Jaakko Seikkula - Ph.D. Professor of Psychotherapy (emeritus) University of Jyväskylä - was involved in developing family centered mental health care since early 1980’s. Later the new approach was named as Open Dialogues and Jaakko was a member of the original team in Western Lapland in Finland. Since 1988 he has conducted tenths of research projects on the effectiveness of the open dialogue approach, especially in psychotic problems. At the same time his interest has been on looking at dialogues as the basic form of human life and therapeutic practice. Lately focus has been on the embodiment in dialogue, how do we communicate in our bodies and create a relational mind. 

Jaakko Seikkula is author or co-author of more than 200 scientific papers. Two books – co-authored with Tom Erik Arnkil - on dialogical practice have been translated into 16 languages.