Training Residential: Spontaneity, Emergence and Ethics in Psychodrama Practice (4 days)

with Hilde Knottenbelt and Vivienne Thomson

Spontaneity, Emergence and Ethics in Psychodrama Practice

What keeps you steady and flexible in relating to emergence and unfolding processes in the context of psychodrama practice?

What enables you to sustain a warm up to systems thinking in the production of dramas?

What does ethical practice look like in working with the unfolding life of the group and in the process of directing dramas?

On this workshop we will address these questions as we consider the ways in which structure, an openness to change, principles of practice and psychodrama techniques come together in creating dynamic group experiences.

We will engage with principles that support the development of spontaneity in the protagonist and the group.  We will also foreground systems thinking and our ability to bring about the production of systems in dramas.

Participants will be relating to ethical practice in the context of psychodrama. At times this may mean engaging with fleeting and seemingly inconsequential moments in the course of directing dramas or leading groups. These moments may be experienced as a felt sense, a moment of doubt or hesitation, and they may reveal what we’re inclined to walk past or move on from as directors and group leaders because the complexity seems too difficult to parse in the moment.

Who’s it for?

This workshop is for psychodrama trainees who have completed foundation level psychodrama training. Participants will have already generated experiences of the psychodrama stage as a living dynamic space in which to rewrite existing narratives, to play and to experiment. You will have been engaged in active supervised practice as a director, have experience of auxiliary work and be ready to deepen your learning.

Vivienne Thomson

Vivienne is a Sociodramatist and Trainer Educator Practitioner (TEP) based at PANZ Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland campus. She has been involved in psychodrama training since 1990 and is currently Secretary of the AANZPA Board of Examiners.

Following a career in teaching, which included leading an alternative school, Vivienne established a training and consulting company in the 1980s which continues today. She has used her experience in psychodrama to develop innovative approaches to her work which have led to significant organisational developments in New Zealand and overseas. 

Vivienne provides supervision and mentoring to individuals enabling them to apply their talents in their particular chosen field of work. She lives on Waiheke Island off the coast of Auckland in Aotearoa New Zealand, enjoys playing the piano, spending time with family and friends and being involved in entrepreneurial ventures.

Hilde Knottenbelt

Hilde is a Psychodramatist and Trainer, Educator, Practitioner (TEP) and a member of the AANZPA Board of Examiners. She has been on the Melbourne teaching staff since 2000 and is coordinator of the training group at the Melbourne Campus. She has over 40 years' experience as a teacher, trainer and educator in experiential learning. Hilde works in private practice as a counsellor, supervisor and coach with a range of people including creative professionals.