Stirrings

Attending the 2026 IARPP Annual Conference was a stirring experience for me, and I find that my reflecting takes on very personal associations. Not so much in my role as one of the members of the local organizing committee, but being local, Toronto is my home. And such a different place than the recent venues in Mérida and Athens. In those cities, though I definitely felt welcomed, I was literally a stranger in a strange land. This time there were more familiar faces. I was walking down streets I’d walked most of my life. And I experienced the emotional stirrings that I imagine a homecoming might evoke.

My early-career excitement about psychoanalysis had been stirred not so much by Freud or Jung, but by being exposed to the work of Harry Stack Sullivan. So attending a panel that delved deeper into the man and his work, in hearing Karl Loszak’s (Canada) paper, gave me something new to appreciate and also gave me a chance to think back on my own early fascination with interpersonal theorizing.

And there were further stirrings of past meeting present. Many years ago, I saw Malcolm Slavin at our local institute reading a paper about his work with ‘Adam,’ which touched me deeply and cemented my commitment to working relationally. So at this year’s conference, when I attended the tribute to Mal after his recent passing, I was stirred again, touched by hearing his friends and colleagues share this loss through a celebration of his life and his life’s work.

I was stirred yet again by the panel as interlocutor. I was moved not just by the material and the emotional engagement of the presenters, but the enthusiastic, appreciative response of the audience and the ensuing dialogue, which could have easily spilled over.

Finally, I was stirred by the emotion in the room during the membership meeting. There may have been some reactions of ‘don’t stir the pot,’ but stirring is relational, and sometimes at high temperatures it keeps objects from getting stuck to the pot/container. I was so glad at the end of it to be able to turn to the person beside me, who up until then had been a stranger, and talk about the experience together, to our mutual benefit.

Next year, Rome. My hope is that no matter the theme, these conferences provide stirrings for others as they did for me, and for a few days be a home away from home.

Jamie McMillan