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This conference presented a lot of first-time experiences for me: my first time in Italy, presentation at an international conference, and an opportunity to become part of a psychotherapeutic organisation. The title of this piece reflects the torrential downpour of rain that attempted to, but did not, mar the conference. My experience was quite the opposite and the image of me arriving soaked through, having both gone the wrong way and prolonged my exposure to the elements, and then being offered towels and coffee to remedy my waterlogged attire, nicely illustrates my sentiment.
Turin, as it turns out, is the old capital of Italy and teeming with cultural significance which extends to our own profession. Striking to me was the juxtaposition of our conference venue to the social problems of Turin surrounding us, seeing a lot of anti-social behaviour including integrative problems with the migrant population, drug misuse, and widespread depravity. This frank representation of Turin transposed with our welcome drinks in the Torino Piazza Carlina and conference gala dinner in the Asylum Beestro not only kept the purpose of our work at the forefront of my mind, it also provided a backdrop to fostering my own connections with the psychotherapeutic community I aspire to be part of.
I am a doctor, and since the conference have started my core psychiatry training in Manchester. Prior to my medical training, I worked in a therapeutic community which I returned to during the fifth year of my medical degree to conduct a qualitative study looking into factors which influence patients’ engagement within the therapeutic community model. I had published these findings with my colleague, Dr Celia Taylor, and the IAFP felt like the perfect platform to speak about our work. Not only because it felt relevant to the conference, but the conference felt relevant to the work. What I mean to highlight is that the analytical way of thinking, captured in the conversations following the presenta