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Report of the AGM of the 
Irish Association of Integrative and 
Humanistic Psychotherapy (IAHIP)


March 1992

This was the first AGM of the organisation and this was 
reflected in the pressure of work that any such
 organisation in its infancy experiences. The day was to
 offer the membership (now of about 150 full and 
associate members) the opportunity to decide on the
 definition of ‘humanistic’ and ‘integrative’, to discuss the
 draft document on the code of ethics and to elect a new
 executive and sub-committees for the year ahead. John 
Rowan came to address the conference on what can and
 cannot be integrated in psychotherapy.

Important work was completed on the definition document when the organisation 
agreed on a “flag statement” which brought together our sense of our own identity. This
 was not as simple as for the other sections of psychotherapy as the IAHIP can be seen 
as a child of mixed theoretical and clinical parentage and could be seen as all inclusive. 
An important step was taken in defining ‘integrative’ to mean a psychotherapy practice 
which brought other models and methods around a core of humanistic psychotherapy.
 Therefore the organisation was making a clear statement that this was not simply an 
eclectic approach but was firmly founded around a basis of humanistic principles and
 premises. (The definition is appended). The debate which led to this decision was aided
 by the presentation of John Rowan’s paper on Integration (a resume of which appears 
elsewhere in this edition).

The Code of Ethics document was then considered but not at the length and with 
the intensity which it warranted and it was agreed to invite further submissions on eth
ical issues following the circulation of the draft document. It was also agreed that a special 
general meeting would be held in the summer to consider the draft in detail and move 
to adoption.

Finally three members of the executive committee resigned – Susan Lindsay, Joan 
O’Leary and Una Maguire and were replaced by Barbara Fitzgerald, Hank O’Mahoney 
and Alison Hunter. The other nine executive members were re-elected with Ger Murphy
 re-elected as Chairperson, Mary Montaut as Secretary and Carmel Byrne re-elected as
 Treasurer. Two new sub-committees were elected: the Accreditation sub-committee
 whose task it will be to consider the accreditation of all those members who put themselves forward for accredited member status open till September 1993 when the cate
gory of full member will cease to exist. Four members were elected with the executive
 nominating three. The new committee is Susan Lindsay, Patrick Nolan, Jim
 O’Donoghue, Shirley Ward, Michael O’Regan, Donal Healy and Ann Ruth.

Also the ethics sub-committee now are Pauline Wrixon, Willie Stone, Karen Shorten, 
Maggie Tierney, Catherine Murray, Mary Prenderville, and Alan Mooney.

This completed the business of the meeting which felt a satisfactory and busy one 
with the organisation continuing to further clarify its own identity and to broaden the
 base of membership involvement in the important task of developing the structures of 
the association.


Ger Murphy

Definition of Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy


as adopted by the Annual General Meeting of the IAHIP, 7 March 1992.


Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy emphasises that persons are self-regulating, self-actualising and self-transcendent beings, responsible for themselves
 and, whilst recognising the tragic dimensions of human existence, it emphasises 
the ability of persons to go beyond themselves and realise their true nature.
 Its focus is on individuals as organisms living out their present integration in the
 wholeness of body, feelings, intellect, psyche and spirit, and in relation to other
 people. Based on a phenomenological view of reality, the emphasis is on experience and the therapeutic relationship is seen as a meaningful contact between
 equals.

Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy acknowledges the validity of a variety 
of approaches to the individual. While accepting the contribution of many ap
proaches, it is concerned with discovering and working with the essential elements
 of the functioning individual as these are understood and made sense of in a humanistic perspective. It is open to the exploration of the inter-relationship and 
inter-connection of theory and method in two or more approaches and may 
employ these as is judged appropriate, or it may attempt to integrate these as one
 organised and coherent approach.