Honoured to take part in the IAGP Conference in Sapporo, Japan (20–23 August 2025), connecting with colleagues from around the world on the future of group analysis and group psychotherapy.
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What the IAGP congress is
The International Association for Group Psychotherapy and Group Processes (IAGP) is the main worldwide body for clinicians who work with groups, and its congress moves between continents rather than settling in Europe or North America. Holding the 2025 meeting in Sapporo mattered for that reason: it put Asian practitioners, training routes and clinical realities at the centre of the conversation instead of at its margins.
Why the location changes the discussion
Much of the group-analytic literature was written in and for European and North American settings, and it carries assumptions with it about how directly people are expected to speak, how much authority a facilitator is granted, and how families are involved in an adult’s decisions. Those assumptions do not transfer cleanly to Vietnam, Japan or Korea. Meeting colleagues who work in this region is one of the few reliable ways to test which parts of the method are essential and which are simply local habit.
That question is a live one in Saigon. Running a group here means holding both traditions at once: the group-analytic frame I trained in, and the very different expectations members arrive with about privacy, obligation and what it is acceptable to say out loud in front of others.
I am a clinical psychologist based in Ho Chi Minh City, working with groups as well as individuals. You can read more about my background, or about the therapy group I run in Saigon.