The Third International Conference of Collaborative and Dialogic Practices is a continuation of the First and Second Latin American ones organized in 2013 and 2015 in Sao Paulo, Brazil and Tucuman, Argentina. From the first moment we want to honor individuals and organizations that made it possible to start these biannual activities that in this third edition we decided to become international given the special characteristics of its organizers, partners and participants; especially the Board of Directors and the entire team of Directors of the International Certificate in Collaborative and Dialogic Practices Program in the world.

 

In addition, its special location, the Canary Islands, a not only geographical but also cultural bridge between Latin America, Africa and Europe, make this space suited to continue inviting us to think and act from the local to the global. We maintain our traditions and ancestral memories while we feel part of an increasingly interconnected world that has the necesity of new ways of dialogue and collaboration to open up possibilities towards greater social justice.

 

The idea of organizing it here appears in 2014 in Barcelona, during the First International Workshop of Social Constructionism and Collaborative and Dialogic Practices with Drs Rocio Chaveste and Maria Luisa 'Papusa' Molina -from Instituto Kanankil, Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, within the I International certificate in CDP organized in Spain by psychologists Sara Olivé and Josep Seguí -UMANSENRED School of Psychology. At the Workshop attends the doctors in psychology Maria del Carmen Munoz de Bustillo (Mamen) and Maria Dolores Garcia (Doli) -from the Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, and psychologists, also from Tenerife- Pedro de Leon and Juan Baez; as well as other students and colleagues of Catalonia and the Spanish State.

 

During the Workshop we have the opportunity to maintain a talk via videoconference with Dr. Harlene Anderson -cofounder of The Taos Institute and The Houston Galveston Institute; and authentic and inspiring figure for the CDP, in which, half seriously, half jokingly, appears the idea of organizing the Third Congress in Barcelona. During the subsequent dinner we continue the dialogue and suddenly appears the question "Why not in Tenerife?". The question is becoming a shared idea and with each moment we are more excited and it's taking more consistency. In fact, in the island there are a lot of perofessionals and organizations working from the Socioconstructionist ideas: not only at the Departamento de Psicología Evolutiva y de la Educación and at the Sección de Psicología y Logopedia de la Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud de la Universidad de La Laguna, but also, for example, the Asociación Solidaria Mundo Nuevo, Aldeas Infantiles SOS, the Centro de Actividades Psicopedagógicas, de Formación y Recreativas Garoé Sur, the Espacio Sativa, the Asociación Prisma Psicología, Alea Centro de Psicología y Sexualidad.

 

Soon we decided that yes, we will do it in Tenerife. Where? At the Universidad de La Laguna, where Mamen and Doli are teachers, as we have said. We put ourselves in motion. We do the appropriate presentation to the University itself, which from here we greatly appreciate all the facilities that they have give to us and the resources putted at our disposal. And also we share the idea with Harlene Anderson, the Taos Institute, the Houston Galveston Institute, the Board of the International Certificate in Collaborative Practices Program, and ENDIÁLOGO, Spanish Association of Collaborative and Dialogic Practices, who handles administrative, and economic issues.

 

And in April 25, 2015, at the end of the Second Conference in Tucumán, Argentina, Josep Segui -on behalf of Umansenred and as co-director of the ICCP program in Spain, makes the formal proposal, which is unanimously received and approved with great enthusiasm.

And here we are. Yet increasingly prepared and ready to enjoy a few days of intense Collaborative and Dialogic Practices with all of you  whom we are waiting from all over the world with the enthusiasm of being able to meet you personally and give you a big hug.