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The invitation to the Oxford Symposium is not simply a request to attend a conference—it is a call to establish and participate in a worldwide community of stakeholders in School-Based Family Counseling, thereby opening the door to an ongoing process of information exchange and collegial discussion. We greatly value these relationships within our “International College."

Sponsored by the Institute for School-Based Family Counseling, and co-sponsored by the Center for Child and Family Development: Western Institute for Social Research, Berkeley, California, the Oxford Symposium is a small, invited, residential, international conference limited to around twenty-five members and their guests. Symposium members are selected through online searches for journal articles and research and service projects related to School-Based Family Counseling. Most Symposium members deliver a presentation.

 

The objective of the Oxford Symposium is to make visible the “invisible college” of international experts in School-Based Family Counseling and to provide opportunity for information exchange, co-operation and collegial networking. Symposium members come from diverse professional disciplines and include: counselor educators, social workers, school administrators, counselors and principals, psychologists, family therapists, physicians, psychiatrists, experts in counseling theory and practitioners in social psychology, public policy and the law. Past Symposia have attracted  members from Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, the Colville Federated Tribes, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Japan, Lebanon, Macau, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, and Zimbabwe. Many of our members participate in Special Interest Groups, such as the Disaster Healing Resources Team. Our annual conferences are mainly held at Oxford, but on occasion are held at other locations such as Venice International University, Hong Kong University, and the University of Barcelona. In 2025 we will be meeting at Brasenose College, our Oxford University “home away from home.”

 

All presenters are invited to write up their presentations and submit them to the peer-reviewed Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium in School-Based Family Counseling (whose Senior Editor is  Dr. Nurit Kaplan-Toren). The Proceedings are published in book form by the Institute for School-Based Family Counseling.
      

For more information on the conference organization and format, presentation guidelines, and to review the programs of previous Symposia, please visit our web pages.

 

Registration rates for the 23rd Oxford Symposium in School-Based Family

Counseling are:

 

·       Symposium member         USD $2,595.

            Symposium members attend the morning formal conference sessions  

            and usually (but not in every case) deliver a presentation (individual or

            co-presentation).

·       Symposium guest              USD $1,895.

            Symposium guests do not attend the morning formal conference sessions.

·       Retired Oxford Symposium in SBFC member      USD $1895.

·       Shared Room Discount    $200 discount per shared room.

 

Registration covers the cost of the Symposium for members, and accommodation and all meals for members and guests; Symposium members and guests pay their own travel expenses. To register for the 2025 Oxford Symposium in School-Based Family Counseling please contact the Coordinator, Sheena Sattarpour, LMFT at sheenasattarpour@aol.com. A deposit is essential to guarantee a position at the Symposium.