For putting CMW into practice, the investments in terms of time, interpersonal openness, emotional involvement and analytic thought are rather high. Yet the reported experiences and the feedback of participants in all institutional settings on taking part in CMW projects overwhelmingly confirm personal gains, growth, now horizons, increased understanding of complex issues as common results. In reports about CMW projects the fascination that participants feel for the method is a re-occurring theme. There is an attraction in doing CMW that other methods don’t similarly carry with them.
Ironically though, in spite of the character of the method in its reliance on collectivity and collaboration amongst participants, many practitioners of CMW seem to be rather isolated when it comes to discussing their own experiences with the method. The symposium is an attempt to counter this isolation by providing a forum for exchange of experiences, and fostering networks on an international plane.
The method has been picked up by groups in Germany, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, United States, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand. In every application the method requires an adaptation to local circumstances.
Originally CMW relies on written texts as material for analysis, but various efforts have been made to also include, e.g. photographs, drawings, drama in a number of projects.
Questions that are discussed in literature on CMW concern issues like collectivity and leadership, group dynamics, entry modes, institutional context, status of participants, centrality of language, textanalysis, emancipatory potential, status of experience/s, types of knowledge generated in CMW, therapeutic effects vs. therapy, validity and transferability of results.
What is missing though is a comprehensive discussion of the gains and losses, advantages and disadvantages of methodical adjustments and developments of CMW, their rationale and practical challenges encountered. The symposium was meant to provide a forum for such a discussion. It would indeed be worthwhile to plan for a similar event in the future when travel will be easier and feasible again.