In a few short weeks, many of us will gather in New York City for AGPA Connect. We will leave our offices and step into shared spaces, Special Institute Groups, committee meetings, hallway conversations, and crowded lunches. We will also step into the living rhythm of the city itself. We gather at a time when fragmentation feels easier than cohesion. Disconnection can be loud and polarized, but it can also be subtle. It can look like quiet withdrawal. It can look like choosing not to engage. As group therapists, we know that fragmentation rarely announces itself. It simply thins the circle. We were deeply touched when we read the words by our colleagues and hope you take your time with this issue, returning to it over the upcoming weeks.
Drs. Delhi and Merten offer a grounding image when they write, “Group therapy can be a series of relationships where people sit in a circle and go on a journey agreeing to grow alongside each other into lands unknown in life.” That feels especially resonant as we prepare to convene. We sit in circles not because cohesion is automatic, but because fragmentation is easy. The act of gathering is already an agreement. We agree to grow alongside one another, even when the conversations are complex or the terrain feels unfamiliar. Our conference becomes more than an event. It becomes a shared journey.
Dr. Ribeiro deepens this by reminding us, “Umoja reminds us how we belong. Ujima asks us how we work. Nia clarifies why we gather. Imani reinforces what sustains us.” Belonging invites us into the circle, but Ujima asks something more of us. It asks how we will participate. Purpose clarifies why our engagement matters. Faith sustains us when the work feels difficult. These principles move us from simply being together toward working together.
Dr. Songco cautions us about what happens when we drift from that shared work. “The most sobering lesson may be this: ethical collapse does not require widespread hatred. It requires widespread disengagement.” Disengagement is rarely dramatic. It can be silence when dialogue is needed. It can be neutrality that distances rather than protects. If fragmentation thins the circle, disengagement empties it. Staying present, especially when tensions surface, becomes both clinical practice and ethical stance. Challenge yourself at AGPA or other spaces where you show up, to be present and engaged.
Dr. Ribeiro writes in her article about a recent yoga group she led “Creating spaces of connection and healing is itself an act of resistance. When we help groups move from powerlessness to empowerment, from fragmentation to cohesion, from hatred to dialogue, we are engaging in transformative resistance.” When we gather at AGPA Connect, we will have countless small opportunities to embody this. In our institute groups. In spontaneous conversations over lunch. In moments when difference becomes visible rather than theoretical. Cohesion is not comfort. It is commitment. Staying engaged is the work. As we come together in New York, may we practice the very movement we facilitate every day, from fragmentation toward cohesion, one circle at a time. We encourage you to read these articles more fully to allow yourself to take these ideas in and ponder them and bring them to action in your day to day actions, at AGPA Connect and beyond.
Tom Treadwell, Ed.D. T.E.P C.G.P.
Editor
Leann Terry Diederich, Ph.D.
Associate Editor
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