter of the PCU.  Your initiative is a wonderful example of professional solidarity that we seek at an international level.  I talked to my colleagues about the supportive letter and they were very appreciative.

I copy some of our partners in the reconsideration call, maybe they can help dissemination your letter, and I will send it to the local media in Palestine.

Thanking you,

Samah Jabr MD, Head of Mental Health Unit, MoH, Palestine
Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist
Assistant Clinical Professor, George Washington University