AANZPA Conference 2019 – Pre and Post Conference Workshops
Pre-Conference Workshop
The Exploration of Gender, Sexuality and Psychosexual Development – Jo Dewar and Richard Hall
- How do psychosexual aspects of development contribute to the emergence of a mature human being?
- How do culture, values and traditions influence the way different groups approach
gender and sexuality? - What do we understand of the evolutionary aspects of sexuality, of fluidity, gender and developmental terminology?
These are some of the questions that will be present in this workshop, as we explore together the area of gender, sexuality and psychosexual development.
Through action, discussion and experimentation we will consider our own journeys. Members of the group are also encouraged to bring to the workshop some related theory that intrigues or challenges them so that we can broaden and deepen our appreciation of different approaches to the field.\
This workshop builds on themes that emerged as hot topics in the 2018 AANZPA conference. At this moment in our social evolution, these questions are more present in social consciousness and action. Our own experiences in these areas inform our practice as psychodramatists,
About Jo Dewar and Richard Hall
Jo Dewar is a Psychodrama Practitioner, Counsellor and a Gay woman who enjoys music singing and the company of friends. She works as a phone counsellor for Women who are experiencing/escaping domestic violence. Jo has recently been drawn into thinking about her life and how it has unfolded and often wonders how her socialisation growing up influenced her choices in life and how her responses to these influences shaped the way she acts in the world. She has a keen interest in the area of gender identity and how gender choices can greatly impact on a person’s psychological and emotional development when the concept is socially constructed. She respects the idea of social justice and she continues to be curious and interested in the identity of the self. She enjoys a good laugh and often sees the funny side of life, which has developed her respect for differences.
Richard Hall is a Counselling Psychologist and Psychodramatist. He is a trained Special Education consultant and a trained teacher of the deaf. He is a director of Psychodrama Australia and conducts training and supervision in Melbourne and Canberra. Richard places a high value on people becoming themselves, on inclusivity and the development of the creativity of the individual. Richard leads celebrations of life and death. He has a passion for music, has conducted an orchestra and choir for many years and is a competent trumpeter and singer. Richard has run personal development groups for the general public for over 27 years and has an ease and flow with the psychodrama method. He is warm and companionable and has a commitment to a humane world.
Pre-Conference Workshop
Presence and Place in Our Changing World: appreciating our unique enabling influence – Helen Phelan
How do we hold our sense of meaningful presence and place in the light of social and political shifts or seemingly intractable injustices?
When the social or political world changes, we can be impacted in unexpected ways. Challenges may arise from unexpected events or when long-evolving issues reach a critical point. Sometimes we respond to the change as a positive movement, a welcome newness in our lives and have a clear sense we are making a difference. When events challenge our values, and we see no clear path for influence, we can be left with the feeling that our voice has little impact on the larger system.
In this workshop, we will map out and explore together, through action and reflection, some of the key aspects of our changing world that matter to us. Building on our capacity to be witness to the system, and building connections with ourselves and one another, we will work towards developing a full appreciation for the courage to stand, to dare, to speak, to act, to hold on, as we dig deep in our own unique way, gathering resources, responding creatively and making our influence visible.
About Helen Phelan
Helen has a keen interest in systems approaches and social justice and has worked with complex systems in the public sector, community and social justice contexts, including programs addressing systemic racism. She has supplemented her qualifications in Sociometry and Professional Coaching with a Masters in Human Rights. Helen has taken psychodrama into her life and work and seeks to explore serious issues with a lightness of approach.
Post-Conference Workshop
Stoking the Fire of Our Unique Creative Genius: certification is not the end, certification is the end of the beginning! – Claire Guy
This 2-day workshop is designed to meet the needs of certificated AANZPA practitioners. It has a dual purpose:
- to co-create an environment for further learning and development and
- to unite with colleagues and strengthen sociometry.
Certification at the annual AANZPA AGM is a significant rite of passage. Congratulations, joyfulness and celebrations mark the transition from trainee to
- Who am I now?
- Where do I belong?
- How do I integrate changes in my professional and personal roles with my identity and abilities as an AANZPA practitioner?
Challenges and successes of working with Morenian methods in a range of contexts will be explored. There will be learning through interchange and cross-fertilisation.
My intention is to provide leadership that is authentic, collegial, responsive, open-hearted and encouraging; and that we co-create the story of the workshop. We will work experientially using the method in the here and now. Practitioners may warm up to specific aspects where they wish to refine their practice. The structure will enable opportunities for group leadership, directing, being a protagonist, receiving supervision, supervising, discussing aspects of theory and reflective sharing.
My vision is that participants will return home feeling stimulated, refreshed and refuelled with a stronger sense of belonging in the community of AANZPA practitioners.
About Claire Guy
Claire works as a psychotherapist, supervisor and trainer. She likes to work in the here and now, at depth and with a light, playful touch. In her own words:
Scotland is the land of my birth. I have rich memories of swimming in the North Sea, skating on frozen lochs and collecting pine cones for winter warmth. I set off for New Zealand aged 23 in search of a 2-year adventure and stayed the rest of my life. I fell in love with the Morenian method at my first residential workshop with Max Clayton and Chris Hosking. Sitting in the circle I had a sense of coming home. I observed the skills of the leaders and for the first time in my life experienced a clear sense of direction. I wanted to do what they did.
Claire was certificated as a Psychodramatist after 8 years of training and subsequently became a TEP. Professionally she has applied the Morenian method in the role of staff trainer, manager, counselling/psychotherapy tutor, outdoor educator; and as a psychotherapist in private practice. Psychodrama has, of course, enhanced her capacity as a friend of many, mother of two, grandmother of six, life partner; and generally as a human being.
Post-Conference Workshop
Being Present to Fragmentation: creating the conditions for the emergence of progressive functioning – Hamish Brown
When producing a psychodrama in which fragmentation is a central concern the psychodramatist focuses on creating the conditions for the emergence of progressive functioning.
Everyone one of us is born into the world: life is before us, how we will develop is not yet known but there is
Moreno presents us with the notion that we humans use our spontaneity to mobilise our creativity in order to survive, develop and thrive. This workshop will focus us on the skills and orientation needed to mobilise creativity where social atom repair is needed.
We will work together to refine our abilities to stay creatively involved with each protagonist as they work to constellate a new set of relationships, to breathe new life, to feel new connections, to grow in a new direction.
In this workshop:
- You will sharpen your clinical psychodramatic sensibilities through applying notions of Fragmenting, Coping and Progressive to the living work of the group.
- You will develop greater ease, clarity and flexibility when called upon to direct psychodramas where the original social atom is of central concern.
- Together we will explore the truth of our protagonist’s experience using dramatic means.
- Your auxiliary work may be refined as you become more able to function ‘true to role’ when a lot is going on around you.
- You will deepen your ability to appreciate how each person’s roles function together as a personality.
This experiential workshop will include group
About Hamish Brown
Hamish Brown is a highly experienced psychodramatist and psychotherapist who has been working with individuals, couples and groups in private practice since 2002. He has facilitated over 30 three-day experiential psychodrama weekends and established and led a weekly psychodrama group that ran for six years. For the past five years, he has been a TEPit in the Auckland Training Centre for Psychodrama.