Report on the Annual Gathering:

The Annual Gathering of the Network took place in January. We are grateful to all who attended and offered their suggestions for future development. It was lovely to hear that people experienced the gathering as a time of connection and community.

Jayne Goulding and Margaret Quinn have decided to leave the committee to provide an opportunity for gradual handover and to invite and encourage new energy. We were delighted to welcome Marta Fabregat and Marta Wanczyk as new members of the committee and are grateful to Therese Ryan for undertaking to chair the organising committee.

The chairperson’s report outlined the work of the past year. In large part, this was covered in our Winter Newsletter and does not need repeating here. The Network remains financially secure, so there was no need to increase membership contributions for the coming year.

As always, we acknowledge that none of the work of the Network would be possible without the generosity of the small group of volunteers whose efforts keep the show on the road. We are all grateful to each and every one of them.

The bulk of the meeting was given over to small groups where people shared their experience of the Network and offered suggestions for the coming year.

In feedback from the groups, the participants said that the website, newsletter, online sessions, “special subject workshops”, in-person gatherings and everything the Network offers provide ongoing support and nurture and several people mentioned how valuable these have been to their practice. Participants also mentioned that the Network has provided people with a way of being in relationship and has fostered community. The regular availability of the weekly sessions, in particular, provide a reliably available space for everyone. 

There were also some interesting suggestions for the future:

• Might we have an occasional gathering to review how things are going.
• Might we explore how a platform like “Discord” could be used to create a community space which would enable continued contact, a space for partnerships and the development of new initiatives.
• In-person gatherings build community – can we have more please?
• Are there ways of helping Focusers to find a partner, or to request focusing time?
• Can we find out how new people have come to the Network – are there things to be learned from their experience?
• When people finish courses, might there be a bridge to overcome the shyness people sometimes feel about joining the weekly online sessions? In this context, we recalled that Kay and Jayne have facilitated support sessions for people who were new to Focusing.
• Might someone from the Network drop into the last session of a course to offer an invitation?
• Do we need a PRO?

If any of these suggestions feels like something that you might be interested in pursuing, the committee would be delighted to hear from you.