By the invitation of Semmelweis University’s Institute of Mental Health, a one-day course entitled “Medical Family Therapy” was given by Dr. David Van Dyke in December. Dr. Van Dyke is a professor at Wheaton College in Illinois as well as head of the master’s degree training in family therapy, who currently teaches and researches in Hungary as a Fulbright scholar.
The course was attended by students and teachers of the master’s degree training programme in family science and family therapy at the Faculty of Health and Public Administration. Invited instructors from other institutes of the University also participated at the event.
The course focused on the question of how the methods, interventions and systemic approaches from family therapy can contribute to the health care of people with various serious, chronic or life-threatening illnesses. It was also discussed what role the patient’s family may have in the healing process, in the acceptance of living with the disease, or in the cooperation with the proposed treatment, as well as the different proven and effective models in which the family therapist acts as a member of the healing team.
According to the organisers’ plans, the lecture was the first step of a long-term and regular educational and research collaboration between Semmelweis University and Wheaton College. The cooperation aims to increase the professional level of family therapist training in the domestic university framework, which could be accompanied by teacher and student exchange programmes in the future.
Source and photo: Dr. Szabolcs Török (Institute of Mental Health)
Featured mage (illustration): Attila Kovács – Semmelweis University
Translation: Diána Módos
