23rd International Balint Congress
Cultivating Understanding and Compassion Through Balint
Paper Presentations
Tuesday, September 10th, 9 - 10:30
The Ethics of Balint Work: Making the Kinship of Humanity Evident. E. Katherine Knowlton (USA).Though we do not use religion to differentiate the members of a Balint group, like other aspects of identity it is likely to be present and unnamed, making it a source of unspoken assumptions or attitudes which may affect a treatment relationship. Within the group religious differences may be contentious or powerful at closing down open minds. This paper explores why that may not happen in Balint Groups, which are a great example of the well-researched finding that diversity enhances creativity and learning.
- From Psychopathy to Compassion. Christian Linclau (Belgium). To understand compassion with a detour through psychopathology and its neuronal mechanisms? How can a Balint group lead health professionals to compassion? That’s what this paper proposes to explore.
- Cultivating Understanding and Compassion Through Balint Work: An Opportunity to Promote Ethical Thinking in Everyday Work. Leonie Sullivan (Australia). This paper focuses on a common thread, based on offering a classic Balint group across a variety of settings. The area of additional relevance and interest to be described, is that of enactment and its relationship in promoting a culture of ethical thinking as part of everyday work in health care.
Wednesday, September 11th, 9 - 10:30
- To Intervene or Not Intervene, That is the Question. Albert Lichtenstein (USA). This paper will discuss what can be called non-discretionary interventions that need to be made in order to make a Balint group a Balint group, discretionary interventions that lead to increased understanding of the case but may for various reasons go unspoken, and a process for how a leader might make a decision to intervene.
- May We Speak of the Dead? Andrew Leggett (Australia). This paper offers the experience of a meeting of a Balint clinical reflection group for psychiatry registrars training in a regional city in Queensland, Australia, a meeting in which the leader accepted the offer of a case of a patient who died, in spite of the leader’s prior knowledge of a tradition of reluctance to accept such cases. The author, in asking, ‘May we speak of the dead?’ invites discussion of this question.
- Balint Work in Times of National Trauma: Caring for Oneself in Order to Care for Another. Shai Krontal, Daniella Cohen – (Israel). We describe a Zoom Balint group in times of war that began after the largest terrorist attack Israel has experienced, one that is still considered a national trauma.
Thursday, September 12th, 9 - 10:30
- Professional Siblings in Balint Groups. Yuval Shorer (Israel). Themes and emotions brought in Balint groups raise the hypothesis that perhaps the connections we have are stronger than mere colleagues and rather more like the relationship among professional 'siblings'. Through discussing Balint group vignettes and leaders' discussions we try to show that group interactions could echo sibling transference that influences group process and leaders' cooperation.
- You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks: Balint in the Veterinary World. Shana O’Marra, Jillian Romm (USA). Similar to human medical care providers, veterinary medical practitioners navigate complex human relationships when providing care to pets. This paper explores the application of Balint groups in addressing the challenges faced by veterinary professionals, focusing on the provider-patient-client relationship.
- All Creatures Great and Small: Cultivating Understanding of Human-Animal Relationships in Balint Work. Veerle Van Geenhoven (Germany). How can doctors and therapists develop understanding of patients whose pets mean the world to them without falling into clichés? How can Balint work contribute to this task and cultivate understanding of cases, in which human-animal relationships appear to play a significant role, while standard Balint work is solely about relationships between humans?
Workshop Sessions
Balint work inspires exploration and investigation in ways beyond the academic. Some of our members will share their work through experience and reflection by leading the workshops described below.
Tuesday, September 10th, 11:00 - 12:30
Workshop 1. Introducing Balint to Large Groups – Ritch Addison & Jeffrey Sternlieb (USA)
In this interactive, participatory workshop, attendees will be introduced to a method of providing large groups of individuals stimulating and engaging Balint-like experiences. Participants will learn a new way of introducing Balint work to large groups, departments, faculties, health centers, and other organizations.
Workshop 2. Discussion Group on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Balint Groups – Lisa Whitten, Phil Phelps, Terri Wall (USA)
The intention of this workshop is to bring understanding and compassion to the challenges experienced by Balint group leaders and their group members as they identify and work through themes, emotions, and issues related to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI). Today this is especially difficult because of our current socially polarized environment and cancel culture.
Workshop 3. From the Head to the Heart: Cultivating Self-Compassion to Transform Difficult Balint Moments – Renske van den Brink (New Zealand)
This workshop begins with a short presentation to cover the basics of self-compassion evidence-based theory. You will then have the opportunity to engage in a practical Balint informed self-reflection exercise to create a context for using self-compassion, and then learn the technique using two stacked self-compassion practices.
Workshop 4. Balint and Visual Thinking Strategies – James Deming, Alan Ng (USA, Canada)
Visual Thinking Strategies give permission to wonder, and encourage divergent thinking (as opposed to the convergent thinking that dominates medical training. This workshop allows participants to experience the effectiveness of VTS and relate it to their Balint work.
Wednesday, September 11th, 14:15 - 13:45
Worskhop 5. Balint Groups in Times of Turmoil: To Have or Not to Have? – Aya Biderman, Yuval Shorer, Ruth Kannai, Mark Budow (Israel)
During the Covid-19 epidemic, the whole world and the health care system experienced a state of turmoil, with anxiety, panic, and uncertainty. During those days, Balint Groups (BGs) were held in different forms. We had more and more zoomed BGs, and specific issues have risen. In this workshop, we will think about and share our experiences and stories, in a calm atmosphere.
Workshop 6. Creating an International Study Design for Measuring the Effects of Balint Groups – Eddo de Lang, James Deming (USA)
Those who have been active in Balint have experienced that the Balint method can be a powerful tool to cultivate understanding and compassion. This comparative study seeks to document the effects of Balint groups and hopefully create a strong case for others to support them. During this workshop we would like to create an environment wherein we can construct a study design together.
Workshop 7. The Shape of Empathy, an Exploration of Body and Imagination – Kris Wheeler (USA)
A Balint Group asks participants to consider what it may feel like to be the presented patient and what it might feel like to be the provider. Elaboration generally moves in the direction of reflecting on emotional life. This workshop will support participants to open their imaginations into the experiences of others through somatic embodiment.
Workshop 8. Research cum Training – ABS Style - Jeffrey Sternlieb, Ritch Addison (USA)
Participants will experience a deeper exploration of some of the dynamics in doctor-patient relationships through their participation in written reflection followed by their group’s discussion of this process, its impact and its potential.