Autumn School of Psychodrama, 2, 3 & 4 May 2014

Melbourne, Australia 2, 3 & 4 May 2014

The focus of this particular school is on the philosophy, theory and application of the Morenian psychodrama method.  Sessions are conducted by practitioners and advanced trainees who apply their art in a variety of fields.  We will be working in small and large groups commencing with a sociometric warm up and activities on the Friday evening.  The essential element of the psychodrama method is to be in the ‘here and now’, present with self and other.  The ability to express ourselves adequately in work and life involves accessing a range of roles, which in turn require spontaneity and creativity.  Thinking, feeling and action, psychodrama involves the whole person.  This Autumn School is designed for trainees of psychodrama and other professional people working in health, education, organisations and pastoral care.

There will be two concurrent sessions running twice or four times per day in either a small or large group.  It is essential that participants are able to attend on the Friday evening as this event significantly sets the scene for the next two days.  Presenters include: Sue Daniel, Lethe (Eriha) Gaskin & Katrina Gaskin, Helen Fryer, Jil Toovey, Sharni Page-Cameron, John De Bono, Marie Watt and Danielle Forer.

Friday 2 May, Registration at 6 pm, gather at 7 pm for 7.30 -10.30 pm

Saturday 3 & Sunday 4 May, 9 am - 6 pm

Venue: The Psychodrama Institue of Melbourne
155 Langridge St
Collingwood

Fees: $250.00 ($200.00 MPS members) Deposit $50 due Friday 18 April

A One-day fee includes the essential Friday evening session: $150 ($100 MPS members)

BYO lunch.  Morning and afternoon teas, freshly brewed coffee, juice and a selection of fine teas are included.  For a brochure contact the Administrator: 0410 536 791 or pim@netspace.net.au

Keran Howe invites you to the event "Real Women Showcase", Monday 3 March 2014

Real Women Showcase

Presented by Simone Flanagan in collaboration with Women with Disabilities Victoria as part of the Queen Victoria Centre's International Women's Day Festival Hub Events.

Woman noun

the female human being (distinguished from man)

Disability noun

the interaction between impairments and environmental, attitudinal, and social barriers.

Artist noun

a person who creates or performs as a profession or hobby.

Celebrating the unique and diverse art created by women with disabilities and showcasing their role as cultural innovators.

 A selection of short vignettes, spoken word, comedy and musical performances.

Featuring performances by:

Stella Young, Eva Sifis, Jax Jacki Brown, Emma J Hawkins, Zhen Chew, Anna Seymour, Heidi Everett and more.

The performance will run for approximately 70 minutes.  There will be a pop up bar onsite operating before and after the performance.

When: 6:00pm (for a 6:30pm start) Monday 3 March

Where: The Victoria Room, Queen Victoria Womens Centre 210 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne

Tickets: $15/$10

Bookings:  http://tinyurl.com/realwomeniwd or at the door if still available.

Venue is wheelchair accessible and the showcase will be Auslan interpreted and Audio Described.

Please advise of any access requirements at time of booking.

If you are having trouble booking, would like more information or would like to volunteer on the night, please contact: simoneflanagan@gmail.com

Opening Night of PIM, Friday 28 February 2014

A warm Welcome to MPS Members, PIM trainees, practitioners and Interested folk,

 Hi,

A new year is like a new page in your school book, the blank pages beckoning for new and creative endeavours, scribbles, pictures and new learning.  I remember the plastic map of Australia, with which I could copy the outline and put in all the states and their floral emblems.  I remember the new wooden ruler and coloured pencils and paintbox.  What a world of imagination these things inspired!  Only to start...  With this in mind, I am writing to invite you to the Opening of our Institute for 2014.  This event is for those interested in the psychodrama method as well as our trainees and practitioners.  It is being held on Friday, 28 February 2014.  We will gather from 7 p.m for a 7.30 p.m start and conclude at 10.30 p.m. Light refreshments are included.  If you are driving, it’s probably a good idea to come a little earlier to find a parking spot, either in Langridge Street, Hoddle Street or the surrounding side streets of Islington and Cromwell. 

RSVP required by Thursday, 27 February 2014.

With best wishes,

Sue Daniel

1st Reading Group for 2014, Friday lunchtime (1 hour) 12.45 - 1.45 pm

 Moderator: Sue Daniel

 Excerpt from "Who Shall Survive" for discussion...

Moreno wrote in the Preludes to his opus, “Who Shall Survive?”

“The advent of sociometry cannot be understood without appraising my presociometric background and the historic-ideological setting in the Western world, during and after the First World War. Marxism and psychoanalysis, the two opposites, each had spent their theoretic bolt, the one with Nikolai Lenin's "State and Revolution" (1917), the other with Sigmund Freud's "Civilization and Its Discontents" (1929).  The two opposites had one thing in common: they both rejected religion, they both disavowed the idea of a community which is based on spontaneous love, unselfishness and sainthood, on positive goodness and naive cooperativeness.  I took a position contradictory to both, the side of positive religion. The fact that Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism and other religions of the past have had limited success did not prove that the concept of religion itself had failed.  My contention was that religion should be tried again, a religion of a new sort, its inspirations modified and its techniques improved by the insights which science has given us-and by no means excluding some of the insights which Marxism and psychoanalysis have brought forth.

My position was threefold: 

first, the hypothesis of spontaneity-creativity as a propelling force in human progress, beyond and independent from libido and socio-economic motives - which does not deny the fact that they are frequently interwoven, but which does deny the contention that they are merely a function and a derivative; 

second, the hypothesis of having faith in our fellowmen's intentions, outside of obedience resulting from physical and legalistic coercion, the hypothesis of love and mutual sharing as a powerful, indispensable working principle in group life; 

and third, the hypothesis of a superdynamic community based upon these principles which can be brought to realization through newer techniques.  

It may be said that I tried to do through sociometry what "religion without science" has failed to accomplish in the past and what "science without religion" has failed to accomplish in Soviet Russia.

All the cultural and social techniques, which I developed in the course of years, have been motivated to serve this purpose. This position was expressed first in the creation of a religious group with the friend of my youth, Chaim Kellmer, and was later reported in my Philosophy of the Here and Now (1918) and the Words of the Father (Das Testament des Voters, 1920). The total misunderstanding of my original position which I have never abandoned, and its disregard in many religious as well as scientific circles has not hindered me in continuing to develop the technical innovations which, I hoped, were gradually to establish this new world.  It is curious and it may require some explanation that it is these techniques which made sociometry famous and which have been universally accepted, whereas its underlying philosophy of life has been relegated to the dark corners of library shelves or entirely pushed aside.”

Sue's focus for this discussion is on the paragraph in blue (her editing) where Moreno puts forward three hypotheses.  What do you understand by these hypotheses?

Where is the Lunchtime Reading Group being held?  PIM at 155 Langridge St, Collingwood

Cost: $10.00 donation toward resourcing the 'Zerka T. Moreno' library at PIM.

Tea and freshly brewed coffee provided.  Please bring your own lunch.

Enquiries: Text Sue on 0417 586 791