Inspiration Awaits by IACP President, Chris Farish We are entering my favorite time of the year. No, not summer in the Northern Hemisphere, the opening of Forum registration. When registration opens, the buzz begins to build. I meet fellow Collaborative Practitioners at local trainings or meetings and they are bursting with curious questions about the Forum. This year is particularly exciting as we celebrate the 20th IACP Networking and Educational Forum in Chicago, Illinois, and we focus on our theme: 20 Years of Inspiration. I have shared in the past how the Forum reinvigorates me each year, and rekindles that fire and passion for this work that lives inside me. As you ask around your community and speak to others who have attended a Forum, I know you will find this sentiment echoed by those you know. Each year I have this unique opportunity to reconnect with old friends from around the world, and to make new friends and create bonds that will last a lifetime. I get to share a piece of myself with each and every one of you, and take home a piece of you to inform my practice and make me a better Collaborative Practitioner. We exchange ideas, hopes and dreams while we learn together and from one another. This interaction inspires new ideas, fosters creativity and overall improves the quality of Collaborative Practice everywhere. The Forum is the single event where the very best Collaborative educators come together and share their knowledge with the Collaborative Community. Gathering the very best minds and the newest innovations in how we practice in one place, and disseminating that knowledge to all through the stories and learning that our attendees bring back home with them each year. In the weeks leading up to the Forum, we hope to bring you actual stories of inspiration at the Forum as told by those in our community who experienced them. Keep your eye out for those stories in the coming weeks, and keep reading here for mine: The year was 2009 and Minneapolis, Minnesota was cold and snowy in late October. I was a new practitioner who had recently started a practice group in my area. I signed up for my first Forum not really knowing what to expect, and primarily because as the leader of a newly formed practice group, I thought the free full-day Pre-Forum Institute for practice group leaders was something I needed to attend. I knew enough to know I needed to know more, and I knew the best place to seek the knowledge was at an IACP Forum. There were only a handful of local practitioners who would attend, but from the moment I stepped into the hotel in Minneapolis, I never felt alone. The crowd at the Forum was welcoming, embracing and warm. Everyone I introduced myself to was generous with their time and experience in ways that I had never really experienced at a legal conference. It was as if I had found a home where I was welcome, and my level of inexperience was met with nothing short of admiration for my quick journey to this Promised Land. I already knew that Collaborative Practice was my chosen direction, but now I knew I had found an organization I wanted to devote my time to preserving and helping to grow. I knew in that one weekend that I would serve the IACP in whatever capacity was needed, and I would happily do so. I didn’t attend my first Forum on a scholarship, but I did receive one the next year in order to allow me to attend again. Each year the IACP grants scholarships to worthy applicants and a limited number of travel stipends as well. These scholarships allow members who might otherwise not be able to afford to attend the Forum to experience the inspiration. This year, thanks in part to your generous donations as a part of the webinar in April given by Stu Webb, we will be able to award more scholarships to more worthy applicants. The IACP wants to share the inspiration with as many practitioners as we can, and these scholarships are one way we can accomplish that task. I hope those who believe they cannot afford to attend the Forum will apply for a scholarship, and those who have the means will consider future opportunities to donate to the IACP scholarship fund to share their inspiration with another practitioner. Most of all, I sincerely hope you will all join me in Chicago, and allow me to share my inspiration with you. See you there! Sincerely, Chris Farish |
