EXPLORING THE UNIMAGINABLE

Theme

In a world undergoing profound transformation, we will gather, in-person around the theme: “Exploring the Unimaginable” in group life.

The unimaginable is not simply the unknown—it includes what has been defended against, split off, or rendered unspeakable. In exploring it, we may encounter realms of pain, fear, trauma, taboo, and the deep losses that shape our collective experience. These may include hard-won achievements now under threat.

Yet the unimaginable also points to what has not yet been dreamed. It invites us into the generative space of the unconscious—where meaning can emerge, be symbolized, and transformed. In this space, new vitality, hope, and imagination can take root.

Program

Through social dreaming, reflective dialogue, and presentations designed to invite associative exploration—offered by Tom Hennes and Dr. Leo Wilton—we will engage with the theme. By allowing the unimaginable to surface, we may find new pathways to growth, freedom, eros, aliveness—toward joy, intimacy, pleasure, and creative expansion.

8:30-9:00 Arrival. Check in and enjoy a light breakfast

9:00-9:15 Welcome. Hear welcoming and framing remarks

9:15-10:15 Social Dreaming Matrix

We will share dreams and freely associate to their content as a way to connect across visible and invisible divides, moving beyond what is already known into what is waiting to be discovered. Joanne Bowman, Susan Convery and Dr. Martin Walker will host the matrix.

10:15-10:30 Break

10:30-12:30 Stretching the Boundaries of the Imaginable

In this session, Tom Hennes will invite us to explore the creation of liminal, ‘safe-enough’ zones that stretch what we are capable of imagining—what we can tolerate imagining—up to or beyond the edge of the unconscious precipice of the unimaginable. Under what circumstances—and with what forms of leadership and authority—can the group make use of the varied capacities and experience of its members to generate a facilitating environment that enables it to step beyond its individual boundaries of imagination? And how can it live with—or work with—the consequences of what it has allowed itself to imagine?

12:30-1:30 Lunch

1:30-3:30 The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action: Talking About Structural Inequalities in Everyday Life

In this session, Dr. Leo Wilton will invite us to explore the multi-layered complexities of racialized structural inequalities, in connection to the psychodynamics of groups, organizations, communities, and systems, as we experience them in everyday life. A key emphasis will be placed on how structural inequalities that facilitate exclusion and marginalization are embedded within our collective vulnerabilities, uncertainties, and resiliencies.

3:30-4:00 Closing plenary. Reflect on the day together

4:00-5:00 Reception. Network and continue the conversations

Intention

The event offers an inviting space for all with an interest in a psychoanalytic approach on organizational systems. We will come together,

• to engage in dialogues with each other
• to think together and to allow for clarity to take form
• for new insights to emerge
• for new connections to emerge as well as develop existing ones

Hosts

The event is a partnership between ISPSO https://ispso.org/ and TNYC https://www.nycgrouprelations.org/. You can read more by visiting their websites.