FREE ASSOCIATION LISBON

On Saturday, 13 th February, 2021, while seated in my consulting room in London, I clicked on a Zoom link and, within seconds, I arrived in Lisbon and enjoyed the most intellectually stimulating of conversations. The deeply convivial hosts of Free Association Lisbon welcomed me most graciously with warm smiles and kindly faces, and the extremely gentlemanly Dr. med. Sebastian Thrul facilitated the most engaging of interviews about how we might all flourish better while toiling in the psychological professions. I could not have had a better time. It pleased me greatly that so many young students and trainees (as well as more senior, experienced colleagues) also boarded Zoom flights to Portugal in these pandemic times and that we could all meet together and share our experiences about the joys and the complexities of undertaking psychoanalytical training and work. The “FORWARD” strand of Free Association will, I know, provide a particularly important forum for global exchanges about some very vital, “blue-sky” topics. I very much look forward to participating in future events and collaborations with everyone at Free Association – a truly inspirational project.

 

Professor Brett Kahr

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