We invite submissions — articles, case studies, clinical reflections, or creative pieces (such as poetry or short prose) — engaging with this year’s theme: “Connected, Committed and Contained”.

We are particularly interested in contributions that explore how relationships in a Balint group involve commitment, fosters connection and containment. What it means to hold parts of one another’s lives, and how we contain the vulnerability and potential that arise when we truly meet another human being.

Possible angles may include, but are not limited to:

How group dynamics foster both closeness and distance — and how groups can function as a holding space in which doctors and otyher professionels feel seen, heard and supported.

How clinical or organisational practice carries and can facilitate the work in a Balint group.

How difficult experiences, crises or trauma — individual or collective — may be met with containment, creating opportunities for healing and restoration.

How ethics, relations and containment are integrated into therapeutic practice.

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Abstract Guidelines

Background and context
Aim or purpose
Methods or theoretical/reflective framework
Expected outcomes, key insights or guiding questions

We welcome empirical (quantitative or qualitative), theoretical, reflective and creative contributions — whichever format best expresses how “connection, commitment and containment” are experienced in relationships, groups and practice.

General Guidance:
All proposals must be submitted in English.

1. Title (maximum 10 words)
2. Short summary (maximum 50 words)
3. Abstract (maximum 500 words)
4. Paper (15 min presentation, length max. 2,000 words, approximately six double-spaced pages)
5. Names and email addresses of all participants

Panels
Panels explore a shared theme from multiple perspectives and actively engage the audience.

Format: Three panellists and one chair

Structure: 3×30 minutes of presentations followed by 30 minutes of audience discussion

Small Discussion Groups (SDGs) / work-shops
SDGs are participatory sessions focused on dialogue and in-depth discussion.

Format: Up to three contributors and one chair Structure: 120 minutes total, with a maximum of 45 minutes allocated to presentations

Individual Papers
Individual papers will be thematically grouped to encourage discussion and exchange among presenters and participants.

Clinical Confidential Material
Under no circumstances should you break the obligation you have to respect your patients’ confidentiality. All speakers need to be aware that in a large, international congress, even if registrants agree to follow the guidelines, any presented material could eventually find its way into the public domain. Presenters of clinical material must have obtained consent of the patient (or their guardian) following the IBF Ethical code.