Brexit: who is afraid of group attachments?

An open workshop.

Saturday, 26th January

Time: 10:00 - 15:30

Speakers:  Frances Griffiths, Maria Canete, Chris Ridley, Arturo Ezquerro and Peter Keller

Convenors: Maria Canete and Arturo Ezquerro

Venue: Institute of Group Analysis, 1 Daleham Gardens, London NW3 5BY

Brexit means what? More than two years on …, we still do not know. So we’ve decided to organise a workshop to explore Brexit, or otherwise, from an attachment and group-analytic perspective. 

John Bowlby, a quintessentially English gentleman, conceived attachment as a primary instinctual force for meaningful human connectedness, essential for our physical and emotional survival. Healthy attachment evolves from individual to group bonding. The UK is a mature democracy which has played a significant role on international development. The European Union is a serious, ambitious project in the making – in which increasingly larger, more sophisticated and ever evolving forms of group collaboration, and of group attachments, are being tried. Who is afraid of that? Is Brexit a ‘mutation’ to maximise survival of the fittest or the richest? Is survival of the other a threat to my survival?

This workshop will be open and inclusive, with the aim of creating an atmosphere where dialogue and mutual understanding can be cultivated. Delegates will be encouraged to take an active part in the reflective space provided by professionally conducted, small and large, discussion groups.