The Willingness Team and Betapsi once again curated a spectacular event that members of The Third Eye team were lucky enough to join. Clayton Seguna, Betapsi President, started off the day by welcoming everyone to the conference, introducing Betapsi, and thanking all the collaborators for making the event possible. Following that, Matthew Bartolo elaborated on the importance of discussing family, especially in 2021.

“We are breaking away from what should be, and moving onto what could be.”

Matthew Bartolo

Adding to this comment, Matthew not only described how we are breaking away from the norms set by society on what relationships and families should be but also how we are celebrating this change.

The role of family in gender transitions

In her keynote speech, Ruth Micallef set the pace of the entire conference by taking us through the transition process of her son. By being transparent Ruth allowed us to better understand all the aspects of this journey, from the hardships she and her son went through, to the fulfilment they received for going through them.

“You grieve the loss of your daughter until you can celebrate the birth of your son.”

Ruth Micallef

She finished off by narrating the progress they have made as a family, and how they now face new challenges such as the usual problems that come with teenagers.

Case review

Following the keynote speech, the willingness team presented a case review which encouraged a discussion on possible ways forward to deal with the issues a couple had as described by the case itself. 

The review dealt with Saviour and Felicity, a couple who decided to seek help after Saviour was experiencing sleeping difficulties. The discussion was led by Danica Cassar who went into detail about the issues the couple was facing and highlighted other contributing factors in the case, such as each individual’s background. After the stage was set, a variety of input was given by people involved in the case such as Dr Candace Adams, and by participants alike, who continued to add their own insights into the case. Some of the suggestions were to look into things like financial stressors and even the couple’s intimacy.

The case study was wrapped up with each speaker giving final comments in their respective area, from health to relationship psychology.

Same-sex parenting

After a series of workshops, Noel and Chris from TwoPapasMalta described their life together as a family. They recounted every step of the way from when how they met, to the day they got married in 2016, and even when they were amongst the few same-sex couples to adopt from Portugal in 2019.

“Our objective is to promote awareness about same-sex families and to inspire others who might eventually embark on the adoption journey.”

Noel and Chris

Noel and Chris gave a variety of insights about the adoption process and continued to elaborate on how their family functions very similarly to a heterosexual one, without the need to distinguish between a male or female role within the household.

Conclusion

Matthew Bartolo brought an end to the conference by celebrating the 94 attendees present at the conference, stating that the online nature of the event made it particularly unique from the other ones. He wrapped everything up by providing more information about the newly released Family Clinic “where all families are welcome”.

The Third Eye would like to congratulate everyone behind 360° for hosting such a captivating conference, and look forward to whatever they have in store for the future.

Check out last year’s conference!

The post Everything you missed from the Family 360° conference appeared first on The Third Eye.

What is 360°?

The concept of 360° was launched in 2014 between Betapsi Malta and Willingness Team as an approach whereby different relevant and current topics are tackled from a multidisciplinary point of view from professionals in numerous fields, including psychology, health, education, social work, youth work, medicine, law, criminology, religion, sociology, philosophy, and various others.

This initiative helps to eliminate certain taboos that have been around on various topics such as addiction, children, sex, families, sexualities, and many more! Individuals with different professions will give their insight and experience on each of the topics. With the help of these discussions, the audience will be able to tackle case studies and look at the world from a broader perspective.

Family 360 HYBRID on Campus

Before the annual conference, the Willingness Team hosts a workshop where you get a taste of what the conference will be talking about. Check out last year’s workshop!

A case study will be discussed and the professionals from the Willingness Team will be tackling the case from different perspectives together with the audience, bringing the 360° multidisciplinary approach to life!

If you are interested in attending, today is the last chance to sign up!

• Date: 24th February
• Time: 12:00PM
• Venue: Online

Family 360° HYBRID Conference: A Multidisciplinary Approach

Family 360° is back, with bigger topics and broader perspectives! This will also be their first HYBRID conference. A HYBRID conference means that local and international participants will get together to discuss the topic at hand.

If you are curious about the type of topics that will be discussed, check out our last year’s article where The Third Eye covered the Sex 360° conference.

Yesterday, 360° launched their full programme! Dr Charlie Azzopardi, Prof Jean Calleja Agius, Dr Candace Adams and Christopher Vella Galea together with Noel Vella Galea (AKA TwoPapas) are some of the speakers for this event!

If you are interested in attending, today is the last chance to sign up!

• Date: 6th March
• Time: 8AM till 5PM
• Venue: Willingness Team Hub

We hope to see you all there!

The post A discussion on the Family with 360° | A multidisciplinary approach appeared first on The Third Eye.

The concept of 360° was launched back in 2014 in order to tackle relevant and current topics from a multidisciplinary point of view. With successful events one after the other, this time the Willingness Team and Betapsi Malta decided to tackle the taboo that some have around sex, discussing relationships, sexuality, gender, family and whatnot. The Third Eye team are still hooked on the event and it is time to go for a little throwback!

The day started off with a welcome speech by the Parliamentary Secretary Rosianne Cutajar. Cutajar did not think twice on speaking her mind on her perspective about sex.

“A society that overcomes stigmas is a society that is open. A society that values mutual respect above all else…”

Rosianne Cutajar

On the eve of International Women’s Day, honourable Cutajar said that sexuality continues to be subjected to unequal treatment in our society which further ensures its patriarchal structure.

Sex in the elderly demographic

Moving on to the keynote speaker, who is none other than Kevin McCann, he beautifully explained the sexuality in terms of age. Laced with truthfulness and humour, McCann did not mince his words when explaining that your grandparents fool around. Sure, they may fumble a little, but sexuality is not limited to age.

“For many elderly people, we don’t see ourselves the way you see us. We should be encouraging the expression of sexuality throughout life.”

Kevin McCann

It was proved that 50% of over 65 years of age are still sexually active. A 20-30% of over 80s are still active and there has also been a 23% increase of STIs amongst elderly people.

“Wrinkly skin for some reason we have deemed to be unattractive. It has lived a life. It’s like an old rich tapestry.”

Kevin McCann

The lack of information about pornography and sexual education

During the conference, pornography was discussed from various angles. It has been long theorised and confirmed however that shame and guilt are both the cause and consequence of addiction. It is a known fact that sex sells and it is quite normal for people to watch pornography. In fact, 13% of Internet searches are all for erotic material. Having said that, it is essential to remember that the people performing such sexual acts are specifically hired actors.

A general consensus was reached that young people should be provided with even more sexual education. Due to the taboo and stigma that revolves around sexual education, schools cover only the surface of it. It is high time sexual education delves a bit deeper.

“Young people should be provided adequate sex education where they can discuss sex and pornography without shame and ridicule.”

Christian Cauchi

Sex and disability

Oliver Scicluna focused on the aspect of sex and disability. Scicluna recounted various personal experiences and he believes that in the near future, there will be even more Olivers, meaning a lot of other individuals going through the same experience.

Scicluna emphasized;

“For a human to flourish, sexuality needs to be experience and the individuals need to be provided support for them to experience their emotions.”

This conference vowed to provide a holistic approach to sex and it was only fair to discuss STDs and contraception. To date, Malta has over 400 cases of HIV, therefore contraception is not mean for any unwanted pregnancy but above all, it serves as protection.

To sum up the day, Matthew Bartolo gave his concluding speech who stated that this country wasted a lot of resources on replacing items already in existence. It is, therefore, our duty to give facts and to think about all the spectrum when talking about sex.

The Third Eye cannot wait for another opportunity to cover another event of theirs to once again witness the huge interest and hunger for knowledge we saw from both students and participants alike.

The post Everything you missed from the Sex 360° conference appeared first on The Third Eye.

“The fact that I work in a multidisciplinary team helps me understand the legal perspective of separation, the children’s perspective on separation, and what other schools of thought think about the issue that I am dealing with while working with my client. I would say that all professions involved are getting a more holistic and round view of the same issue. Then when we report back to our clients, we are giving a much fuller service without having to refer them all to a lot of different people and without trying to fix it all ourselves. That is the whole concept of 360°”.

Matthew Bartolo, Founder of Willingness

The workshop revolved around the case of Jessica, where professionals from the Willingness team tackled the case from different perspectives. Participants were split into three groups all with a different mentor in a specialised profession.

An overview of the case

Jessica is a five-year-old girl and is perceived as a very sweet person. That being said, she gets a lot of emotional outbursts especially when her dad is around. The only way she sleeps is between the parents and her parents are fighting a lot due to this issue. This is mostly because the father does not want the child to sleep between then.

Joe is a 43-year-old man, very distant and always messing around with his car in his garage. He does not spend much time with his wife or his daughter. He is soon approaching retirement as he works as a soldier and he is worried about being bored.

Anna is a 38-year-old woman who is constantly thinking about her femininity and her role as a woman. She did not bond with her child. Anna is a very dedicated teacher and focused a lot on training and won a lot of prizes. She sends Jessica to all kinds of after school activities and pusher her to be a high achiever.

The issue and the possible solutions

The main information derived from this issue was that Jessica had a traumatic birth; Anna suffered a lot whilst giving birth and has been unable to have sex since then. Although there is no physical trauma, she refuses to have sex and have had a sex-less marriage for the last five years.

Looking at the case from a sexual perspective was Matthew Bartolo, a sex therapist who was in charge of the first group. Abigail Church, a therapist with a vast counselling experience with teens, children and parents, was the mentor of the second group. She focused on Jessica’s behaviour and the atmosphere with her parents. Assigned with the third group was Karl Grech, a counsellor who holds a Master’s degree in Transcultural Counselling. He and his group focused on Joe’s behaviour.

 “Even though we have done these kinds of discussions quite often, I still learn something new every time. You are getting different perspectives, different personalities, different professions, different ages who are discussing the same issue and these are all questions that we go back to the clinic and use with our clients”.

Upcoming events

On the 7th of March, 360° is coming back with another conference to discuss broader perspectives on the topic! The speakers will be ranging from doctors and gynecologists talking about sex to a sex worker to an artist who paints nudes. This offers a variety of professionals coming together discussing sex in smaller workshops.  At the end of the conference, a symposium will be held where individuals present their own research related to sex. Other than that, the conference will also be discussing relationships, sexuality, sexual dysfunction, gender, family, and education.

Another event of theirs will be held on the 5^th of March where there will be a 3-hour long workshop called Sex and Porn Addiction. This workshop will be tackling the issues whether it is an addiction or not, and how to work with clients who have sex or porn addiction. The event will be held at Razzett l-Antik, Qormi.

More details to be out soon.

The post A discussion on sex and the family | 360° on Campus appeared first on The Third Eye.