IMHPA sponsored in person psychodrama continuing education., Registration opens mid-July

Therapeutic tools for bridging differences, cultivating reciprocity, and depolarizing inner and outer relationships through psychodrama and sociometry

 “We say that the human being is an improvising actor on the stage of life. Unlike the theater, you don’t have a script, I don’t have a script. We have to interact on the spur of the moment, here and now, with whatever is between us.”                                   Zerka Moreno, co-founder of Psychodrama

 Therapists currently observe an epidemic of polarized relationships and viewpoints in their clients’ lives, while challenges of polarization dominate social, economic and political life.

 Approximately 100 years ago, Jacob Levy Moreno (1889-1974), a contemporary of Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, began to develop Sociometry, a quantitative method used to measure social relationships. After service as medical director of a WWI European refugee camp Moreno immigrated to the US in 1925.

Jacob was a psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and educator who developed psychodrama, sociometry, and group psychotherapy. Jacob’s wife, Zerka Toeman Moreno (1917–2016) was a Dutch-born American psychotherapist who co-developed psychodrama with her husband.  Jacob and Zerka Moreno founded the American Society of Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama (ASGPP) in1942 to promote psychodrama, sociometry, and group psychotherapy.

 Bridging past into present, this experiential and didactic workshop will provide, and train those who attend to use adaptable, active therapeutic tools from the time-tested modalities of psychodrama and sociometry. The workshop will help therapists’ clients build internal resources and leverage conflicting intra- and interpersonal dynamics toward balanced and harmonious interactions. Relational worldview skills will be taught which are applicable to individual, relationship, and group therapy work as well as therapists’ lives.

 The workshop will include:

·       Brief history of Sociometry and Psychodrama during the last century

·       Demonstration and experiential practice of two Psychodrama interventions (doubling and role reversal) which can be introduced in your client sessions

·       Introduction to TuneUP! a new, containing, sociometric action instrument. This instrument provides clinicians guidance to help clients find balance between the conflicting needs and values within themselves and in their relationships.

·       There will be ample time for practice, group reflection and questions.