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Curran, A., Potter, S., 2010. International CAT. Reformulation, Winter, p.5.
Here is news from the first Meeting of the executive committee of the International Cognitive Analytic Therapy Association (ICATA) which took place over three days at the end of September 2010 in Cracow, Poland. Twenty-one delegates, representing ten countries where CAT is being developed met to share experience of training and supervision and to develop common standards. The meeting was facilitated by Steve Potter, who is the chair of ICATA.
The newly established Polish CAT group were our hosts and we stayed in the poignant and historic Jewish district of Cracow. The setting gave us a very keen sense of our cosmopolitan, international and European responsibilities to build an organisation for the development of CAT in different cultures, nations and societies, which was democratic and responsive to the individual and the group in equal measure. We heard rich accounts of how CAT had developed in Finland, Australia, Italy, Spain, Greece, Ireland and Poland. Annalee Curran from the UK led a thoughtful discussion on what is and what is not CAT. Prior to the executive meeting Louise McCutcheon and Steve Potter and Lisa and Katri from Finland gave role presentations of the challenges and tasks in supervising CAT.
Mostly the ICATA executive group which was established formally at the third International CAT conference in Bath in July 2009 has met by telephone conference often at the startlingly early hour of 7.00 or 8.00 to link in with Australia and New Zealand. It was a great opportunity to build bridges and alliances face-to-face and think about the opportunities to develop CAT further. One item of business was to agree to host the 4th International CAT conference as the first fully ICATA event in Cracow from the 15th of September -17th of September 2011. There will be a call for conference papers shortly. Booking will begin from January 2011. ICATA also plans to establish its own website and put on international training seminars and workshops and establish an electronic journal. Its main priority is to foster national associations in the spirit of the founding associations in the UK and in Finland and to see CAT thrive as a cost-effective psychological response to mental health needs around the world. The representatives from the UK were Annalee Curran, Steve Potter, Ian Kerr. We were delighted to subsequently hear that both Tony Ryle and Mikael Leiman had agreed to be honorary co-presidents of the association.
Steve Potter and Annalee Curran