The PIM Library

There are three new papers in the library, the creation of three advanced trainees:

John De Bono, Exploring Shadow in the Disability Field Through Psychodramatic Perspectives.
Kate Cordukes, Through a Window, a story and personal reflection on mothering.
Gavin O'Loughlin, A Celebration of My Engagement with Animals.

All papers, books and theses are available for borrowing for two weeks.

An Interview with Zerka Moreno

Zerka Moreno will be interviewed live at 7 PM EST (New York time) this Wednesday on Progressive Radio, by Jon Rappaport. In Melbourne, the interview can be heard live at 11 a.m Thursday morning. The interview is available throughout the US and world wide.


THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25th, 11am (Melbourne, Australia)
Go to:
www.ProgressiveRadioNetwork.com and click on the listen button.

"Henry's Eating Junk Food Again": Living Through Adolescence with Sue Daniel

Theatre of Spontaneity - 2010

OCTOBER - Psychodrama Training Workshop

Trainer: Sue Daniel

Saturday & Sunday, 10 & 11 October from 10 a.m - 5.30 p.m both days

This two-day intensive seminar demonstrates a method that enables and promotes vibrant leadership, mutual relationships and encounters of substance. The focus is on deepening and widening our ability to direct and be auxiliaries to one another in this process. The workshop is for trainees, trainers, group leaders and practitioners who are interested in furthering their knowledge and experience of psychodrama and sociometry.

Fee: $320.00 (Deposit $50.00 due by Friday, 26 September)

Email: pim@netspace.net.au

Theatre of Spontaneity - Sunday 30 August

Last Sunday of each month

February to November from 6 – 8 p.m

Guest Leader: Nikki Alderman

The Moreno Psychodrama Society and PIM host the Theatre of Spontaneity on the last Sunday of each month except April. Using sociodrama, psychodrama and a host of creative applications of the method, these monthly events provide an opportunity for people to meet and connect with other likeminded people interested in exploring world, environment, community or cultural events, relationships and values.

Dates: Feb. 22, Mar. 29, May 31, Jun. 28, Jul. 26, Aug. 30, Sep. 27, Oct. 25 & Nov. 29.

Fee: $20.00 ($15.00 for members of MPS) includes light refreshments

Personal Development Groups October 2009

“Exploring your Path”


4 Monday evenings:
5 – 26 October
from 6 – 9 p.m

Director: Sue Daniel

This group is for people who want to explore and develop abilities and roles that are conducive to expressing oneself and to having satisfying and vital relationships in work and life. There is an opportunity to focus on unfinished business, minor conflicts of living, thereby creating opportunities to develop new roles and perspectives. This course is for those who want to explore and enter into the deeper aspects of their relationship with themselves and others and look at that which might be holding them back from achieving their full potential. An interview is essential for applicants new to the method and group process.

Fee: $160.00 (Deposit $50.00 due by 28 September 2009)
Venue: The Psychodrama Institute of Melbourne, 155 Langridge St, Collingwood

Maximum Number in Group: 8 - 10

Personal Development Weekend

"Happiness and Health in Work and Life"

Saturday & Sunday, 24 & 25 October 2009

10.30 a.m - 5.30 p.m both days

Leader: Sue Daniel

This group is for people who want to develop abilities and roles that are conducive to living healthy and happy lives, and, to have satisfying and vital relationships. There will be opportunity to complete unfinished business, to explore minor conflicts of living and to create new roles and perspectives.

This weekend is for thsoe who want to explore and enter into the deeper aspects of their relationships with self and others.

Fee: $200.00 (Deposit $50.00 due by 12 October)
Venue: PIM, 155 Langridge St, Collingwood

Sue Daniel is a consulting psychologist and psychotherapist in private practice and the Director of the Psychodrama Institute of Melbourne. She conducts workshops in Australia and abroad working with people, communities, institutes, universities and organisations.

For enquiries telephone (03) 9416 3779

New Articles in the Library - available after 21 September

1. Scott Kellogg: Dialogical encounters: Contemporary perspectives on "Chairwork" in psychotherapy.

2. The Sword of Damocles: Application of Psychodrama and Group Psychotherapy methods to some of the social, psychological and emotional issues associated with HIV-Aids

3. Patricia Green - "Exploring the Notion of Tele Within and Beyond the Directing Experience". Paper - 2009 PIM Library, No.82.

Congratulations to Patricia Green who has achieved the accreditation of Psychodrama-Assistant.

PIM NEWS - June/July 2009

I am glad to hear (you can find them in this blog) from Linda Harrington and Bob Cummings and also recently from Margaret Cunningham, all of whom have been deeply effected by the fire on February 7, this year. I feel a lot for them as they continue to heal and face all of the things that have to be faced, with courage. I am glad too that they know that their community of psychodramatists supports them and surrounds them with love. We were recently delighted to hear that Linda has a new job, in her neck of the woods, and wish her well.

Our Community
PIM is part of a larger community of psychodramatists called the Moreno Psychodrama Society, and this in turn is part of a larger community of psychodramatists worldwide. Psychodrama is pretty much practised on every continent, and within these, in hundreds of countries. If you are reading this blog you have joined the MPS either as Friend of MPS, a trainee of PIM or as an accredited psychodramatist with PIM (Psychodrama Institute of Melbourne) or PIA (Psychodrama Institute of Aotearoa).

The structure of our community is based on mutual role relationships, and creativity and spontaneity, following the Morenian psychodrama model introduced by the founder of the psychodrama method and group psychotherapy, Jacob Levy Moreno (pictured below).

Within our community is a Board of Psychodrama which attends to assessments and practicums and ethics, two training Institutes PIM and PIA, and the Moreno Psychodrama Society (MPS).

The Moreno Society is a body of people who want to take psychodrama out into the world with conferences and other events; social and professional, and by making relationships with other organisations in Australia and overseas and with people in our society. We have a library of articles, journals and books dating back to 1914.

Joining MPS gives you a body to belong to which is a professional body and a community body. Those practicing psychodrama are required to be a member so that their professional affiliation is seen by the public and their professional peers. As a member and accredited psychodramatist each receives a practice certificate for one year on the payment of their subscription. The Moreno Psychodrama Society is an affiliate organisation of the IAGP (International Association of Group Psychotherapy and Group Processes), the founder also being J. L. Moreno.

I am looking forward to developing a Moreno Photo gallery for inclusion on our website in the near future but for now here is a picture of Moreno (above left) and his widow, Zerka Moreno (left) (with Gillian Blackwell on her left). Zerka turned 92 on the 13th of June and is practising individual and group psychodrama in her home in Charlottesville, USA.

Theatre of Spontaneity
The Theatre of Spontaneity continues to be well attended and of increasing interest to those in our wider community. John De Bono and Keran Howe conducted the evening on Sunday 31 May. The Practicum group continue to head up the Theatre of Spontaneity and keep coming up with new ideas for the sessions. The group consists of Gavin O'Loughlin, Liliana Melone, Patricia Green, Kate Cordukes, Rachael Zyznikow, Keran Howe and John De Bono. The suppers continue to be a source of pleasure, with gluten free and other delights. Do come a bit earlier so we can process all of the registrations and get started by 6 p.m. Normally the sessions go until 8 p.m.
Dates for June and July, Sundays 28 June and 26 July at PIM.

Elective Workshop

The Elective one-day Workshop "Explore Your Dreams through Psychodrama" led by Marie Watt is on Saturday 27 June from 10 a.m to 5.30 p.m. Registrations closed on Friday 12 June. The workshop is full however there is a list in case of cancellations. Please confirm if you have elected to do this workshop before Thursday 18 June. Contact the PIM office on 9416 3779. Click on picture at left for a closer view.


Optimism - One-Day Conference
At the side of this blog you can find the blog for the conference, just click on. There have been updates, with description of program, including workshop leaders and session descriptions and registration. The conference has engendered much interest so much so that we intend to hold further one-day conferences and symposiums in the near future. Keep tuned in to this blog for calls for proposals in August. The Moreno Psychodrama Society committee has ccontinued to meet at Faust in North Melbourne on Sunday mornings to co-create this conference. Thank you team; Nikki Alderman, Patricia Green, Stephanie Lee, Gillian Blackwell and John De Bono. Thanks to Steph for her artwork for the conference, postcards, letterheads and name tags.
Visit the website: www.psychodrama-institute-melbourne.com

Personal Development Courses:
1) 4 Wednesdays:
Nikki Alderman and Stephanie Lee are conducting a series of four personal development groups from Wednesday 17 June until July 8 in the middle of the day. in Footscray There will be repeat series during 2009. Contact Nikki on 0418 134 749.

2) Weekend Workshop:

“Happiness and Health in Work and Life”
Saturday and Sunday, 18th & 19th July 2009
10 a.m - 5.30 p.m both days
Leader: Sue Daniel

This group is for people who want to develop abilities and roles that are conducive to living healthy and happy lives, and, to have satisfying and vital relationships. There is an opportunity to focus on unfinished business, minor conflicts of living and creating opportunities to develop new roles and perspectives. This weekend workshop is for those who want to explore and enter into the deeper aspects of their relationship with themselves and others. Contact Sue 9416 3779.

The Practitioners Group
The psychodrama practitioners' group is held on the last Friday of the month, the next two coming up on Fridays 26 June and 24 July. Held at PIM from 9.30 a.m to 12.30 p.m.

Rome Congress Participants
The next social gathering for those going to the Rome Congress is at Sue and Ted's home on Saturday 27 June from 3 - 7 p.m. We are having a late brunch or early dinner and a movie courtesy of Jil Toovey. Bring some Italian food for the table and any information on Rome to share. RSVP Sue on 9416 3779 by June 26. The meeting after that will be our final one and this is going to be held at Julia Lau's house on Saturday 25 July. RSVP Julia on 9370 7474.

PIM Training
Wishing everyone a good rest of term and enjoyable term break until we gather for the third term in the week beginning 27 July.

Sue Daniel

A Letter from Margaret Cunningham: After the Fire

Hi Sue and friends,

We are not back home yet, it is a slow process dealing with the insurance company and making sure we are doing the right thing. Various people recommended we ask another engineer to check the structure of the house due to the huge force exerted on the whole house when the roof was ripped off by the wind. We received his report last Thursday and sent it straight to the insurance company. It seems we will be getting a very thorough re-roofing of the house including new verandah and ceilings and paintwork inside and out. There has also been water damage due to heavy rains since the fires, which have caused damage to flooring and walls (and some furniture).

We thought we might have had to knock the whole house down and start again but thankfully we won't have to - we have priced rebuilding options and would have been severely out of pocket. Our insurance plus some of the recovery fund money will cover a large part of the repairs.

There is SOOOooo much paperwork!!

Our cattle have now all been agisted to suitable disease-free properties (apart from 10 young ones that need daily feeding). Bruce goes out to the farm most days to attend to those cattle and feed dogs.

Our property has not been cleared as yet - sheds and fencing that burnt down as well as the roofing iron and wooden beams. The demolition company will come in soon to attend to that and will take any other 'stuff' we want disposed of, including as much of the asbestos cement sheeting from the garage and house as we can get off safely.

So our next task is to start packing up all our belongings (and tossing out lots of junk I hope) from the house and garage for storage/disposal. A very big job.

We are staying in Cottlesbridge, which is just out of Hurstbridge, so still within our local area. I registered our family with the Dept of Human Services during the 1st or 2nd week of this time just in case we needed assistance. I'm so glad I did as we have been fortunate to be offered accommodation with a retired couple who have half a house we can use. They live in the newer part that was added to our bit some years ago and had been used for family visitors. They are a lovely couple and we can come and go quite easily without disturbing them significantly.

Well, that's all the practical stuff - the emotional is not so easily dealt with. The children have of course been hugely traumatised by all of this. Rory in particular had nightmares and has needed night-lights and a radio on, as well as the bedroom door open all night. Both have needed extensive counselling, mostly from me. They saw Di K a few times which was helpful but most of their talking comes at bedtime so I have spent many hours with both - they have wanted my ear in particular and I have found the weight of their sadness very draining at times but of course I wouldn't want to not be an active part of their grieving. Tess has felt very isolated at her secondary school and has felt unable to be herself there, so puts on a public face and then crashes at home. She has had numerous days with the Strathewen children at their temporary school in Wattle Glen and comes away feeling loved and nurtured which is fantastic for her yet at the same time it accentuates the difficulties and failings of her own school. We will be taking advantage of the counselling services/funding that has been made available as part of the recovery program.

We have had some incredibly sad times dealing with and grieving for the loss of our friends. Our whole community is dislocated, fragmented, without a centre. The land is so damaged, so ravaged. There are strange new shoots on a few trees, and a film of fluoro green across some cleared paddocks; our end of the valley is an oasis of a couple of green acres along the creek reserve, the rest is black/grey as far as the eye can see. It is very difficult still to drive out to our farm - we drive down our road and pass by so many properties where neighbours fought epic battles, some survived but many didn't. I feel the loss acutely, deeply, and painfully every day, many times every day. There are so many people gone from our lives; there are many empty spaces in what was our family's social atom.

Of course we have had some new people enter our lives since the fires and others who have re-entered after many years of absence, and we celebrate those connections. We have had some good laughs and enjoyed ourselves along the way at various functions/locations. But there is a heavy-heartedness underlying our public smiles. It is good to connect with those who have been through this time and let our guard down and confess that we're not really doing as well as we all make out. We (the community) are very aware of the need for many of us to continue to tell our stories, to piece it all together, to rise up, to fall in a heap, to be together however we are.

We are doing ok. We are getting there. But it is very hard. It is very sad. It is still quite overwhelming. I hear it has been 100 days - I'm glad someone's keeping count - for me there is a strange timelessness that doesn't really go away - sometimes it feels like days, other times it feels like years.

Tess, my daughter had to do a project to be presented orally to the class. She had to choose 10 items that meant something to her and put them in a box and then talk about them to her teachers and peers. She fell in a heap as she tried to find things to put in the box. She realised that since the fires the things she felt were important to her had changed. So I got her to write about her struggle and present that to the class. I sat with her on her bed as she wrote and re-wrote until she had the bones of it. She wrote about her best friend who is recovering in the children's hospital from very bad burns, who lost her father, mother and little sister. She wrote of her other best friend who lost her Dad that day. She wrote of losing her home as she knew it - the physical structure but also the natural environment. She wrote of her loss of her childhood school, of the small community hall where so many concerts and parties had been held. She didn't waste words, there were few embellishments. I hope she is brave enough to present it. Even if she chooses not to I know the writing of it has helped her.

There is a lot to say. There is a lot to feel. We are getting there. I have lost all my old emails with addresses and links. Again, I am slow at replying to calls/emails/letters - there is still a need to be a little protected.

Lots of love Margaret. xxx