EDITORIAL

As we arrive into the ‘otherworldly’ time of year we open this issue with an article from renowned author John Rowan, on the power of image, visualisation and symbolic thinking in psychotherapy. Coincidentally, we have also received and included a number of poems which may present opportunity for further creative exploration and reflection. The theme of image emerges yet again in an article by Felicity Connolly on Autism Spectrum Disorder.

In Ireland, as in many other countries, our older age population is increasing quite dramatically. Given this demographic and the current housing crises, we have included an interesting submission from Andrea Koenigstorfer, on counselling with the aged in the context of homelessness.

In reflective musing, Pat Comerford raises some interesting questions around change and what this means for the IAHIP. He asks us all to carefully consider the meanings we hold for the terms ‘specialism’ and ‘technique’ as they might contrast with a ‘fundamentally generic’ definition of psychotherapy.

On a different note, the Editorial Board would like to pay tribute to Sylvia Rowe, the longest serving member on our current Board who recently decided to step down. Sylvia contributed greatly to the development of Inside Out and always brought warmth, gentle respect and fluent expertise to the editorial work, not to mention her discerning ‘eagle’ eye! Sylvia’s legacy will continue on through the many invaluable editorial procedures and practices that she established during her time on Inside Out. We’ll miss Sylvia and wish her well in her future endeavours. In addition, due to other time demands Ger Matthews has also needed to step down from her work with the editorial board. We will miss the energy, colour and enthusiasm Ger brought to Inside Out and hope that, if time allows, Ger may consider returning to the board at some future point.

Finally, it has come to our attention that there are a growing number of graduates and post-graduates on psychotherapy programmes (among others perhaps) who have completed interesting research pieces and specific studies. Perhaps you would consider writing up your work as an article and submitting it to Inside Out. Should you wish to make any enquiries about this, please contact us at insideoutjournal@iahip.ie. We look forward to hearing from you.