The annual conference “Days of Leon Lojk” will take place for the ninth time – from October 25th to 27th in Bled, Slovenia. Mental health professionals from around the world will gather during the three-day event to exchange experiences and outline future developments in Reality Therapy. As usual, the event is hosted by the European Institute of Reality Therapy. This year’s special guests, Jaakko Seikkula and Robert Whitaker, will deliver lectures on Friday, October 25th. Saturday is dedicated to workshops, where participants will discuss case studies in small groups. On Sunday, the trainers will focus on the important task of advancing psychotherapy training in the member states.
About Leon Lojk
Leon Lojk (1937–2014) is a Slovenian psychologist, psychotherapist, and senior instructor at William Glasser International, the American institute for Reality Therapy. He is well-known for providing the scientific foundation for the method and for establishing the European Association for Reality Therapy (EART) in 1999. His work marked the beginning of Reality Therapy’s recognition as a psychotherapeutic modality by the European Association for Psychotherapy.
The annual conference is named after Leon Lojk to honor his contributions to promoting the method across Europe. The event aims to bring together professionals practicing Reality Therapy and to provide opportunities for continued professional development. It also offers trainees access to supervisors from different countries and facilitates the creation of international collaboration networks.
About Jaakko Seikkula
Jaakko Seikkula is a professor of psychotherapy, clinical psychologist, and family therapist. Over the past few decades, he has developed the Open Dialogue system for treating schizophrenia in Finland. This system is distinctive because the care team works directly in the individual’s home or social environment, with a focus on engaging the entire family in dialogical relationships. The results are remarkable—only one-fifth of schizophrenia patients continue medication two years after treatment, and 80% live without psychotic episodes and function fully five years after completing the program. The principles of Open Dialogue are applied not only in psychotherapy but also in social work, education, and organizational consulting. You can read more about Seikkula’s work in his article “Dialogism: Psychotherapy or Way of Life?” and other free-access materials.
About Robert Whitaker
Robert Whitaker is a journalist and author, known as one of the prominent critics of modern psychiatry in the United States. In 1999, he was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for a series of articles investigating ethical violations in psychiatric research. He has received numerous awards in investigative journalism. Whitaker was among the first to challenge the psychiatric industry’s theory of chemical imbalance in mental disorders—a theory that has long been central to psychology education but is increasingly being questioned by academics and practitioners. According to Whitaker, mental health care should not be based on the medical model if it is to be effective. You can watch his summary on the topic in this short video.
For more information about Reality Therapy, “Days of Leon Lojk” or other current events in Bulgaria, please contact the Bulgarian Association for Reality Therapy at info@batr.bg
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