Relationships: the good, the bad, and the ugly

Relationships are fantastic when they work. Problematic when they don’t. And devastating in how they can consume our lives and leave us bewildered and feeling alone, lost, or wondering why.

This face-to-face weekend workshop running Friday night, Saturday afternoon, and Sunday morning, is just the thing for a quick relationship renovation protocol. A relationship renovation protocol just means checking the metaphorical oil and water levels on your relationship, tightening nuts and changing washers as required. It means updating maps and GPS systems to make sure all the software is up to date and that you know how to work the system.

The workshop will use experiential action methods to give you the ability to really slow things down and pay attention to the many and various ways your relationship is functioning. We will consider together a range of communication styles some of which you’ll know and some that are new. We’ll look at a range of learning preferences that highlight what you pay attention to and what you often don’t notice or think relevant. Together we’ll consider some of the different ways we learned to communicate as children, teens, and adults and see what still works and what needs tossing out. Using sociometry and psychodrama and active group participation will allow a creative playful approach to what is often more like a battlefield.

This workshop will suit single folks, couples, and people in relationships coming on their own. As one participant commented ‘I’m surprised at how much my mother changed after I did that work with you!’

So the relationships we can work with may be intimate partner ones, potential partners, parents with children and vice versa, in-laws, workplace relations, bosses and on it goes. The work may be about forgiving the unforgiveable, relinquishing the past, or developing hope for the future. I take on all comers in this area. The workshop won’t change the world but it will change how you view the world, how you view your relationships, and give you some real steps to take forward in your life.

I have been learning about and working with groups for close to 40 years, specifically using group work and psychodrama and deep learning processes, all of which might be called 'action methods'. These action methods work because they offer a straightforward way in, when words aren’t enough. Come and join the play and find out about the power of learning with peers and in group settings when the processes are strongly contained and safety is high. All that is required is an active interest in learning new and novel ways of working collaboratively with others.