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Dear friend,


We are awfully sorry to inform you that we have to cancel the Cross Cultural Challenges encounter event. There are only a few people registered, and we cannot hope that there are planty of those waiting until the last minute to register. We are really sorry. Your registration fee will be reinbursed. We organize another event at the same place some time during the winter or spring. We keep you informed about that, and hope we can meet then.


Yours,
Andreas Merta, Arina Dogaru, Fruzsina Vígh, Gerhard Bruckner, Peter Rigo

 

What is an encounter/ person-centered group?

The Person Centered Approach with its related encounter movement have been established by Carl Rogers and became wildly popular in the psychotherapeutic field. Rogers, as a therapist, has emphasized the importance of empathy, congruence and unconditional positive regard as core conditions for personal acceptance and growth in therapy, giving a new meaning of being a therapist, and how to encounter each other in a deep, real, human level.

The encounter groups are accompanied by experienced facilitators, who are also participants of the group. Throughout the whole process, the group itself creates what happens in the here and now, without special frames or rules.

It is an excellent field to experience ourselves and the others in a deeper emotional level, sharing thoughts, feelings, and common moments together. Most of the participants report about getting rid of their own masks and everyday roles, and encountering the others in a new, different way.

“There is no organised encounter group. There is simply a freedom of expression - of feelings and thoughts - on any personally relevant issue.” (Carl Rogers)

Cross Cultural Challenges

Our event is an international event, therefore we would like to encourage us to have a look at the challenges:

  • What does it mean that we come from different or similar places?
  • (Where) do diversity and unity meet?
  • How do we perceive ourselves / our self concepts in the context of a foreign language and culture?
  • We believe that the here and now will guide us to feelings, questions, answers and experiences we need to encounter this weekend.

Please be aware that our main language will be English, and official translators will not be present.

Our Facilitators

Costs - a challenge?

We are committed to the experiment to also facilitate participation to this event by taking into account the economical difference between our countries. Therefore, we have decided to offer different (reduced) pricing for registration according to your country of origin. If your country is not listed, please get in contact with us before registering!

  • Category A: Hungary, Romania
  • Category B: Poland, Slovakia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovenia
  • Category C: Spain, Italy, Austria, France, Germany

Board and Lodging in our dormitory (60€ for the whole event for categories B and C, 30€ for category A) are not included and will have to be paid in cash. We value all our guests and will provide the best service we can. Please be aware that our house is and will be in a state of transformation and renovation.

Registration

This event has been cancelled!

Setting

We have designed a blueprint timeline including a large group and three small group settings. We will start on Tuesday, October 31st with dinner at 7 p.m. (check-in 5-7 p.m.) and finish with dinner on Thursday, November 2nd, also at 7 p.m.

During these two and a half days, all the participants have the possibility to experience taking part in both large- and small groups. In a “large group” session, all of us sit in the circle and we create the here and now together. The small group, with 8-15 members, can be a very different experience than large groups. Both can be special, enriching and challenging sometimes.

As far as the language of the groups is concerned, the large group sessions are going to be in English. As for the small groups, we would like to adopt to the present needs, and let the groups decide the question. Our facilitators are from Austria, Hungary and Romania, and they all speak English.

Credits

The workshop is creditable for therapy training in Austria (22 EH/Propädeutikum) and Romania.

Venue - A special place to “encounter”

The event is organized by Zukunftswirkstatt, the Seminar Centre of a recently started ecovillage/community in Fehring, Austria, called LiG - “Leben in Gemeinschaft”( “Living in community”).

LiG is regarded as the first large scale ecovillage in Austria. It was founded in May 2017, whereas the underlying group process that nourishes this movement, had begun long ago. From May on, our project has become material reality, as we have started to realize our visions in a place which was originally used as a military base (1960 - 2015) and last year as a distribution centre for refugees.

Some links for your inspiration