Anti-racist practices and building learning cultures
We continue to be reminded of our pledge to oppose racism and hate. In the last two weeks we have held conversations with staff and students about their experiences of IFT, and I have been moved, and humbled, as people have acted into these spaces with hope, love, and respect for each other. We will use our systemic practice to weave the different conversations we have had together and work on areas where we can make sustainable changes that will impact on people’s experience for the better. I was particularly inspired by our current MSc students who are offering to stay involved as their training comes to an end, to be an ongoing part of the development of our organisation, sharing their experiences of training. Such a good example of how IFT is for all of us, and all of us can be part of how the organisation grows. Get in touch if you have ideas and would like to speak about how you can be part of our work.

CPD:
Look out for our online CPD where we have lots of plans in the pipeline. This month we are looking forward to:

• Ged Smith: Cut the C**p: Language, Risks and Relationships – 10^th July
• Matthew Selekman: Co-creating cooperative partnerships with parents – 16^th July
• Gerrilyn Smith: Self-care in CPD, You can’t pour from an empty cup – 24^th July

Enjoy!

Publication:
Context magazine is full of IFT people. Congratulations to Joanne Hipplewith who has co-edited this with John Hills and has written so beautifully and elegantly about their relationship and editing process, as well as a great article on cultural familiarity and unfamiliarity. You’ll also find Hendrix Hammond, John Cavanagh, Melissa Nichols, Jim Wilson, and others, have a look!

Look out for the new book Long Term Systemic Therapy edited by Arlene Vetere and Jim Sheehan. Congratulations to them, and to Chip Chimera who has a chapter in there.

Staffing:
I am grateful to the board of trustees for agreeing to increase the leadership capacity for IFT and advertising a Co-Director’s post. We are in a time that is crucial for our development. Sharing the leadership will allow us greater flexibility to ensure the in-house courses run in a way that remains always relevant to our current context, and expand and develop our Agency-based training portfolio so systemic practice can be of benefit to more people in different contexts. Have a look at the advert and get in touch if you are interested.

Training Courses and Premises:
We have been delighted to see applications coming in thick and fast for years 1, 2, and the new MSc and busy planning, interviewing, discussing. Our new home in Great Tower Street is ready, and rather wonderful, and it has been frustrating not to be able to welcome people there as we had hoped this term. We hope to be able to see families and train there alongside our digital ways of working, and we are learning how those elements fit together to enhance our work. Hopefully we will be clearer soon about the structures for how the courses will run. 

Thank you
Thank you to all those people who have been in touch to let me know how you think IFT is going on, and to those of you involved in our growing Communities of Practice: more on those next time. It is great to be in these conversations about the part you think IFT can have in the landscape of our profession and how you can be part of it. Exciting times! 

Rachel