Globalized Families: Transnationality and Virtual Technologies as New Normalities [In Person]

 Earn 5 CE Contact Hours

Families in the 21st century no longer necessarily share one household, one nationality or one cultural identity. Family life today is often characterized by mobility and a media co-presence when physical proximity is not possible. Important life decisions can be discussed and made together across national and continental borders. Transnational families are becoming a new normality from which we can distinguish the previously unquestioned assumption of mono-national families.

What do these changes mean for our work in the therapy room? How can we make use of technology in the service of promoting family connection? This workshop will explore these and other pressing questions in the context of mobility and voluntary or forced migration.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• To define the concepts of world-families (Multi-local world families and Multi-national/multi-continental world families) and understand the difference between immigration/emigration and transmigration
• To understand how mobility and migration have changed due to the availability of information and communication technologies (ICTs)
• To develop a professional point of view on the advantages and disadvantages of using  ICTs in systemic practice and on their use for working with mono-national and transnational families
• To professionally deal with changing roles and positions within the generational succession after migration and the existence of ICTs
• To apply the Genogram 4.0 interview to a case study and transfer this knowledge to their own professional practice

Meet Dr. Maria Borcsa:

Maria Borcsa, PhD, is Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Applied Sciences in Nordhausen, Germany, licensed psychological psychotherapist, systemic family therapist, trainer and supervisor. She has published research papers, books and book chapters in the domain of qualitative research and systemic practice in German, English, French, Spanish, Italian and Greek. She is a member of the editorial board of several scientific journals and founding editor of the European Family Therapy Association (EFTA) Family Therapy Book Series. She has been a board member of the EFTA (2007-2016) and President of EFTA (2013-2016). In 2019, she was awarded for her ‘Excellence in the Research Field of Family Therapy and Systemic Practice’ from the EFTA.