A group relations event for people aged 70-years or older.

This group relations event for people aged 70-years or older will be held on 4 mornings – Tuesday 17th October to Friday 20th October 2017 – as part of the 70th anniversary celebrations of the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations (TIHR) – Reimagining Human Relations in our Time.

Seventy is a play on numbers as 70-year olds would have been born in the same year as the establishment of the TIHR; and most 70-year olds are still resourceful and creative; they have drive and ambition – like the TIHR in facing contemporary human relations challenges. The group relations event for over 70-year olds will focus on the social, physical and psychological experiences of ageing – loss and hope; love and death; experience and wisdom, missed opportunities and daring to grasp a few more.

The group relations event will be about a stage of life, not a number, reflecting peoples’ histories and hopes for the future. The event will be about having and losing power; having and losing freedom and increasing restrictions on life.

Our proposition is that there is strong interest among people 70 and over to continue learning in a social context, i.e. learning from experience.

Our assumptions are that issues of role and authority of older people in society takes on a different complexion after the age of 70; that 70-year olds are facing feelings of loss; that 70-year olds often feel invisible in society and that it is possible to raise their visibility and potency; that talking about issues of increased fragility and loss can be good for physical and mental health; that 70-year olds are still politically interested and active and can be mobilised to higher social objectives; and that many 70-year olds are eager to face new beginnings.

The group relations event will take place in the mornings of the Festival from 09.30 to 1.00 – 3½ hours of whole community meetings, small community meetings, life story meetings, reflection meetings and plenaries.

The staff group will include David Armstrong, William Halton, Olya Khaleelee, Deirdre Moylan, and Mannie Sher. Apprentice staff of the Tavistock Institute will help with the administration.

Venue:
The Garden Museum,
Lambeth Palace Rd, London SE1 7LB
(People are encouraged to attend every day but they will be welcome if they can attend for fewer days.)

For an application form, please contact:
Charlie Bambrough, Group Relations Event Administrator

Email: c.bambrough@tavinstitute.org
Tel: +44 (0)20 7417 0407