Welcome to CAOA Connect

This issue turns to the beauty of the world and its disasters, to humanity's empathy and its brutality — and to how we, as relational professionals, meet what divides us.

Dear Colleagues,

As always, the world shows us the balance and beauty of nature alongside the roar of natural disasters — and it is the same with humanity: expressions of empathy, altruism and tolerance alongside expressions of hate, intolerance and brutality. At IAGP we are professionals in mental health and relational work, which invites us to draw first-hand on the theories and tools of the professional schools of thought we hold. We are an international organisation sharing different traditions, ideologies and personalities. We have both the opportunity and the responsibility to model creative ways of managing diversity of any kind, and to help our clients navigate the challenges of our times with spontaneity and creativity.

I would like to invite you to watch an inspiring graduation speech given by a young graduate:

President Roberta Mineo's welcome to this new term speaks to the same encounter. Her call to shift IAGP's centre of gravity toward a more plural, global and interconnected organisation — with cultural competency and ethical stance among the six pillars she has set for the Board — is the same work this issue takes up in practice, starting with a small but deliberate choice in how we publish.

Honouring Our Languages

A structural choice, not just a themed one: this edition is published across languages, not only about them.

This edition includes a video interview with LiC Adriana Piterbarg in Spanish, and short articles from colleagues written in their own language, each paired with a link to its translation. As an international association publishing CAOA Connect in both English and Spanish, we wanted our own readers to feel something other cultures live with constantly: the need to open a second document just to be understood.

As CAOA Chair, I would like to encourage affiliate organisations to run webinars in their own languages, with translations offered alongside. This is, for now, only an intention — one way we are looking to work respectfully amid our differences — and I would welcome any suggestions on how to make it real.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Netanel Zingboim for his support from the very first time I reached out for assistance with CAOA, and for his innovative and ingenious digital solutions for CAOA Connect and IAGP. His creativity, generosity and commitment have been invaluable.