FAINTED LONGING.
Psychodynamic work between apathy and utopia

You are cordially invited to the launch of the training series “B.I.R.D. Dialog,” which, in various formats, addresses the following topics:
The world is undergoing profound transformation: wars, humanitarian disasters, and the climate crisis are leading to divisions in both social and professional contexts. Political alliances are breaking apart, and values once considered stable are beginning to falter. A simplistic focus on repelling migration movements – which arise from these crises – appears to be a desperate attempt to regain control over a complex and threatening reality.

A precise description of the current situation is hardly possible. What seemed important just a moment ago may be overtaken or intensified by new developments. Even the selection of topics or terms carries the risk of being assigned to a political camp. Conversations risk falling silent before mutual listening and shared understanding can even begin. The effects of these upheavals are also noticeable in our therapeutic work – in the perceptions and emotions of our patients, as well as in ourselves. Politics is entering therapeutic work in new ways and with increasing intensity. The loss of spaces once considered safe fosters fear and feelings of powerlessness. Maintaining a protected therapeutic space is becoming more difficult – not only when working with people with experiences of flight or migration.
Where migration and racism in Germany were long addressed under the terms of so-called intercultural openness, transculturality, or more concretely, intercultural psychotherapy, there is now a growing call for a racism- or power-sensitive psychotherapy. Yet even these existing approaches appear insufficient when it comes to grasping the complex social conditions and transformations.

What stance(s) do we need to adopt in our psychotherapeutic and counseling work to meet these rapid upheavals?

On the following day, September 20, 2025, B.I.R.D. is additionally offering a full-day workshop for colleagues working with psychodynamic approaches. Further information can be found here: dialog.b-i-r-d.de