Date and Time

18/04/2026 9:30-16:30
19/04/2026 9:30-16:30

Topic

Unravelling challenges of our times and weaving a sense of belonging and networks of resilience with families

Playful, narrative collaborations with children, families and networks

Activity

In challenging times of uncertainty, insecurity, ambiguity and hardship, families, parents and children can get stuck in their lives. Families in these multi-stressed contexts become divided, separated, distant, and sometimes even lose one another. Conflicts, obstacles, constraints can have disruptive and disconnecting effects on the parent – child relationship, family – community relationship, parent or siblings relationship,... Blaming one another but also loss and missing can nestle in between them. How can we have helpful conversations about their many utterances of despair that often go along with this and make the relational and social issues still visible?

As co-researchers, we invite children, parents, families and networks to contribute in playful ways to unravel the tentacles and injustices of our times and re(dis)cover a sense of agency, belonging and coherence.  We are looking for ‘out of the box’ antidotes to their often felt sense of isolation, alienation and hopelessness and search in unexpected corners for safe places and shared language. In doing so we re-collect a ‘team of support and solidarity’. 

We create a context where parents and their children can talk and listen to each other without reproducing violence nor increase distance between them. On the contrary, we look for stories of still mattering in multiple ways. We pay attention to the influence of child development theories and dominant discourses on parenting and education. Instead of trying to erase complexity, we try to work our way out this tangled mess together. During these two days we make room for families trapped in high conflict divorce, families on the run, families separated one another, blended families and families with experiences of violence or abuse.

These workshop days aspire being a co-creative lively meeting with presentations, demonstrations, exercises, video recordings of conversations making present the voices of children, parents, families and networks.

Please bring your colour pencils, favourite music, …, a red object and maybe even your cuddly bear or the recipe of your favourite dish.

About the Speaker

Sabine Vermeire works at the Interactie-Academie, a training and therapy center in Antwerp, Belgium. For more than 30 years she is engaged in several youth and family care projects and goes on therapeutic journeys with children, youngsters and families in context of hardship. She leaves the beaten tracks in playful and creative ways when speaking becomes difficult.

She is a Narrative and Systemic trainer, psychotherapist and supervisor and responsible for the year training ‘Narrative Therapy and Community work’ and the postgraduate ‘Family counseling’ at Interactie-Academie. As an associated trainer at The Institute of Narrative Therapy (UK) and at the faculty of Dulwich Center she shares her work with children, youngsters and families. She wrote several articles and books on this work.

Organized By

Social Work Practice and Mental Health Centre, Department of Social Work and Dulwich Centre, Australia