Conference Programme 2024

Download the full 2024 AANZPA Conference Program as a PDF

Wednesday 17th January

Evening Sessions

It’s all in the warm-up – Simon Gurnsey

This workshop will focus on your warm up, readying yourself for spontaneous action. Yes, I know I said that in 2022, and it still applies. Generating an undivided warm up can be the work of a few moments or of many years. This workshop will give you opportunities to build on what has gone before and generate something completely new. A group will be formed using sociometric principles that will assist each of you in your warm up process.

Simon is a Sociometrist with many years’ experience assisting community organisations to have more effect in their social change work through applying sociometric principals. He is a TEPit working in Ōtautahi. With a warm heart and able mind, he aspires to live moment to moment as relationships develop.

What’s in a name? A brief introduction to family therapy – Liz Marks

This experiential workshop is an opportunity to explore some fundamentals of family therapy – context, beliefs and behaviours, from a personal perspective.

Liz is a Psychodramatist, TEPit, counselling psychologist and family therapist. She works in Melbourne as a counsellor and supervisor.

Feel the pulse – Neil Simmons & Brisbane Playback

If, like me, you love new theories that have practical applications, this is a session for you. In this session we will gather as a group using theatre exercises to gently develop various aspects of spontaneity. Then the Brisbane Playback Theatre Company will present a performance to assist you in your warm – up to the conference. After the show, we will consider how Fox’s theory of Narrative Reticulation might assist you in your psychodrama practice.

Neil Simmons is a medical practitioner, playbacker and Psychodramatist. He continues to explore ways of integrating these different aspects of work into his life and being. Brisbane Playback Theatre Company has been rehearsing and performing since 1989, when it was founded by Psychodramatist and theatre director, Francis Batten.

Getting out of ourselves – Peter Howie

Very often when a person hits a dilemma or a problem or a stuck moment they try to think or feel or exercise their way through it. Sometimes a person employs friends, coaches, therapists, to help. All good things and often not available when required.

From a psychodrama perspective we could infer that there is a lack of spontaneity leading to a lack of role responsiveness. Our methods use auxiliaries: a director or group leader, auxiliaries for the drama, an audience. So where do our methods lend themselves when a person is on their own?

There is another way to approach this that I call ‘getting out of ourselves’ or solo – psychodrama. This is a very simple practice that in Gestalt would be seen as similar to 2-chair work, and in psychodrama we would call concretisation and role reversal. Its strength and uniqueness are that it may be applied when on one’s own. In this workshop I will demonstrate the process and show how it is a direct application of Moreno’s methods to one’s own situation. I will invite discussion and practice, and also consider who could use this, and whether it might be taught to clients.

For over 20 years, Peter has been developing deep learning experiences for adults. He is a group therapist, Psychodramatist and TEP. He has a PhD in how people warm – up to new experiences and situations, and how this effects how we learn. Peter has nearly 30 years of training experience, and a practice of working therapeutically with groups and individuals using creative methods such as psychodrama, drama, and interpersonal engagement. More recently he has trained as a sexological bodyworker and added the title of adult sex educator to his work.

We are the Drama – Cissy Rock

As a group we will explore current “news headlines”.  The group will choose one to be enacted to explore the social issue and the system it exists in. This is a modern riff of Moreno’s Living Newspaper with the idea that the audience is involved in experiencing things from different perspectives. In 1920 and 1930 he opened the Impromptu Theatre in Carnegie Hall providing open weekly sessions to the public. I plan to produce this session at the Wellington Fringe Festival – taking sociodrama to the streets. Please join me as I develop this idea further with you.

Cissy is a Sociodramatist who is fired up by the power of relating to each other. Through her collective, Community Think, she engages in campaigns, place – based community development, large-scale community facilitation processes, workshops and supervision. Cissy loves working with the group to make the invisible, visible. She strongly believes the expertise is in the group.  With a huge heart, warm sense of humour and love of donuts and coffee, Cissy produces relatable and participatory experiences.

Thursday 18th January

Full Day Workshops

The Category of the moment – Richard Hall & Yvonne Shaw

• In psychodrama moments are concretised.
• To concretise something is to give it form, specificity, a
• To make it visible,
• To write it, mould it, depict it,
• To make sense of it.
• To perform it, sing it, shape it, turn it.
• To solidify what is ephemeral, what is inexpressible.
• To express it in order to take a step in a new direction.

We welcome you to participate in a group – centred psychodrama session led by Richard Hall, exploring significant moments together and valuing the possibilities of connection and learning after these recent years of restricted travel and limited gatherings. This day of psychodrama will be photographed by Yvonne Shaw, as part of her research towards a PhD in Fine Arts at Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland, investigating expressions of spontaneity in the therapeutic method of psychodrama. (Further information about the research will be provided at the conference. Participants will be required to give their consent to being part of the research. They will be emailed the photographs that might be used in the PhD thesis or exhibitions, two weeks after the session and will have an opportunity to withdraw any images).

Richard is a Counselling Psychologist and Psychodramatist. He is a trained special education consultant and a trained teacher of the deaf. Richard conducts training workshops in Canberra. He has run personal development groups for the general public for 28 years and has learnt to have an ease and flow with the Psychodramatic method. He is  warm and companionable and has a commitment to a humane world.

Am I different in my sexuality? A diversity in the sexuality garden – Dr Stylianos Lagarakis

In our sexual life garden, all of us had or have a flower that was different. We are afraid of it, we have a good relationship with it, we are in love with it. What matters the most is that this flower blooms. We all have different sexual phantasies, desires, wishes, ways. Let’s welcome it in our garden and allow ourselves on the psychodrama stage to experience its colourful fragrance.

Stylianos is a medical doctor with studies in social psychiatry, group analysis and psychodrama. He is a therapist, trainer, supervisor and director of the Centre of Athenian Psychodramatic Encounters (C.A.P.E.) in Athens, Greece, Founder of the Hellenic Summer Psychodrama Academy in Crete, and Member of the Board of the IAGP.

Let’s focus on the drama in psychodrama – Annette Fisher

This session will focus on the production of a drama, scene setting, maximisation, aesthetics, stage craft, imagination and storytelling. There will be dramas that involve all of these to ‘warm up’ the group to living enactments. The session is professional development designed to enliven the participants professional practice and personal life. I think of a psychodramatist as a living artist who embodies the psychodramatic method in all of their personal life and professional practice.

Annette is a TEP, a psychotherapist and an artist. She has been involved with psychodrama since 1970. As a trainee her trainers were fresh out of training in the USA with Jacob and Zerka Moreno. She was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to apply the method in many areas, acute psychiatric wards, outpatients, community development and organisational development. She has attended and presented at international conferences. As a psychotherapist her work includes individual psychotherapy and is involved with social justice. As an artist she has published a photo book and exhibits her work regularly.

Thursday Morning Sessions

Start with a scene: from Tar the movie – Don Reekie

Start With a Scene – View 12 minutes from Tar the movie of the “conducting masterclass”. It is a remarkable scene likely to open many vignettes through which to explore group and individual experiences. Participants can be expected to see a range of aspects of their lives shake out kaleidoscopically. They are likely to find empathy draws them in and find unexpected points of view that may personally challenge. Sociodramatic and psychodramatic enactments and role development are to be expected in the mix.

Don was born in 1935. Sociometry study in 1950’s and had training in 1965. First Sociodrama directing in 1972 in preparation for Arts Festival dance drama, first odd psychodrama 1973. Started directing in 1974. Started training properly with Max Clayton in 1979.

What do we miss? – Phillipa van Kuilenburg

We often sail through life, either living in the past or the future and do not spend sufficient time in the now. We turn to either people or to nature because they have already given themselves to us. To create a relationship requires us to live in the present, and involves us noticing in the moment and trusting what is received. In this session we will use psychodramatic production to firm up on our intention to be fully present, to notice when opportunities present themselves so we can be partners in the process.

Philippa is a Role Trainer, counsellor, supervisor and critical incident responder. Her work involves seeing individuals or couples for a variety of issues; and going out to support others post death, suicide, violent robbery etc., in the workplace as a trauma specialist.

Rekindling hope: a sociodramatic exploration – Jenny Hutt & Bev Hosking

Sociodrama provides a way to explore the impact of different worldviews. In this session we will consider “what ways of being and ideas about life can sustain us now?”  There is plenty to feel overwhelmed, despairing and fearful about. Yet there are perspectives, world views, which help us orient to this time in our human history: some ancient, some historical, some futuristic and some contemporary. These perspectives can inspire and refresh our view of where we are today and how we can contribute well to a humane and sustainable world. “Hope is a gift you don’t have to surrender, a power you don’t have to throw away.” Rebecca Solnit: Hope in the Dark.

This session will use sociometric and sociodramatic enactments to tap the experience and wisdom of the group and weave in ideas from contemporary literature

Jenny and Bev share a keen interest in sociodrama as a ‘third space’ (outside the home and the public arena) where participants can consider their experiences, have room to find out what they feel and think and develop resourcefulness for their ongoing work.

Jenny is a trainer, coach and facilitator and also enjoys writing and painting. She is a Sociodramatist, TEP and Director of Training at Psychodrama Australia’s Melbourne Campus, and works as an Associate with the Burbangana Group, an Aboriginal owned and managed consulting company.

Bev is a counsellor, supervisor and trainer who lives in Wellington Aotearoa New Zealand. She is a Role Trainer; TEP, and Executive Director of the PANZ Te Whanganui – a-Tara Wellington Campus. For many years Bev has been interested in exploring a range of creative approaches that promote social dialogue and the formation of cohesive communities.

Couples Therapy: Supervision & Practice – Hamish Brown

In this session I will model and then teach the supervision process I have developed for counsellors and psychotherapists working with couples. If you are a couple therapist supervisor, you will gain greater awareness of the place of role reversal in developing greater clinical insight in the supervision of couple therapists. If you are a couple’s therapist, you will deepen your appreciation and use of the psychodramatic method to work with your couple clients.

If you are an aspiring couple’s therapist, you will begin to develop a theoretical and practice orientation to couples therapy and experience a number of psychodramatic couples therapy techniques in practice.

Hamish has been a couple therapist for over twenty years, originally doing family court couple counselling and then working longer term in private practice.  He considers that the development and deepening of intimacy is of central importance as each couple find unique ways to express themselves emotionally and physically in the pursuit of a healthy sustaining relationship.

Thursday Afternoon Sessions

COVID and the Beauty Beast – Jane Maher

This workshop offers the opportunity to reflect together on experiences of beauty and ugliness in the context of the Covid Pandemic. These experiences will be explored in vignettes and probably in one longer drama. Opportunities to focus on strengthening spontaneity, creative solutions and sociometric links, despite suffering, will be created. You are invited to be a co – explorer and a co-creator in this session.

Jane is a Psychodrama Practitioner, a Clinical Family Therapist and a Mental Health Nurse working in the area of family, parent, child, teen individual and group work. For the first time in her life she is carefully establishing and nurturing a garden with many different beds.

Sociodrama Preparation – Elizabeth Synnot

This workshop has in mind those of you who want to improve your preparation for directing a leader – led sociodrama.

We will begin with identifying social issues as we form a work group.  Attention will be given to your own warm up and aspiration for the social concern you have in mind. You will undertake research into your topic of interest in small groups. You will begin to craft a warmup and map the subgroups and their world views/attitudes beliefs and values you anticipate.  Bring your phone or other such devices for researching on the internet during the session.

Informed by your research you will further craft a group warmup to this social concern.  Some of you will experiment with putting your leader – led warm up into practice including setting out the various subgroups you have identified.  Others will expand their capacity to conduct in-depth interviewing- for-role with those who hold perspectives that are repugnant or unfathomable.

It is likely we will discuss sociodramas’ purpose, inherent philosophy, etc.  Expect to be stimulated by one another’s unique approach to these preparations.

Elizabeth is a Sociodramatist whose current interest is in the complexity within the environment affecting the climate and the social impacts that have begun to unfold and scientists’ projections as environmental tipping points become revealed and felt.  Also, she mulls on the limits of our democratic and multi – national businesses to take bold, coordinated global action.

Intervening in our own warm – up – Dimitrios Papalexis

Moreno said, “We cannot be in action if we have not first warmed up to it.”
The warm – up phase of psychodrama can be applied to the way we warm up to life. After traumatic or challenging life events, one can often get stuck in unsatisfactory interactions, relationships and role patterns. Understanding our own warm-up during conflicted situations, gives us the ability to intervene in our warm-up. We can then take up an adequate role out of a variety of possible others.

As a participant, you will explore, in action, different ways you respond to challenging past or present encounters in your life and the way you may respond in the future. Slowing down and better understanding our own and other people’s warm-ups assists us to intervene in our own warm-up and to move beyond coping roles. The benefits are increased spontaneity and creativity in our lives as we discover new opportunities.

Dimitrios is a critical incident counsellor, community builder, consultant, and artist with many years of experience in mental health, disability, community development, and arts. He is an advanced trainee in the Sydney Campus and President of the NSW/ACT Region AANZPA Committee. Dimitrios is the founder of Soulgen, a social enterprise that partners with local government,  NGOs, schools and universities to enable healthy, connected, and empowered communities. He has been awarded a Do it Differently Award from Bayside Council and SESHLD for his innovative project “Everyone has a Story”, won the NSW 2019 Youth Worker of the Year Award and the Score More Foundation’s 2020 “Cause for Applause” appreciation award for citizens who made a difference in their community during COVID – 19. His passion lies in blending creative, community and healing arts for individual and social change.

The Relational Self: Revisiting the Social Atom and Tele – Rollo Browne & Dr Bona Anna

The relational self is the foundation of human functioning. We know from sociometry that an individual cannot be understood in isolation from the pattern and nature of relationships that surround them. This is known as their social and cultural atom. In this workshop, we will revisit the social atom, its relation to spontaneity and the often – misunderstood concepts of tele and projection. We will investigate how certain telic patterns continue to exert influence in a person’s current social and cultural atom, that is, their relational world. The goal is to reclaim the ability to live easily in conscious relationship, in the here and now.

Rollo is a Sociodramatist, and a TEP at the Sydney Campus of Psychodrama Australia for over 25 years. Watching a 2 – year-old become a relational being, with a still developing sense of self, has inspired a rethink about sociometric beginnings.

Bona is a Psychodramatist and TEP at the Sydney Campus of Psychodrama Australia. She has always been a relational being and has reworked her social atom many times in response to life events and her developmental journey.

Thursday Evening

Embodying AANZPA’s Vision: Life in the Regions – Cissy Rock

Cissy is a Sociodramatist and President of AANZPA.

Friday 19th January – Morning Sessions

Mai te ao Tūroa ki te ao Mārama … an encounter in te ao Māori. Reitu Cassidy, Megan Ellis & Cinnamon Boreham (Roopu Māori – Psychodrama Aotearoa).

Nau Mai, Haere Mai! 

Come, we welcome you to join us and together we will explore this unique experience with the aim of enriching your connection to Te Ao Māori – the Māori World.

To set the scene, we will combine our tikanga practice of karakia (intoned incantation, ritual chant), waiata (song, to sing), taonga puoro (traditional Māori instruments) with our psychodrama practice of sociometry, surplus reality, role reversal and concretisation. This workshop will guide you on a hikoi (journey) to sharpen one’s senses, from Te Ao Tūroa (The Natural World, here and now), through Te Kore (The Realm of Potential), through Te Pō (The Realm of Dreaming and Imagination) and out into Te Ao Mārama (The light and the future). In the words of Jacob Levy Moreno, ‘A meeting of two: eye to eye, face to face. And when you are near, I will tear your eyes out and place them instead of mine, and you will tear my eyes out and will place them instead of yours, then I will look at me with mine.’

This powerful quote holds the mauri of ‘encounter’ in psychodrama, where people truly exchange perspectives and experiences.

Te Kaha me te Wairua

Energy flows where attention goes.

Reitu Cassidy
Ngāi Takoto, Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi.
He uri tēnei nō Te Tai Tokerau. Born and raised in Ōtepoti. I’m a mother of two adult children and to my 15 yr old mokopuna, I’m ‘Nanny’. My experience of whānau is with a Māori Dad and a pākeha Mum, grounded in connection and whakawhanaungatanga.

I’m a strong advocate for tikanga Māori intervention, I live and work being unapologetically Māori. From this perspective I have experience in mental health, in supervision and group work. I’m a Kairaranga, weaving almost every day and I’m a psychodrama trainee, warming up to starting my thesis. Mauri Ora!

Megan Ellis
Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha
I’m a proud mokopuna of Awarua (Bluff) and Rakiura (Stewart Island), with my wairua deeply connected to Horomamae, one of my family’s ancestral muttonbirding islands. My Kāi Tahu mum is the guardian of all things whakapapa, and my pakeha Dad is all about hospitality and sharing. These values guide my life and work. For over three decades, I’ve travelled and lived across Aotearoa and the UK, wearing many pōtae (hats) – from program developer to group facilitator. My focus is empowering practitioners, teams, leaders, and communities,centred on the sacred kaupapa of whanaungatanga and manaakitanga. In the ‘90s, I discovered Psychodrama, now I’ve come full circle back to Ōtepoti (Dunedin) as a Psychodrama trainee. I’m an active member of my psychodrama community, committed to creating a safe indigenous space for Māori to be, do, and learn in psychodrama. Roopu Māori emerged as an idea at the 2020 AANZPA conference and continues to be nourished and nourishing. #WhanaungatangaWarrior

Cinnamon Boreham
Cinnamon (she/her) is of Waitaha, Kāti Mamoe and Kāi Tahu decent. Cinnamon is a Psychodramatist and a registered psychotherapist. She has trained within both Te Ao Māori (Te Korowai Aroha o Aotearoa) and mainstream University. Cinnamon has been working in the Dunedin community within the not – for-profit sector for the past 29 years. Her specialised field is working with people that have been affected by family violence. For 10 years she was the Manager of Stopping Violence Dunedin, an organisation where she still maintains strong links. Cinnamon has had several roles throughout her working life including Governance, Manager, Community Development, Group. She is currently practising as an independent Psychodramatist psychotherapist working in areas of trauma and abuse.

Doing it from the inside out: the five instruments – Don Reekie

Psychodrama always happens from the Inside Out. The Five Instruments found in Moreno’s “Psychodrama the First” (1946) are the starting point return to the core and find guidance from his “Introduction”. Participants can expect to return to the basic building blocks and explore many vistas of the sociometric methodologies of Moreno. There are endless possibilities to what can reasonably be accomplished in a brief time.

Don was born in 1935. Sociometry study in 1950’s and had training in 1965. First Sociodrama directing in 1972 in preparation for Arts Festival dance drama, first odd psychodrama 1973. Started directing in 1974. Started training properly with Max Clayton in 1979.

Deconstructing stereotypes and clinical application in working with Transgender and Non – Binary People – Kate Cooke

My purpose is to provide a way of viewing gender which avoids boxing people into stereotypes.  It also offers those attending the opportunity to explore their own identity, using concretization, maximization, and other psychodramatic techniques.

Kate is a cis – female, leaning into non binary but feels boxed in even saying that.  She likes a laugh but also likes a good think and hopes to share both in her workshop.

Reflecting on organisational life – Jean Mehrtens

I have been reflecting on my experiences of organisations through the lens of theories in use and espoused models.  This an invitation to share your experiences with the group, using aspects of the psychodrama method

As a dual citizen who seems to have settled in Australia due to strong attachments, and around the psychodrama community since 1997, Jean remains enlivened by the art and theory of the method, and it’s potential to bring change into being.

Love unfolding: a story in action – Simon McLellan

In this captivating tale, Simon embarks on a journey spanning centuries, weaving together a narrative that begins with a philosopher in ancient Greece, and ends in the modern day about how love can thrive. With unwavering passion, Simon explores a timeless philosophical inquiry, inviting the audience to actively participate and contribute. From giving life to the story as an active participant, expect to find a profound healing within the collective.

Simon is a philosopher of education, a musician and psychodrama trainee living in Otautahi/Christchurch. He loves to perform.

The deep well of choice criteria in a social change environment – Helen Phelan

Recently Australia has been involved in what I call “pick – a-side” processes, where major social change proposals were put to our nation that appeared to be a simple choice. Easy and clear – right?

When it came to the crucial votes, I felt I was quite clear and committed. I voted. Afterwards, I struggled to reverse roles with those who had voted differently – I felt distant from many and heard myself at the time mumble something like “can’t they see what it’s about!”

When reflecting on my own warmup to YES/NO, IN/OUT decisions, I noticed I was wanting some other choices or at least a deeper question reflecting the significance of the change. I also began to appreciate some other points of view I had not considered.

I noticed that it was not because others chose the opposite to my vote, but because of the extensive range of reasons given. I realized the deep and hidden criteria that had been present, quite different from the first ‘spoken’ reason.

I invite you to explore your responses and those of others and maybe awaken to ‘hidden’ criteria in situations you have experienced.

The workshop includes a short paper and presentation in action, and open sharing of these expressions of our connections in moments of challenge and change.

Helen is a Sociometrist and Trainer, Educator, Practitioner in Training (TEPit) and lives in Perth. She has experience in organisational, personal, and professional development in many contexts, with more recent focus on topics related to social justice and human rights, particularly discrimination issues.

Friday Afternoon Sessions

A universal and transformative god – concept – Kevin Franklin

How might we understand J.L. Moreno’s God – concept and evolution of the creator, both in the times when he wrote about it and now? I have grappled with this dilemma in writing my book ‘Humanity and Human Sexuality: The Origin and Nature of Sexual Preference’ (in press). It is written for a Role Theory and Factor-S naïve audience, and thus I have had to cross a wide knowledge and practice gap between the psychodrama community and my chosen audience. This paper addresses that gap, in presenting an updated understanding of Moreno’s ‘highest possible concept’.

Kevin is a Psychodramatist and T.E.P., Director of Training of the Psychodrama Australia Perth Campus and a retiring Clinical Psychologist. He is a member of the leadership group for PACFA’s soon to open College of Creative and Experiential Therapies. He also describes himself as ‘still a practicing human being’.

The companion double – Diana Jones & Carol Mattinson

Well – chosen sociometry criteria enable us to find companions who share our experience. Mutuality as peer confidants brings vitality to our relationships. This differs from our therapeutic relationships where mutuality is based on different criteria. There, it is our function to companion our clients.

In this workshop we want to explore the idea that our capacity to suspend our wants and desires and enter the reality of the other, as the double, not only brings vitality to the relationship but increases our compassion as we get an idea of the forces acting on and within the other person. By applying our capacity to double our peers in everyday life, this mutual understanding can become the foundation we build upon, increase cohesion, and all beings benefit.

Diana is a Sociometrist, TEP, and Chair of Psychodrama Aotearoa New Zealand. She is an author and leadership coach and advisor. Diana lives in Wellington, Aotearoa NZ.

Carol works in private practice as a counsellor in Palmerston North New Zealand. She came to counselling through her previous roles as a nurse and prior to that a Montessori preschool teacher.

Spaces of difference – Yvonne Shaw & Sue Christie

How might photographs of psychodrama allow a viewer to enter into someone’s world sensitively? The nature of the photograph, its ambiguity, its ability to mirror, might provoke curiosity as opposed to judgment.

In this workshop we look at printed photographs from psychodrama workshops photographed in 2022 and 2023, and explore what warm up these images produce.

Yvonne is an Auckland – based artist and a Lecturer in Photography at Unitec Institute of Technology/Te Pūkenga, Auckland. In 2019 she commenced training with the Auckland Training Centre for Psychodrama. She is a current trainee in Auckland and an Associate member of AANZPA. In 2021 Yvonne commenced PhD research at Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland, investigating the ways in which photography and psychodrama intersect, particularly with regard to spontaneity and the category of the moment.

Sue is Auckland based and has worked with teams and individuals across education, union and health sectors to build connection, be present in the face of challenges and provide quality service. She is a recently certified sociodramatist who has a long and valued association with psychodrama and AANZPA over many years.

Sex chronicles: Learning to take sex seriously with us and our clients – Peter Howie

It is valuable to consider two types of communication being essential for intimate relationships to flourish. General communication: discussing kids, the home, work, feelings, holidays, family, and other subjects. And sexual communication: discussing desire, genitals, interests, eroticism, play, touch, pleasure, pain, and satisfaction. Research suggests that sexual communication has a positive impact on sexual and relationship satisfaction. Generally speaking, most therapists and their clients are uncomfortable discussing sex. Research suggests around 50% of therapy clients come to therapy to also discuss unhappy sex lives. There is no research that shows any direct correlation between good therapeutic outcomes and improved sex lives. In my view, it is important that AANZPA members be thoroughly informed about this area.

This workshop will work playfully with participants to begin to examine discomforts, worries, concerns, and dilemmas with the whole area of sex. Concretisation will be used to examine what might be getting in the way. Sociodrama will be used to examine the social forces that come into play and make this such a fraught area. I will also include short video input sessions that will up – skill participants and create great mirth and laughter.

For over 20 years, Peter has been developing deep learning experiences for adults. He is a group therapist, Psychodramatist and TEP. He has a PhD in how people warm – up to new experiences and situations, and how this effects how we learn. Peter has nearly 30 years of training experience, and a practice of working therapeutically with groups and individuals using creative methods such as psychodrama, drama, and interpersonal engagement. More recently he has trained as a sexological bodyworker and added the title of adult sex educator to his work.

Exploring our connections within our community: Cosmically and galactically – Noa Gross

When we gaze up at the night sky, we often see stars as distant, twinkling lights. We take their presence for granted, much like how we interact with our families and communities. However, if we take a closer look, we can unveil hidden worlds, discover new colours, and experience sensations we never knew existed. In both domains – the outer space and the interpersonal – there’s a vast universe waiting to be explored. Through deeper exploration, we can build meaningful connections, foster understanding, and create communities founded on shared needs, values, and a sense of belonging. Let’s embark on a transformative journey together.

Join me for a captivating and enlightening 3 – hour experiential workshop that will open doors to a deeper understanding of the communities we live in and those that surround us. In this unique workshop, we will incorporate therapeutic cards, Psychodrama techniques, especially sociometry and the power of our imaginary telescopes.

Noa is a clinical Psychotherapist with PACFA  & Psychodrama & Art Therapist. She gained practical experience working in private practice and schools since 1999 working with adults, families and children of all ages from a variety of cultural and socio – economic backgrounds. She runs workshops world-wide on the use of therapeutic cards.

What’s going on in your team? Bernadette Rutyna

Sociometry, measures the “socius”—the interpersonal connection between two people (Moreno 1951). Underpinning the psychodramatic method, sociometry shines a light on the relationships in groups and provides multiple lenses for leaders and team members to build their self and other awareness, learn from each other, increase creativity and support effective decisions.

Applying sociometry in work settings highlights the natural groupings and social hierarchies within the team and helps to recognise the informal leaders, subgroups, and potential isolates. In this experiential session you will be invited to explore the application of sociometry in organisational settings. Together we will employ sociograms to delve into team dynamics, discover what aids or hinders communication, identify levels of influence, unearth hidden criteria for decision – making, and learn how these factors contribute to, or block collaboration. By working with the sociometry in a group, leaders and teams can uncover their strengths, notice and shift group norms, recognise potential issues, and create a thriving and productive work cultures.

Come along warmed up to your own experiences leading and working in teams, and applying sociometry in your context

Bernadette has her own consulting business, coaching and developing leaders, building effective teams, mediating and resolving team conflicts and creating sustainable change in diverse organisational settings. She designs and facilitates experiential development programmes in a broad range of organisational settings and supports leaders to create thriving teams. Bernadette is an advanced trainee who applies her psychodramatic practice within consulting and development work in the public and not for profit sectors, and in communities.

Friday Evening: Chalkboard Concert (MC Neil Simmons)

Sunday 21st January

Sunday Morning Sessions

Evoking the group in individual therapy – Charmaine McVea

The strength of the group in psychodrama is that the protagonist has auxiliaries – doubles, mirrors, people who take up roles, who accept, challenge, go against, bring something new to the protagonist …. We move beyond the client – therapist dyad by bringing the protagonist’s world into the here and now. In this session we will explore bringing the dynamics of the group into the individual therapy setting. There will be opportunities for participants to bring forward their interests and experiences. Possible areas of exploration include producing scenes and action, matching the intervention to the person’s stage of development, creating mirroring and doubling experiences that evoke healthy elements of the person’s social and cultural atom, and working beyond transference. The intention is to revitalise our use of psychodrama in individual work.

Charmaine is Director of Training with the Psychodrama Australia Sydney Campus. She has a private practice as a Counselling Psychologist in Brisbane, and runs occasional psychodrama groups open to the public. Her interest is in working with people who want to bring their vitality to the fore.

Tasting life twice, a workshop for writers – Diana Jones

Writers taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect (Anais Nin). Learn to make each bite something to savour. In this workshop we will bring a series of moments to life for both us and our readers. With a variety of writers’ lenses, we will bring our insights, wisdom, descriptions, technical expertise, knowledge, perspectives, and our emotional responses into our reflections. Ten ingredients for compelling writing will be given. Bring something to write with – pen and paper, laptop, or iPad.

Diana is a Sociometrist, TEP, and Chair of Psychodrama Aotearoa New Zealand. She is an author and leadership coach and advisor. Diana lives in Wellington, Aotearoa NZ.

Endings and what we take forward in our lives – Richard Hall

This session will focus on endings, and the finishing off of aspects of our lives.  We will also consider what we take forward into the new year that will keep us connected with vision and that which makes our lives worthwhile.

I will lead us in dramatic enactment and conversations that lead to these purposes.

Richard is a Counselling Psychologist and Psychodramatist. He is a trained special education consultant and a trained teacher of the deaf. Richard conducts training workshops in Canberra. He has run personal development groups for the general public for 28 years and has learnt to have an ease and flow with the Psychodramatic method. He is  warm and companionable and has a commitment to a humane world.

Everyone has a backstory – Sara Crane

In our lives we are frequently challenged to reverse roles with people who seem very different to us.  Using interview for role and an active imagination allows us to step more easily into the world of others. The purpose of this workshop is to increase our tolerance and ease of role reversing with people we don’t want to role reverse with. This topic has developed particularly from working with the young people employed by the justice system who are confronted with the terrified and anxious and have little sense of their impact on others.

Sara is a Psychodramatist, writer and llama farmer.  She is the PANZ Ōtautahi and Ōtepoti Campus Director of Training. Sara lives and works in Te Tai Tokerau Aotearoa.

Staying Vital – Christo Patty

This session will focus on how we can sustain and nourish ourselves in the different contexts of our lives as we go forward. We’ll warm up to what’s being gained as we’ve travelled with companions though the conference. We will also consider what are the life – giving roles we can count on as well as what’s new in our functioning that can sustain us and open us up to staying vital in the world. Christo will lead us in enactments and conversations, and we will journey together, as fellow travellers in each other’s lives.

Christo has been working as a psychologist and organisation development consultant since the early 90’s. He is an Associate Member of AANZPA and an advanced trainee with the Psychodrama Australia Brisbane Campus. He regularly works with individuals, couples and families, providing counselling in his rooms in Coorparoo. Christo provides supervision and consultancy services to individuals, groups and organisations.