2006 – March 11.

"Women's Voices: The Art of Reinventing Ourselves."
Facilitated by two local experienced professionals and international speakers, this workshop addresses issues of vital interest to women in business and in the larger community, who are searching for a caring, protective, stimulating, yet highly challenging environment, in which they can grow and thrive. Come join us for an exciting, stimulating day of growing in new directions, creating meaning and purpose, renewing our spirits, rejuvenating our souls, and recharging our emotional and intellectual batteries.

Topics addressed: “The Seasons’ of a Woman’s Life”; “Being a Woman in the Contemporary World of Business: Utilizing your Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and your Emotional Alchemy (EA)”; “The New Woman in the 21st Century: The Art of Reinventing Ourselves”.

2005 – October 21-23.

“A Tribute to Elizabeth Moore Erickson. Colleague Extraordinaire, Wife, Mother, and Companion”. Keynote speech. International Conference “ Mujeres, hombres, parejas, en tiempos de retos y oportunidades”. Centro Ericksoniano de Mexico. Queretaro, Mexico. congresos@hipnosis.com

This keynote speech, in Spanish, introduces a facet hitherto incomplete of the Ericksonian legacy - the role of his wife, Elizabeth Moore Erickson - throughout their "everyday" married life of approximately 16,000 days. My introduction here of the concept "approximate number of days" the Ericksons spent together, has to do with the enlightment principle expressed in Eastern philosophical teachings that "one sees truth with our everyday eyes." Or, by extension: by seeing truth with our everyday eyes we can experience truth with our everyday self.

The phenomenology and the psychology of "everyday life" has long been an interest of mine. As a couples therapist, working with two individuals who are giving their best to understand each other and live well together - and not always succeeding, it has been fundamental to me to learn to look at how people go about their myriad everyday tasks and interactions without at attempt at explanation (phenomenology) and how they, on the other hand, give meaning and purpose to those same everyday tasks and interactions.

A couple's quintessential opportunity to experience this enlightenment is indeed through giving meaning and purpose to each of those days spent together and separate, each one in their respective tasks of co-creating with nature and society. Milton Erickson's developmental view of the individual and of the couple's life-cycle - as well as of their psychological journey - has indicated to me this profound and naturalistic knowing.

Elizabeth Erickson shared her husband's worldview on fostering and utilizing common, everyday phenomena to elicit the uniqueness of the individual's or the couple's resources toward health. Mrs. Erickson's daily contributions to the work of a modern genius, and her everyday dedication to stimulating the faculties of imagination - essential to the exercise of freedom of thought and creativity - in their eight children, are described. (See also: Publications).

“Voci di donne: L’arte di generare se stesse”. Marilia Baker, MSW, Consuelo Casula, Lic. Psych., and Teresa Robles, Ph.D. Societa’ Italiana Milton Erickson, SIME. Milan, Italy. Contact: consuelocasula@tiscali.it
This workshop, presented in the Italian language, addresses issues of special interest to women (and the men who love them) from ages 25 to 75 and beyond, who want to change, grow and reinvent themselves. Our objective is to provide participants with strategies designed to overcome obstacles - inner obstacles or outer obstacles - in order to elicit their full potential and engender change in their lives.

Examples of specific themes addressed: "The Many Seasons of a Woman's Life, From Early Adulthood to the Wisdom Years; Identity, Self-Esteem and Assertiveness, from the Dream to the Project; Unraveling Your Creative Powers after Menopause; Self-creation: How to Regenerate and Reinvent Ourselves; Meeting the Challenges: The Fully Conscious New Woman - Productive, Risk-Taking and Creative."

Marilia Baker, MSW, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, is Therapist and Training Affiliate of the Phoenix Institute of Ericksonian Therapy, Phoenix, Arizona. Baker, a Brazilian-born clinician, presenter, author has lived and worked in Arizona since 1982.

Consuelo Casula, Lic. Psych., is an Ericksonian psychotherapist residing in Milan, Italy. She is a trainer and instructor at Scuola Italiana di Ipnosi e Psicoterapia Ericksoniana. She is the author of several books, including Giardineri, Principesse, Porcospini. Her most recent publication is Speranza e Resilienza: Cinque strategie psycoterapeutiche di Milton H. Erickson, in co-authorship with Dan Short, Ph.D.

Teresa Robles, Ph. D. is founding director of the first Erickson Institute in Mexico (1989). Currently she is director-president of Centro Ericksoniano de Mexico. She is on the Board of the International Society of Hypnosis (ISH). She has written many books, including Revisando el pasado para construir el futuro. Manual de auto-hipnosis and A Concert for Four Hemispheres in Psychotherapy.

2005 – June 22-26.

“Beauty and the Beast: Marriage, Couplehood, and Marital/Couples Therapy”. Invited Faculty. Fourth European Congress of Ericksonian Hypnosis and Psychotherapy. The Milton H. Erickson Institute of Poland. Krakow, Poland. Contact: info@p-i-e.pl or go to www.p-i-e.pl

Beauty and the Beast dates back to the Industrial Revolution in the 1700s. It is based on a much older story, Amor and Psycheí, from the ancient North African and Greek lore and retold by the Roman writer Apuleius, around the year 170. Beauty and the Beast is about transformation and transcendence through self-knowledge, sacrifice, moral capacity, intentional dialogue. In essence, it is about the vicissitudes of living in relationship and the emergence of consciousness. It presents us with the developmental steps toward selfhood and instructs us about the transformative power of committed love, while tapping into the roots of our Soul. For the marriage and family therapist, awareness of archetypal forces in couplemaking can facilitate concise, precise, and to-the-point clinical interventions.

The story under the title Beauty and the Beast was originally written in France by the noblewoman Madame Gabrielle de Villeneuve (1695-1755) whose extensive literary production was quite respected. It first appeared in her collection: Les Contes Marins ou la Jeune Americaine (Short Stories of the Sea or, The Young American Girl), in 1740. The intriguing element in this title is the allusion to the stories told by an old governess to a marriage-age young woman over an ocean voyage to settle in America.

It is fascinating to note that de Villeneuve's rendition and the version by Madame Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont in 1756 - the most widely known to us in the West - emerged during a time when democratic ideals were brewing in the national consciousness both in the American colonies for many decades before 1763, toward independence in 1776, and in France prior to its Revolution in 1789 against tyranny in all forms. Modern marriage, based on individual freedom; equality between the partners; fraternity, that is, pleasure in the company of one another (in essence, intimacy) - was emerging as a true possibility as well.

2005 – March 5.

“Journey Through Midlife.” Phoenix Friends of Carl G. Jung.
Franciscan Renewal Center, Scottsdale, AZ. Contact: pfocgi@yahoo.com

"The second half of Life - whether you are 40, 50, 60 or 70 - is a time of intense questioning: Who am I? What do I want? Where am I going?.... As you journey through your chronological years do you find yourself asking these questions? Midlife is a period of transition from the illusions of our first adulthood years to the challenges and rewards of maturity. Maturity offers the potential for Mastery, Wisdom, and Transcendence.

This workshop addresses those challenges and provides generative ways to create meaning and purpose as you travel the Journey. Our time together offers you this opportunity through didactic teaching, experiential learnings and storytelling. The emphasis is on celebrating Life, as you reappraise it, honor the directions you have taken, and get ready for a time of reflection, active risk-taking, exploration, reinvention and pilgrimage".

2005 – February 4, 5.

“Introduccion a la hypnosis ericksoniana”. Intensive training. Centro Integral Cultura y Desarrollo Humano. La Paz, Baja California Sur. Contact: ta_venydescubre@hotmail.com

2004 – December 1-5.

“A Tribute to Elizabeth Moore Erickson. Colleague Extraordinaire, Wife, Mother and Companion”. Invited Faculty. Book launching and workshop. The Ninth International Congress on Ericksonian Approaches to Hypnosis and Psychotherapy. The Milton H. Erickson Foundation. Phoenix, AZ. Web: www.erickson-foundation.org

2004 – May 13-16.

“Homenagem a Elizabeth Moore Erickson. Mulher extraordinaria, profissional, esposa, mae e companheira.” Invited faculty and book launching. The Fifth Latin American Meeting on Ericksonian Hypnosis and Psychotherapy. MHE Institute of Belo Horizonte. Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Web: www.ericksonbh.com.br