Barbara Vossel

Please tell us your name and where you're from.

Okay. I'm Barbara, I'm from Berlin, and I work there as a trainer and a practitioner of Open Dialogue. And this is the second time I've been to the international conference — the first time was in Warsaw, so it's quite a long time ago.

Thanks for accepting the interview. The first question is: what struck you most in these days here in Reykjavik?

Yeah. We were thinking about it a little bit beforehand, you know, and to say what strikes me most is trying to sort of distill it — to find a sort of essence. And at the moment I'm still very overwhelmed, from many, many different things, and I probably need some time to sort it out, but concepts or ideas which pop up are... the connectivity of the people, the friendliness of the people.

And I would love to be more appreciative of that, in the moment.

So it's the connectivity, and it's the wisdom. I think there's a lot of wisdom.

And somehow I also feel there was some sort of underlying — I don't know — some sadness, you know, I felt. It was a kind of quiet voice. It was sort of... Yeah. So anyway — a big compliment.

Yeah: it's the wisdom, the creativity, the friendliness, the dedication. I mean — what dedication, to sustain something over such a time... you know, we're still sort of thinking about what a network is. So that is a lot of dedication.

It's very beautiful. And it's all in real time.

The second question — maybe you already answered it in part — is: is there a single word, a phrase or an idea that you bring back home into your work?

Yes.

I think it's not so much an idea — it's more like an impulse, like an encouragement. I'm thinking also of the ODDESSI trial — and I understand that there has to be criticism about it. Of course I would have wished a little more appreciation, at the beginning at least, but I do understand that science means criticizing.

I think, for me — I think that was very important. It was a beautiful coincidence — a synchronicity — that it happened while we were actually sitting together, being together. I think that's encouragement. Encouragement. It's getting bigger, and it's a good way to go.

So, we are at the final question: where will Open Dialogue be in 2030?

I have just this image which came to my mind: you know, there's the Western way of doing things, and there's the Eastern way — and I feel we're going very much the Eastern way: metaphorically speaking, in loops — not loops... I don't know what you call it, actually — whereas the way is supposed to be the straight way, this way is sort of... meandering, maybe. And we are going — we are really going. And, you know, maybe it looks like this... The fact that everything is sort of disordered, in a sense — but the good thing about it is that people needed — required — a lot of resilience to keep on going. And I think that sort of resilience will be able to sustain us, to move forward and to continue. And I feel that the ODDESSI trial is a very good — you know, a huge milestone, in a sense.

I believe it is going that way. And I do believe that that will be the future, because, in a sense, I feel — at the heart — that what we're doing with Open Dialogue is extremely relevant.

Yeah — that's the future.

Thanks for the interview. Would you like to add any comments, or anything else?

No, thank you — because I've been talking all the time! No, thank you very much. I think I've said everything. Thank you.