TranslateISPSO Melbourne Regional Event
Tuesday 18 August 2026
Please join us in person in Melbourne for an exciting professional development workshop to share and build on our mutual learning, followed by a collegial dinner.
Thank you to those who have offered to lead a workshop session and also to those who have responded to our earlier event invitation. Here are the details and we look forward to participating with you then.
Workshop
1.45 pm arrival for 2.00 pm start
SESSION 1: 2.00 - 3.00pm
Me and My Shadow, Stan Gold
Yesterday upon the stair
I met a man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today,
I wish I wish he’d go away.
Hayes Mead 1899
We are not masters in our own home. Freud 1917.
In 1985, I had published a paper entitled Frankenstein and Other Monsters. In this I took a very critical view of what might be called, destructive narcissism in those individuals who brought distress or worse to those close to them. Echoes of the Gothic novels, Df Jekell and Mr Hyde among them. In 1999 I had published “The Sane Madness of Vital Truth”, after reading the Fairy Story, The Shadow by Hans Christian Anderson. In that paper I noted that in many endeavours, poetry among them, there was an emphasis on a special role for the Shadow in us all, if we aspire participation in the creative process. The title
comes from Shakespeare’s Lear and I quote “Tormented into desperation, Lear the frantic King tears off the masque and speaks the sane madness of Vital Truth".
Here is an issue for discussion.
Is the destructive component present in each of us only manifest at the expense of our loved ones, or is a component of us all, a necessary shadow towards creativity.
Do we really need to know, or is ignorance bliss?
SESSION 2: 3.15 – 4.45 pm
Democracy diverging at the crossroads - Where are our choices? Hannah Piterman
As war, populism, and antisemitism reshape the global landscape, what does it mean to be a citizen of the world? This personal paper explores the tensions between identity, belonging, morality, and survival in an increasingly polarised world. Reflecting on the enduring Jewish longing for security and homeland, alongside the painful history of Jews as relentless scapegoats in times of crisis, it considers the unsettling echoes of the 1930s in contemporary society.
Rather than offering simple answers, this session invites participants to engage with difficult questions about democracy, prejudice, and the resurgence of hatred in all its ugly forms -and why these challenges that bring collective and generational trauma matter not only for Jews, but for us all.
SESSION 3: 5.00 - 6.30 pm
Group discussion: The humanisation, aesthetics and ethics of AI: Implications for the psychoanalytic study of organisations’, Jim Walker
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Dinner: 7.00 - 9.00 pm
In addition to enjoying general collegiality, there will be an opportunity to continue the conversation from the workshop sessions and explore any other themes which may emerge.
Venue
The Terminus Hotel.
492 Queens Pde, Clifton Hill
https://terminus.com.au
Upstairs for workshop and dinner.
Pricing
- ISPSO Members:
The workshop and dinner together is $75 for a 2 course, limited selection meal.
Workshop only: $20
Dinner only: $75
- Other Participants:
The workshop and dinner together is $95 for a 2 course, limited selection meal
Workshop only: $50
Dinner Only: $85
Drinks and afternoon snacks are available to purchase at the bar.
Registration
Eventbrite Registration details here: https://www.trybooking.com/DOERI
Registrations close COB Monday 10 August.
Enquiries to Nuala or Rob
Nuala Dent, nuala@drawingon.au
Rob Ryan, wisdompluswork65@gmail.com