From October 23 to 25, the annual “Days of Leon Lojk” conference will be held in Bled, Slovenia, for the eleventh time. Mental health professionals from around the world will gather for three days to exchange experience and explore pathways for the development of Reality Therapy. As is tradition, the event will be hosted by the European Institute for Reality Therapy.
This year’s distinguished guests are Professor Vida Demarin and Professor Emmy van Deurzen, who will take part in discussions on Friday, October 23. Saturday will be devoted to workshops, during which participants will work in small groups to discuss case studies. On Sunday, trainers will focus on the important task of working on the process of delivering psychotherapy training in each member country.
About Leon Lojk
Leon Lojk (1937–2014) was a Slovenian psychologist, psychotherapist, and senior instructor at William Glasser International, the American institute dedicated to Reality Therapy. Among his major contributions were establishing the scientific foundations of the method and founding the European Association for Reality Therapy (EART) in 1999. These achievements marked the beginning of the spread of Reality Therapy across Europe as an approach recognized by the European Association for Psychotherapy.
The annual conference bears Leon Lojk’s name in recognition of his contributions to establishing Reality Therapy in Europe. The event aims to bring together professionals who practise the method and provide opportunities for continuing professional development. It also gives trainees access to supervisors from different countries and offers opportunities to build an international network of collaborative teams.
Professor Vida Demarin, MD, PhD
Professor Vida Demarin is a full member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts and heads its Department of Medical Sciences. She specializes in neuropsychiatry. She graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Zagreb and, from 1994 to 2012, headed the Department of Neurology at Sestre milosrdnice University Hospital in Zagreb. Since 2015, she has served as Director of the International Institute for Brain Health.
Professor Demarin has authored approximately 1,000 scientific articles published in national and international journals, as well as numerous book chapters and textbooks. In recognition of her contributions, she ranks among the top 2% of the world’s most influential scientists in her field. Among her most widely cited publications is a study on the efficacy and safety of Ginkgo biloba extract in vascular cognitive impairment, published in Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment. She has also published numerous review articles on acute stroke care and prevention in Medicina. Her research has additionally addressed depression in multiple sclerosis, the effects of air pollution on stroke, and other related topics.
Professor Demarin founded the Dubrovnik Summer Stroke School and the “Mind & Brain” congress in Pula. Her work has left a lasting mark on the development of neurology and neuroscience in Croatia and internationally.
Professor Emmy van Deurzen, PhD
Professor Emmy van Deurzen is an existential therapist, psychologist, philosopher, and author based in the United Kingdom. She has played a pivotal role in the development of existential therapy worldwide. She earned her doctorate in philosophy from City University London. Her work focuses on Martin Heidegger’s concepts of authenticity and inauthenticity and their application to psychotherapy.
Professor van Deurzen founded the Society for Existential Analysis in 1988 and co-founded the School of Psychotherapy and Counselling at Regent’s University London, the New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling in 1996, and the Existential Academy in London. In 2015, she initiated the first World Congress of Existential Therapy. She is the author of more than 20 books, which have been translated into over two dozen languages, as well as 70 book chapters and more than 100 scientific articles.
Her best-known works include Existential Counselling in Practice (1987), a bestseller that has appeared in multiple editions; Everyday Mysteries (1996); Paradox and Passion in Psychotherapy (1998); Skills in Existential Counselling & Psychotherapy, co-authored with Martin Adams; and Structural Existential Analysis (2022), co-authored with Claire Arnold-Baker.
She was a senior editor of The Wiley World Handbook of Existential Therapy (2019), the most extensive work in the field, bringing together leading figures such as Irvin Yalom and Kirk Schneider. Professor van Deurzen has delivered more than 300 plenary lectures across five continents. In 2024, she was awarded Honorary Lifetime Membership of the British Psychological Society.
Further Information
For more information about Reality Therapy, Days of Leon Lojk 2026, or other upcoming events in Bulgaria, please contact the Bulgarian Association for Reality Therapy at info@batr.bg.
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