IX. Latin-American Conference on Curative Education and Social Therapy

July 16 – 20, 2018, in Buenos Aires

“Encontrarme para Encontrarnos: Del trabajo interior al desafío social” – that was the title of this year’s Latin-America conference: How do I find myself, so that we can find and meet each other in the social space? How do I develop an inner center, where I can be at home in myself, so that I can step out of that home to meet the other, or invite the other into my house? How can I walk my inner path in such a way that it enables me to meet life’s social challenges; so that I am prepared for encounters and relationships?

These were the topics that the participants, who gathered from all over Latin America, wrestled over the course of five days together. Lectures by Myriam Orillo and Doris Unger, Jan Göschel, Alejandra Chiappano, Mariano Kasenetz and Bart Vanmechelen opened up windows into different aspects of these themes. Social, spiritual, pedagogical, pastoral and medical-therapeutic threads were able to complement each other and weave into each other.

A mood of encounter and warmth carried the conference, allowing the theme itself to come alive. From the intensity of conversations and activities in the different workshops to the conversations that happened in breaks and evenings, the sense of colleagueship that carries our work became palpable.

The lectures (audio recordings in Spanish), as well as some pictures and videos of the conference, are available on the website of the Formación Pedagogía Curativa Cruz del Sur [https://www.pedagogiacurativa.com.ar/material/congreso/], whose faculty acted as hosts. And we are already now looking forward to the next Latin-American conference, which will take place in 2021 in Chile!

Jan Göschel, August 2018