Introduction

I come from a culture (British) and have chromosomes (male) which tend to make me “therapy adverse”. I ask questions like “How much am I in this for? How long is it going to take? Will it be fun? Will someone tell me how badly behaved I have been?”

That’s why I particularly love workshops. It seems a lot less scary to me than going to see a therapist. I trashed a great marriage, ruined my health, and spent my life in a black hole of fear and neurosis until a rather scary hospital visit tipped me over into getting some psychotherapy.

But if a friend told me “I went to this wonderful weekend! I can’t believe what a difference it made, I feel so hopeful and excited now about my marriage. Wow!” Now that would be compelling. And of course the guy thing – “At $700, that felt to me like amazing value!”

In our mission to teach the public the tools they need to strengthen their relationships, Workshops feel to me like the beating heart. When we reach out to media journalists, place adverts, and attend public conferences, we’re hoping that people will respond by trying out a workshop, as their first step on an Imago journey.

Amongst ourselves we have much to discuss. How can we make sure people get the key elements of Imago experience, whichever workshop presenter they choose? That’s a hard call. I know I would feel like I wanted to make some changes if I had been presenting the same material every month for 15 years. Surely I would have something of my own to add, that I would feel was valuable? But how can we find the right balance in our community between personal expression, and making sure that people who expect a workshop based on Harville and Helen’s books get the experience they expect and deserve?

When the Board met in mid-April we shared some wonderful visions of growth of Imago practice, and always the workshop experience remains at the heart. Imagine a world where wedding gift lists always include a “Getting the Love You Want Workshop” gift certificate, and Dating services include the check box “Attended an Imago Couples or Singles workshop”.

But to achieve this kind of vision, we need to make sure that we always know what it means for someone to attend a “Getting” or “Keeping” workshop. In the business world where I come from I might say “Quality control of our product is essential to growth.” That’s why we need to engage in real discussion about intellectual property. While our hearts might cry out just to give away all our Imago knowledge in any way we can, something in our heads might say that we can help people better by being good stewards of the workshops that have been entrusted to our care by Harville and Helen.

In this issue of Imago World we’ve set out to explore some of these issues, and involve you in the discussions. In the end to succeed as a community, we will need to come together in a positive and affirming way around a shared vision, one in which I believe our Workshops are our crown jewels. I hope this Imago World helps you engage with us in our thoughts, and lays the ground for co-creating an amazing world of relationships.

Tim Atkinson
Executive Director