Socio June 2019

NEWSLETTER

EDITION TWO

JUNE 2019

for the Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand Psychodrama Association (AANZPA)
 
 

Welcome to this Edition of Socio

Kia ora
Welcome
Kua tae mai te makariri
Kei te heke mai ngā roimata a Rangi 
The tears of Rangi are descending upon me
 

Deep Winter

This cold time of the year slowed down but did not stop plant growth. Animals such as Echidnas were breeding, birds nesting. The flats near the rivers and creeks were often flooded; and the low lands generally were wet and cold, and unsuitable for camping, so people moved to the best sheltered spots on the uplands, where they were able to catch koalas, possums, and wombats, and to find grubs in the trees. People constructed good bark WILLAMS (shelters) and kept fires burning for warmth. They wrapped themselves in rugs made from possum skins.

(Monash University site: Melbourne’s Six Seasons)
 

Many thanks to contributors Simon Gurnsey, David Cartwright, Diana Jones and Daniel Sowelu Through Katherine Howard. 
PLEASE NOTE : crisp written responses to items in Socio are gratefully received by the editor – if you wish to express yourself please submit it.
CHRISTCHURCH CONFERENCE 2020
Planning for next year’s Conference is happening!  Executive meeting the Conference committee in the Old Library at College House in May.

From David Cartwright

The meeting was held at the Conference venue, College House, which is one of the University of Canterbury’s residential halls. These photos were taken in the library, one of the rooms available for our use.
College House is the oldest university college in Aotearoa New Zealand. This site was built between 1964-67 and was designed by Warren and Mahoney,  their ‘well-mannered modernism’ design winning the New Zealand Institute of Architects’ (NZIA) Gold Medal in 1969 and the NZIA Enduring Award in 1999. The buildings comprise a host of interesting and quite beautiful spaces, rooms, and art works, with two grand pianos. We anticipate this conference venue will be very suitable for our needs.

http://www.collegehouse.org.nz/about-college-house 
 

During the meeting the Executive endorsed the conference committee’s theme, budget, and focus on biculturalism and sustainability.
We anticipate this conference venue will be very suitable for our needs and we are looking forward to hosting you here beginning January 22nd, 2020.
 
NEW ZEALAND HONOUR

As reported by Diana Jones on FB:

Congratulations Dr Robert Crawford on your New Zealand Order of Merit award. So well deserved for your endless passion, dedication, wisdom and knowledge. Here is the citation. Wonderful.

CRAWFORD, Dr Robert John Mackay

For services to mental health and addiction services

Dr Robert Crawford was the Superintendent of the Queen Mary Hospital in Hanmer Springs, a Residential Alcohol and Drug Treatment Centre, from 1976 to 1991.

Dr Crawford brought an innovative and bold approach to treating people with addictions, introducing ground-breaking educational, physical and psychotherapeutic models for recovery, such as psychodrama. Under his leadership, Queen Mary Hospital became a centre of excellence for expanding the treatment modalities for families affected by addition, and the training of health professionals and others working nationally in treatment and rehabilitation. He established a successful Kaupapa Māori/Taha Māori programme, Te Aroha o to Hau Angiangi, which provided a model of cultural healing. The programme ran from 1990 to 2003 and influenced and encouraged the development of Māori treatment services in New Zealand. He also authored a number of publications and served in various national governance and advisory roles, including on the treatment committee of the Alcoholic Liquor Advisory Council, the Medical Society on Alcoholism, and the Doctors Health Advisory Service. In 1999 he was appointed Director of the Christchurch Institute for Training in Psychodrama. In 2008 Dr Crawford was awarded Distinguished Membership of the Australian and New Zealand Psychodrama Association.
 
LORNA DI LOLLO

Daniel Sowelu’s post to FB
I wish to pay my deepest respects by acknowledging the passing of the great Psychodramist Lorna Di Lollo, who one month ago left her body peacefully on the morning of May 6th. Lorna was not only an awesome human being and therapist, she and her partner Grant were, and still are, the centre of a large and loving community of friends, a reflection of their tremendous generosity of spirit. I feel enormously grateful that I, and my family are a part of this community and that my three boys grew up under that umbrella of wisdom and benevolence provided by Lorna and Grant.

Not only was Lorna a dear friend but an exceptional mentor and an inspirational group facilitator. Her multi protagonist psychodrama groups were a wild and liberating experience, the thought of which still brings a smile to my face. She set a high standard of permission giving, some of which fortunately got absorbed into my own groups and trainings. As I explained to my current group of experiential astrology trainees, Lorna is one of the great elders in our therapeutic lineage.

While she flies free now, I hope that her legacy keeps reverberating onwards through the next generations of astro-therapists and facilitators.

SUPERVISED PRACTITIONERS’ GROUP

1-3 MARCH,2019
Chris Hosking and twelve practitioners gathered at Eden Park Views for an action filled weekend.  I was one of them. Kate Cooke organised and coordinated this event.  We came from New South Wales, Victoria and New Zealand.  We came together and laughed, cried, ate, sang, danced, explored, heard, saw, worked, learnt, experienced the fullness of creative living and left.  
Kate organised the singing and dancing as well as the event.
A Teaser for 2021
This may be a beautiful object we admire in 2021.