News of Psychodrama Internationally (A-E)
(Compiled by Adam Blatner, M.D., T.E.P.)

July, 2013
For International News in countries (or organizations) whose names begin with F - M, click here.
For International News in countries (or organizations) whose names begin with N - Z, click here.

   Here is the news, past and recent for countries or organizations whose names begin with A-E/F, starting with the earliest news and advancing to the most recent:

Australia Austria Baltic
Bangladesh
Costa Rica
    Cuba
Brazil Bulgaria China Mainland) Croatia
Denmark
England Equador Estonia Europe(FEPTO)
Please send me news about your country. If you look at my associated website, Survey of International Developments  you may get ideas about what to include..

Australia:

January, 2013. In May 2001, Sue Daniel (TEP) established a new training institute in Melbourne, Australia.  The Psychodrama Institute of Melbourne (PIM) provides ongoing training in Morenian Psychodrama.  PIM and her sister institute, PIA (the Psychodrama Institute of Aotearoa, the Maori name for New Zealand) come under the Australian and and Aotearoa Board of Psychodrama (AABP).  The Board and the Institutes are all entities within the Moreno Psychodrama Society.  This Society developed with the encouragement of Zerka Moreno. 

Sue also created a new Board of Psychodrama in 2001 – re-named the Australian and Aotearoa Board of Psychodrama in 2003.  The reason she chose the name ‘Aotearoa’ over ‘New Zealand’ was that two of PIM’s trainees (sisters, Lethe and Katrina Gaskin) from New Zealand are Maori.  Both are founding members of the Moreno Psychodrama Society and Lethe is a member of the Board of Psychodrama (AABP).  A few years later this Maori word for New Zealand (Aotearoa) was added to the AANZPA organization, which had originated in 1980 in Australia.   Sue was a president of ANZPA for four years (1990-1994).

The Psychodrama Institute of Melbourne has 36 accredited psychodramatists with the Board (AABP).  The PIM library, (named the ‘Zerka Moreno Library’), has over 100 articles written by these and other trainees.  Several of the articles have been published in journals of various psychodrama societies; the ASGPP, BPA, ANZPA, Korea, Italy, and in the Forum (Journal of the International Association of Group Psychotherapy and Group Processes).  Sue has two chapters in International books, “Psychodrama: Advances in Theory and Practice”, edited by Clark Baim, Jorge Burmeister and Manuela Maciel and “Supervision in Psychodrama: Experiential Learning in Psychotherapy and Training”, edited by Hannes Krall, Jutta Furst and Pierre Fontaine.  Ioanna Gagani (the first accredited psychodramatist with AABT) has a chapter in “Communicating with Children and Adolescents: Action for Change” edited by Anne Bannister and Annie Huntington.  Zerka Moreno’s DVD’s, books and articles written over a lifetime are appreciated by all as precious gifts.

PIM has a vibrant website with many links and references:

www.psychodrama-institute-melbourne.com

Since these institutes, board and society are based on Morenian principles, the trainers and practitioners use sociometry in their meetings and groups, in board meetings and conferences.  The trainees in PIM and PIA come from all walks of life and have professional backgrounds in a range of disciplines using psychodrama, for example, in research, education, organisations, psychotherapy, counselling, early childhood education, forensic and criminal justice system and in the community.  Sue has worked in over 32 countries and is instrumental in developing psychodrama programs worldwide.  Her work in Japan for example began in 1986 and continues today.  PIM has supported many people and organisations in their growth and in the development of psychodrama, group psychotherapy and group work.  Trainees and practitioners travel and work in countries such as Bangladesh, Greece, India and Japan.


Here are some photos:



Some recent Certified Practitioners at the PIM

John De Bono (Chairperson, Moreno Psychodrama
Society of Australia and Aotearoa) & Jun Maeda (Japan)
Sue Daniel
 

Sue Daniel conducted a series of workshops in Chennai from the 7-18 December 2012.  The collaboration for this ongoing project is between the IAGP and the East West Center for Counselling and Training, with Magdalene Jeyarathnam, Director of EWCCT.  Sue led three workshops: 1) A Three-Day Experiential Process Group: Through the Mirror, from 7-9 December, 2) A Three-Day Psychodrama Training Group: Developing New Perspectives from 10-12 December and, 3) A Five-Day Intensive Psychodrama Training Workshop: Being in the Here and Now from 14-18 December, the latter comprising part of an Expressive Arts Therapy (EAT) Diploma course between the Women's Christian College, University of Madras and the East West Center for Counselling and Training. In addition she gave 5 Lecture/Demonstrations on Psychodrama, Sociometry, Sociodrama, Group Psychotherapy and Group Processes on the 13th and 17th of December at the following Colleges and Universities, 1) Department of Psychology, Women's Christian College (WCC), University of Madras, 2) Dr. MGR Janaki College of Arts and Sciences for Women, 3) The Madras School of Social Work (MSSW), 4) Assam Don Bosco University (ADBU) and, 5) Justice Basheer Ahmed Syeed College for Women (JBASCW).  The organisation of all of these activities and the generosity of the following people was most appreciated by Sue: Dr. Veena Easvaradoss, Head of Department of Psychology (WCC), Dr. Lydia Eric, Head of Department of Psychology (MGR), Dr. Sheela Hemalatha Julius, Head of Department of Counselling Psychology (MSSW), Mrs Rachel Kabi (ADBU), Dr. R. Subashini, Head of Department of Psychology (JBASCW) and, Magdalene Jeyarathnam and staff of EWCCT.

    - - - -
July 2011: Sue Daniel (Founder of the Moreno Psychodrama Society and Director of the Psychodrama Institute of Melbourne) conducted a post-conference workshop "Concretisation Through Psychodrama" 4 July 2011 in London following the British Psychodrama Association Conference 1 -3 July.

Olivia Lousada (author of Hidden Twins), Sue Daniel (Melbourne), Marcia Karp & Maxine Daniels (London) at BPA conferenc
 Sue Daniel writes that she will be visiting Europe again in February 2012 to work and attend the Board meeting of the IAGP in Paris.  At the present she is conducting research on role reversal in supervision.  The Psychodrama Institute of Melbourne is celebrating their 10th year as an accredited training institute on 22 July 2011.

Australia, continued
  2008:  The website of the newsletter of the Australia-New Zealand Psychodrama Association:   http://socio.anzpa.org/   ... Full of absolute treasures, including a YouTube of Moreno reading Words of the Father.
We at the Australian and New Zealand Psychodrama Association (ANZPA) are excited to announce that all articles printed in our Journal are now available on the internet. You can subscribe to the Journal electronically and order individual articles at low cost.  For those of you who have not yet seen it, the ANZPA Journal has a focus on applied theory and practice of Morenian methods by practitioners in Australia & New Zealand. Please check it out. Go to <www.anzpa.org> and click on Journal or on the cover image of the latest Journal.  Latest issue is  No 16, Dec 2007. All previous issues are also available.
To see the full list of contents & authors by issue, go to <www.anzpa.org/journal-index>.    To download individual articles select the issue you want from the drop down Product Category menu.
  - - -
  2006: Annual Conference of the Australian and New Zealand Psychodrama Association will be held from January 24-Jan 29, 2006, in Brisbane, with pre- and post-conference workshops. website:   anzpa2006conference@macquariehouse.com.au    or contact     peterhowie@macquariehouse.com.au  
  This is the conference of the Australia New Zealand association which represents our 300 members and 10 training institutes. I know that many people are interested in knowing more about how role theory has developed  in our region. Do come and meet with us. I know you will be warmly welcomed.The ANZPA website is www.anzpa.org

   Sue Daniel and Katrina Gaskin at the Psychodrama Institute Melbourne ("PIM")  <pim@netspace.net.au> sponsored an International Morenian Psychodrama Conference in Melbourne, Australia in 10 - 13 March 2006  Sue Daniel, PO Box 371 ,  East Melbourne, Victoria 8002 Australia .   For more INFORMATION, please contact:
    Moreno Psychodrama Society (Australia)  Tel & Fax: (+61-3) 94163779    email: MorenoSociety@netspace.net.au      www.psychodrama-institute-melbourne.com
   
- - -
Jan, 2005: The annual ANZPA Conference was held from 7 - 11 April 2005 at Hahndorf Resort in the hills near Adelaide, South Australia. Conference theme:  Reversing Roles: Daring to Live in Shifting Light. There was a variety of sessions, most of them experiential, exemplifying the use of psychodrama, sociodrama, sociometry and role theory in a wide range of contexts. There were also pre-conference workshops led by: Ann E Hale Training Interpersonal Perception; Narelle McKenzie Working with Body in Psychodrama; and post-conference workshops: Max Clayton: Producing Psychodrama from a Broad Perspective ; John Faisandier: Applying Systems Thinking and Psychodrama at Work. The details are now on the ANZPA website. Check at http://www.anzpa.org/confadl/conference.html
  - - -
        February 2004: Mario Cossa has been traveling in Australia and New Zealand. Reporting on the recent conference there, he writes: The Australian & New Zealand Psychodrama Association (ANZPA) is an organization of practitioners, trainers, and trainees in psychodrama and its related fields who operate primarily in Australia and New Zealand.  It currently has 287 Australian and New Zealand members and 11 from other countries. The 2004 ANZPA Conference: an everlasting present - integrating experience, was held in Christchurch, New Zealand in late January, 2004. About 150 people participated including visitors from overseas.  Pre-conference workshops were offered by Bev Hosking and Max Clayton and post conference workshops by Ann Hale and Carlos Raimundo.  During the conference participants selected from among about 40 workshops and presentations of papers, enjoyed various social events including a Saturday night Dinner Dance, and attended the ANZPA Annual General Meeting and Life of the Organization session.  The ANZPA 2005 conference is scheduled for April 7-11 in Adelaide, Australia.
Max Clayton (Feb, 2003) writes: I am leaving Wellington, New Zealand, and moving to Melbourne Australia. I can be contacted through the Australian College of Psychodrama, 9 Palm  Avenue, Caulfield North, Victoria 3161, Australia.
      (December, 2003): The Australian & New Zealand Psychodrama Association, (ANZPA) now has about 18 TEPs, 60 certificated practitioners, 220 associate (trainee) members. There are now 10 training institutes are accredited by ANZPA. Please visit our website:  http://anzpa.org


 

Austria: Jutta Fuerst (email: Jutta Fürst
 writes in October, 2010: Psychodrama is very lively in Austria. Beside the psychodrama psychotherapy training programmes at the two universities ( Donau Universität Krems and University of Innsbruck) there are several training programmes for different focus groups provided by the ÖAGG.  Many psychodramatist are directng groups in various fields (psychiatric hospitals, counseling centres, child protection centres.....) but also privatly. They work also individually with clients and can make their living doing this.Research projects have been started, studies are being done and good articles and books are published.It's great to see how many conferences and meetings for psychodramatists are held all over Europe. From my point of view it is a very prosperous time for psychodrama.
   - - - -
Michael Wieser <Michael.Wieser@uni-klu.ac.at> writes on January 28, 2003, that psychodramatists are generally organized within a special Section of Psychodrama, Sociometry and Roleplay within Austrian Association of group therapy and group dynamic (http://www.oeagg.at/psychodrama.htm) . According to our website, we seem to have180 psychodrama assistants and another 170 psychodrama directors. According to our "new training system," we also have 30 advanced trainees in psychodrama therapy and 31 psychodrama therapists. Journals: We have a newsletter in Austria for all group therapists, called "Feedback" : http://www.oeagg.at/feedback/welcome.html
     As you know, there is a new German Language psychodrama journal, Zeitschrift fuer Psychodrama und Soziometrie, and it cooperates with the other more general professional journal, Gruppenpsychotherapie und Gruppendynamik (  http://www.vandenhoeck-ruprecht.de/vandenhoeck/zs/allgemein/gruppenpsychotherapie_allgemein.htm ) and also our more general organization. http://www.oeagg.at/theoagg.htm (English). For the last year I have been an editor of Psychotherapie Forum  http://www.springer.at/periodicals/    which includes articles from practitioners from all psychotherapy schools.   (Soon I will travel to China and give you some feedback of what I find out there about psychodrama and psychotherapy. I'm also working on a report on research in psychodrama in Austria.

May, 2001: Michael Wieser <Michael.Wieser@uni-klu.ac.at> writes: The Austrian Association of Group Therapy and Group Dynamics (OEAGG) (Website: http://www.oeagg.at) has a special sub-section for Psychodrama, Roleplay and Sociometry which has 386 members. This is the sum of trainees, graduates and trainers. There are only two other Training Institutes, one at the University of Innsbruck, led by Dr. Jutta Fuerst along with 5 other TEP level trainers. Another is the Institute for Roleplay Training  led by Dvorak and Maria Spongher-Schonherr   (Email: <w.sponger@aon.at>.  In  OEAGG, there are 12 Trainers that would be at the equivalent of  TEP, and some lecturers.


Balkan: Yugoslavia, Croatia, Macedonia, and especially Trans-Cultural Training Days: See Yugoslavia.

Baltic Area: 2012: Inara Erdmanis ( ina.erd@bredband.net ), a senior trainer from Sweden, also trains in Latvia. She writes: Just now I am leading a CP education , a lively program scheduled by the Latvian Moreno institute for ongoing training for people in training for Certification. Each seminar has been or will be for 20 hours each! More details below. In the Latvian program, we have trainers from abroad, and also 4 students from the Tallinn (Estonia) school who attend as part of their CP-training program and 3 students from the Lithuanian PD Association.
 
In Estonia there are 2 Institutes, one in Tallinn and one in Tartu and both belong to Nordic Board of Examiners. In Lithuania the Psychodrama Association there arranges for their training through the Psychodrama Institute for Europe (PifE). The Lithuanian Association and the Tallinn School and the Latvian Moreno Institute are full members of FEPTO. Beyond the training program for the CP level, we have 4 people who have already attained that level and are taking the TEP (trainer) test in the Fall! We thus offer both a leader education and a basic training program in Latvia. .
   = = =
    In November, 2011, there was an introduction to the program by Inaara Erdmanis.
In February, 2012, there was workshop by Eva-Karin Strom—a TEP and psychiatrist—, titled "Mentalisation: Why aren’t you like me—or are you?" This refers to the skill of seeing oneself from others’ viepoints, and also to see others from how they see themselves—i.e., role reversal. It is a natural function that is normally refined from birth to old age—but many don’t refine it very much. Psychodrama has many tools to help with this process e.g.  role reversal and different kinds of mirroring. We will explore the concept of Mentalisation both from theoretical and practical aspects.  Recommended literature: Ed. Jon G. Allen & Peter Fonagy: Handbook of Mentalisation-Based Treatment. 
 
    In May 2012, Kate Bradshaw-Tauvon, a Swedish TEP/psychotherapist, presented a weekend workshop on "Shame, Pride and Relationships".  What do you do when your eyes encounter an appealing stranger? Smile encouragingly? Pretend indifference?  or, even more sadly, avert your eyes  in embarrassment? A short presentation of Donald L Nathanson's work, exploring shame and pride, the concept of self and the pre-conditions for loving relationships, will warm us up to the experiential work of the group. We will consider how nine basic affects shape our sense of self. " Recommended literature: D. L. Nathanson:  "Shame and Pride: Affect, Sex, and the Birth of the Self"
 
In later August 2012,  August 23-4 (pre-conference) followed by August 26-8, 2012, they are hosting the “Baltic Moreno Days” Conference.

Then on the weekend of October 19-21, Mark Treadwell, TEP, is offering a workshop on Surrealism and Psychodrama: "Looking through a different mirror." He says (for the program), “Psychodrama in itself is a wonderful method for exploring our inner feelings and our
surroundings.  Surrealism is an art form that distrusts the natural conformity of the mass culture. Each of us has undisclosed pictures, dreams and wishes that often do not conform to the norm. This does not mean that these images are any less valid or important than others; it simply means that society might have problems fitting them into a pre-selected category. Combining the theatrical playing out offered us through Psychodrama and the freedom to accept our own inner distorted images is magic. This seminar offers each of us this room. Surrealistic Psychodrama was started in the early  80s and has continued to grow. We will look at surrealistic images of today and also the established warm-ups from the original Surrealistic Psychodrama experience.”
 
Inara writes, I’ve continued to work with the students this summer of 2012 and indeed am doing so as I write to you.
 
Next year, in 2013, on the weekend of February 22-24, Christina Citron CP/psychatrist, will present on "Incest and sexual abuse" Psychodrama is very useful in the therapeutic work with trauma patients. To go back to the traumatic event mirroring it in a psychodrama and then be able to undo and redo the experience has an astonishing effect on flash-backs and nightmares. In this seminar we will approach the subject gently. We have all had experiences that still hurt us and we can adapt the work to that. Many have suffered from violence and sexual abuse and if so there will be possibility to work with that. My theoretical frame comes from different clinical sources
(among others: Anne Bannister; The Giaretto Clinic in San Jose, USA; Judith Hermann;
Helen Johnsen Christie; Peter Kellermann; Babette Rothschild; Suzanne Sgroi and Bessel Van der Kolk).
     Recommended literature: Kellerman, P.F. & Hudgins, M.K. (2000) Psychodrama with trauma
survivors. Acting out your pain. London. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.  If you work with children: Bannister, A. 1997. The Healing Drama. Psychodrama and Dramatherapy with Abused  Children.  London. Free Association Books.

In May 17-19, 2013, Mark Wentworth will present his method "Dynamic Theatre " which is an action-method of spontaneous representation inspired by the ancient use of theatre, ritual and storytelling as a way of conveying information and wisdom between one world and another. When we allow ourselves to become the impossible and the invisible, we find the need to create and inspired action fills our whole being, and he who "plays" impossible and invisible becomes totally seen and wholly embodied with the gifts to create his own world. Dynamic Theatre is said to be the place where heart and soul merges with the greater community.

On the weekend of August 23 - 25, 2013, Eduardo Verdu, TEP: "The use of Morenian action methods within organisations".
    The use of Morenian action methods are very useful in organisations in teambuilding / management training / conflicts in teams. However we need to be very cautious and alert in how we implement these methods to peoples professional life. What considerations must be made? How do our role as psychodramatist differs when working in an organisation rather than in a therapeutic setting? In this seminar we will focus on how we could handle conflicts in teams.
  
 One more trainer may be invited at the level of Certified Practitioners. There will be totally 10 seminars with me and with qualified trainers from  abroad. Then some other participants will be invited.  Each seminar will cost 150 Ls. Those who just take part in one seminar pay 190 Ls.
Requirements: Leader examination and Psychodrama practice during two years. Level: Professional training and supervision; Hours: 700 hours (500 h leading own groups, 100 h. supervision   case supervision, on-site supervision, diagnostic supervision)
Title: Psychodrama Director CP. Examination: Written examination for a whole day (following areas of Moreno's psychology: History, Philosophy, Methodology, Sociometry, Ethics, Research and Related Fields). And « day one site with a TEP from an other institute.

  More information:  www.psihodrama.lv
www.psykodramastockholm.se
  

 Baltic Region:  <andres.sild@morenokeskus.ee> Announcing the 4th Baltic Moreno Conference on the theme “Everyday Values” on August 24-27, 2006 in Tallinn, Estonia. Speakers include Päivi Ketonen, Tuuli Vellama, Pille Isat (applications in education); Sue Daniel (..in organizations); Sirkku Aitolehti, Kirsti Silvola,  Harri Stenberg (..in therapy); Henna Merikivi and Raimo Niemistö, Inara Erdmanis and Kate Bradshaw-Tauvon, Sue Daniel, leading sociodramas; a lecture by Leif Dag Blomkvist–and 15-20 different workshops, along with Playback theatre. Early registration price: 120 Euros for the pre-conference, and 100 Euros as the Conference fee.  For conference information and registration go to www.morenokeskus.ee or
E-mail: konverents@morenokeskus.ee
     -               -                -
 
Viktorija Vaisvilaite writes from Lithuania, <viva@centras.lt> : The "Baltic Moreno Days" conferences involve people throughout the region. The first was held in Piarnu, Estonia, in 2000, and the second in Jelgava, Latvia, in 2002, and the the 3rd  Baltic Moreno Days conference (Theme: Awakening) was held in Klaipeda University, Lithuania August 26-29, 2004. (The website of Lithuanian Psychodrama Society is: http://psichodrama.tinklapis.lt ) (See News of Lithuania on another webpage)
    "Inara Erdmanis" <ina.erd@bredband.net> wrote and noted that this conference happened 2 weeks after the international conference in Oxford. This Baltic conference was attended by 120 participants from 10 differnt counties, including Latvia, Sweden, Norway, Australia, Germany, Israel, Estonia and Lithuania. Every day started with a wonderful puppet show to opera music and the evenings ended with Concert by Vilnius String Quartet and a Jazz Concert. During the days 14 different worhshops were offered with leaders from the various countries. (Inara is a TEP in Sweden and also directs the Latvian Moreno Institute
       -               -               -                 -
   (2005): "Inara Erdmanis" <ina.erd@bredband.net> writes: The Nordic Board of Examiners in Psychodrama (NBBE) includes the following institutes: Swedish Moreno Institute, Norwegian Psykodrama Institute, Finnish Moreno Institute, Helsinke (Finland) Psychodrama Institute, Tallinn Psychodrama School (Estonia), Latvian Psychodrama Institute and Stockholm Psychodrama Institute.The Board meets at least ones a year and next time will be in Riga. Chairwoman is since many years Riitta Hiillos-Vuorinen from Finland.


Bangladesh:

Herb Propper (far right) leading a class on psychodrama, late 2009.

December, 2009:
Herb Propper Ph.D., T.E.P is in the midst of a 5-month Fulbright foreign teaching exchange scholarship to Bangladesh (with 2 side trips to Chennai, India).  His visit will end Feb. 15, 2010.  He is teaching 2 university courses, one an introduction to clinical psychodrama and sociometry for graduate clinical psychology students at Dhaka University, the other an introduction to sociodrama, sociometry and living newspapers for 4th year honors undergraduates in drama at Jahangirnagar University.  He is also offering several 3-day workshops for a local NGO, Ain o salsih kendra, and the Dhaka University student counseling staff, in addition to occasional demonstration sessions and personal psychodrama therapy by request.

Here's his brief report: National Therapeutic Theatre Workshop '09: about the Trainings in Psychodrama, Sociodrama and Sociometry in  January 2009, held under the auspices of The Bangladesh Therapeutic Theatre Institute [BTTI], a wing of United Theatre for Social Action [UTSA], in Chittagong: 4 different workshops, with a total of 88 participants, for a total of 66 training hours. At Dhaka Ubiversity Clinical Psychology:, there is considerable growing interest in psychodrama and sociometry in this department.  This year's workshop was attended by 19 graduate students (12 with previous experience) and 5 faculty, including the current chairman, the previous chairman and the founder of the department (Ph.D., U. of Vienna). The previous chairman also attended the final workshop at SPED, and has expressed considerable interest in the possibility of studying psychodrama abroad and eventual certification.  He has also inquired about supervision for incorporating action methods into current practice.
    In a recent weekend field visit to a home for single mothers, children and adolescents by the previous chairman and students were joined by one of the BTTI core members, who demonstrated uses of basic sociometry, role-playing and sociodrama.
    The Dhaka Therapeutic Theatre Practice & Study Group (DTTPS) has been meeting regularly bi-weekly since late August.  It is coordinated by 3 BTTI core members, who have currentlyearned between 150 and 285 training credit hours.  Group size has varied between 4 and 12.  Each session begins with sociometric warmups and includes practice in role-playing, simple sociomdrama and playback theater forms.      One coordinator sends session reports.  In the next weeks    I will be starting direct supervision and processing sessions using SKYPE videoconferencing.
     For those in the city of Chittagong who have reached a more experienced level of training, for the first time I was able to conduct a workshop in which all participants had attended a minimum of two previous workshops, including 5 participants who now have from 135 to 285 training credit hours.  Due to these conditions there was much more focus on students taking the director role, on related process discussions, and on higher level discussions of conceptual frameworks. 

 There has also been a connection with Counseling Center of Chennai, India, where  I recently made contact with the founder/director there..  <www.centerforcounselling.org>. She holds an M.S.W.-Psychiatric and has specialized in counseling for HIV/AIDS and substance abuse..  She has done extensive international training and program development in South Asia, as well as program evaluations throughout India.  She is very enthusiastic about psychodrama and attended all four of the NTTW'09 workshops.  We have already begun individual tutorial/supervision via Skype videoconferencing, and are making plans for a training visit by me this coming autumn.
 
Chittagong University Psychology Department is still new, having begun  in 2006. There are currently only undergraduate students in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd years of the curriculum.  The chairman is a graduate of the Dhaka U. Clinical Psychology program (in fact, a classmate of one of the BTTI core members).  The workshop itself was introductory, on a level appropriate for undergraduate students; the group was large, totaling 26.  What was most notable, however, was the presence of 4 BTTI core experienced trainees.  This allowed us to work very comfortably as a team.  The trainees directed all spectrograms and locograms except the initial one.  They also assisted with translation, explanations of concepts and details of exercises, and coached small groups in doubling and role-taking.  One of them, who had worked with me as both translator and 'director's Bengali double' in previous visits, was my co-director for a psychodramatic photograph vignette.

 - - -
2007: 
Herb Propper ( socitele1@verizon.net ) writes: Starting in 2003, I’ve been back to Bangladesh, just East of India, five times, beginning to develop training in psychodrama, sociodrama, sociometry, and theatre for social change. This last visit was from May 23 to June 11, 2007, and involved around 5 different workshops, titled the “National Therapeutic Theatre Workshops 2007,” and held under the auspices of The Bangladesh Therapeutic Theatre Institute, a wing of Unite Theatre for Social Action, Chittagong. These were attended by about 82 participants in all..  For the first 3 trainings, in Dhaka and at Jahangirnagar University, I was co-leading with Joan Murray, trainer from Psychodrama Institute of Melbourne. Sue Daniel, the head of PIM has become a very strong supporter of this project. (Because Joan had to return home unexpectedly, I lead the 2 trainings in Chittagong by myself.) Including other trainers allowed Bangladeshi trainees to experience a wider range of styles and approaches.  There are already further prospects for visits by other trainers, including a workshop already scheduled in Chittagong July 25-28.
     There is now an emerging core of people with solid beginning training experience.  These people have accumulated anyway from 50+  to 120 experiential training hours.  They show a good grasp of the  basic methodology and conceptual foundation of psychodrama and  sociometry.  This was dramatically demonstrated by the work of the 6 student directors in the Chittagong workshops, whose ability to direct a spectrogram, barometer or locogram from generating criterion through sharing was impressive.  They and others are beginning to facilitate their own learning through practice sessions between trainer visits and to apply pieces of the method in counseling or non-governmental organization (NGO) community work. The presence and impact of The Bangladesh Therapeutic Theatre Institute is growing.  There is now a strong core of both interest and experience within the Clinical Psychology Department of the  University of Dhaka, and the Dramatic Department of Jahangirnagar University.  There is also interest at Rashshaji University (another provincial capital) which could not be developed on this particular visit, but is definitely a prospect for the future.
          The creation of a Yahoo e-group, “psychodramabd” (bd for Bangladesh) by a faculty member of the Clinical Psychology Department, Dhaka University, has also begun to provide trainees with wider access to essays and internet materials.  I am also beginning to provide some email supervision to trainees with significant experience who are using some pieces of methodology in their work. The host organization is Unite Theatre for Social Action (UTSA), 
executive director Mostafa Kamal Jatra  website: <http://www.utsa.up.to/>
      During my previous visit last August, we formally began the fledgling Bangaldesh Therapeutic Theatre Institute (BTTI).  Because of our  strong continuing connection with BRCT--- Bangladesh Rehabilitation Centre for Torture Victims--in Dhaka, the BRCT also formally instituted its "Institute for Psychodrama Research and Rehabilitation"   see their website: <http://www.brct.org/>

Bolivia: May, 2001: Violeta Firestone <firestones@scbbs-bo.com> writes: Economic conditions are hard right now. We have about eight psychodramatists here in Santa Cruz de la Sierra Bolivia, and about fifteen students who are in training. There is a small organization here. We use training materials from both Brazil and Argentina

Brazil:  
      Dalmiro Bustos   writes in January, 2010: We have 80 students in our two institutes. The directors with diploma are 198. Many have opened their own training programs (cańt tell you how many) people come from Argentina, Uruguay; Brasil, Equador, and Chile in a monthly basis others every other week. They usually stay for a whole day. Some even come from Spain and Italy and stay in all the training groups for a month or so. Hope this data helps in your work. Also, this newly published book:   
Bustos, D. & Noseda, Elena. (2008). Manual of psychodrama in the fields of Psychotherapy and Education  Buenos Aires:: Ed Vergara
  - -
 2008: Zoli Figusch has just published a new cd-rom e-book: From one-to-one psychodrama to large group socio-psychodrama: More writings from the arena of Brazilian psychodrama. Manchester, UK: Self-published Ebook in CD-ROM format. All chapters have been translated by the editor into English.  The book is now ready and available to ship. The CD cost: to the USA:  $30 (US Dollars)  plus $4 (US Dollars) for postage and packaging. (Cost to other countries, and to order, email to: figusch@hotmail.com

 Jose Fonseca Jr's book was published, in English in the Spring of 2004, from Brunner-Routledge publishers: Contemporary Psychodrama: New Approaches to Theory and Technique.    <jfonseca@nw.com.br>

 2001: Heloisa Fleury <hjfleury@ig.com.br> writes: On March 21, 2001, in the city of Sao Paulo, the largest one in Latin America, with a population of 16 million (!), was the scene of a mass sociodrama–or, as Jose Fonseca noted, these also had an element of axiodrama– on the theme of “Ethics and Citizenship.” 700 psychodramatists (!) directed in 180 street and indoor (in libraries, schools and other public forums), open-free-to-the-public sociodramas in 96 city districts about issues in the life of the community. An estimated 8,000 citizens participated. The programs lasted 2 to 3 hours. There were small and large groups, with 10 to 600 participants present at each sociodrama. It was an incredibly powerful experience for myself, and all my fellow psychodramatists, a unique time of being close to people who voiced their feelings of sadness, lack of power, humiliation, happiness, and, at the end of these sociodramas, their hope for better times. The Mayor of Sao Paulo, Marta Suplicy, who supported this project, and apparently has had some psychodrama training herself,  participated in one of the scenes, taking the role of a victim of violence. Marise Greeb was in charge of the event  There are not enough words to allow us to express the special magic of this experience. Videos, photographs, and written reports produced a wealth of material for further study. I think I can speak for all of my fellow Brazilian psycho-dramatists when I say that it touched us in a way that pierced our hearts and we will never be the same. May I am so bold as to say, perhaps it is the new history of Psychodrama here in Brazil. Maybe the world.


 Britain (Great Britain, UK): See England (at the bottom of this webpage)



Bulgaria: September 2010: Malen Malenov, a psychologist and psychotherapist  writes:  This year we in the Bulgarian Psychodrama community are celebrating our 20th anniversary! There has been quite a lot going on in the recent years. In 2007 and 2009 we had our first two national conferences with more than 220 participants and about 20 different workshops at each. There are currently 3 training institutes members of the Federation of European Psychodrama Training Organizations (FEPTO) with 2 new applying for membership. Since 2002 a Masters degree programme in Psychodrama and Creative Action Methods is part of the curriculum at one of the biggest national universities. Psychodrama self-experience groups are also offered as part of clinical psychology and other university courses. The national umbrella association – The Bulgarian Society for Psychodrama and Group Therapy (www.psychodrama-bg.org) has now more than 200 active members. The method is well represented in the national Association for Psychotherapy where many of the qualified members are trained psychodramatists.  

      Psychodrama is used in a range of settings, including psychotherapy, organizational consultancy, working with marginalized groups, addiction treatment, supervision, etc. Unfortunately health-care system remains quite inaccessible and reserved. The lack of funding and the primate of biological psychiatry results in most psychodramatists organizing their groups in private practice while patients / clients in psychiatric settings scarcely have any access to psychotherapy. Still, the interest for psychodrama self-experience and training remains relatively high among psychology, social work and other mental health professionals.  

        The advisory board of the Society is currently working on updated guidelines for training and a handbook with articles to be published by the end of the year.

 - - - - -

 Evgeni Genchev (email: genchev@geobiz.net ) writes in January, 2004: There is not much organizational life here. Some young psychodramatists went to the Istanbul IAGP congress. We know about the London meeting, but as for everything else finances are a great problem here. It's quite difficult to make ends meet and travelling abroad is too hard. There are about 7 trainers doing active training groups. So apart from Galabina's "Orpheus" and my and David's Psychotherapy 2000, there are several new trainers. We have already about 20 home-made psychodrama-therapists. So you can see we are still mainly in the training period. David is leading, already for several years, a social program called: "Art for social change", which is training actors and people with background from different arts to work with orphan children in institutions, for their psychological development. So it's not exactly psychodrama, but using play and acting and other expressive art for the children's development. I believe this is the new promissing development in trying to bring psychodrama "to the streets".
:Genchev;Evgeni  tel;cell:098397880    tel;fax:+2/517886   tel;home:+2/9813490    tel;work:31 Angel Kanchev Str, Sofia 1000,Bulgaria      org:ACET    adr:;;7-9 Zvanika Str., 1st fl.;Sofia Bulgaria

  In August, 2004 Malen Malenov of Bulgaria writes: <malen_malenov@yahoo.com> Announcing a new Bulgarian  website:  http://actinplay.cult.bg    the web-links section of the site is one of the few bilingual sections:
  http://actinplay.cult.bg/cncat_en/. (Just ignore the first half of each paragraph and read the English texts.)
   Our Bulgarian website for Psychodrama and Creative Action Methods (in Bulgarian for the time being). Contains introductory articles as well as specialized papers, interviews, news, workshop and conference announcements, calendar of events, weblist, forum, chat and more. By now we have published articles and interviews by Jacob L. Moreno, Adam Blatner, David Kipper, Marcia Karp, Sue Daniel, Felix Peter Kellermann. Forthcoming: interviews with Grete Leutz, Chris Farmer, Chantal Neve-Hanquette, Jorg Burmeister, Jose Fonseca, Christer Standahl. We will also attempt to translate the site in English, bit by bit.
Thank you and best regards,  Malen Malenov    16, Yanko Zabounov St., bl.50       Entr. B, Floor 3, Flat 49
1408 Sofia - BULGARIA     Tel: + 359 2 961 19 24; Mob: + 359 888 835 976
E-mail: malen_malenov@yahoo.com            http://actinplay.cult.bg



Canada: (2005) Elizabeth White, M.Ed., T.E.P. (email to: lizwhiteinaction@rogers.com , www.lizwhiteinaction.com writes:)
          I am happy to announce the development of the Saskatchewan Centre for Psychodrama in western Canada. Centred in Saskatoon and Regina, on the Canadian prairies, the centre offers four psychodrama training events each year. Some examples of programs: (1) a two-day workshop: Turning Points: Finding Freedom and Rites of Passage;  2) one day workshop, "If Only..,." Action methods and the Seasons of Mourning; 3) Residential four day workshop at Manitou Lake SK, Who am I really? Life Inside and Outside the Box. As all workshops are led by a TEP, hours of attendance may be credited toward American Board Certification. For more information, or to add your name to the emailing list, contact Liz White at the email address above or at (416) 481-3738  or, in Saskatchewan,
Louise Handford, at lmhandford@accesscomm.ca 

Chile, May, 2001: Paolo Durán U., of the Center of Psicodrama in Chile, located in Santiago (email: <centro_psicodrama@yahoo.com> writes: Approximately 10 people are doing psychodrama in our country. We have a small  "Escuela de Psicodrama de Valparaφso" in that city. Four of our people were trained in Uruguay, and four are at the trainer's level. In 1995, the director of the School of Psicodrama of Valparaiso begins to spread the psicodrama to the university level. We are the pioneers in this methodology. We look forward to more international contacts.


China (Mainland):
     
2008: Kate Hudgins, Ph.D., TEP, has been active in the last few years in China and returns there April 15- May 20, 2008, to conduct 4 TSM workshops. There will be a Personal Growth workshop in both Beijing and Shanghai where over 100 people are expected for each workshop. She will then go to Huaqiao University in Southern China to conduct her seminal workshop on Containment: The Key to Safety with Action Methods. Kate will be a visiting professor at Huaqiao University starting in the Fall of this year. Finally, Kate returns to Nanjing to conduct a Leadership and Directing group for Level 3 students. TSM China is growing by leaps and bounds and will be opening a Training Institute this Fall in Beijing.  Kate is starting two joint ventures with Chinese colleagues. TSM China will market and develop all Therapeutic Spiral Model workshops and Action Solutions China will brand, market and develop the business applications of TSM. Look for a big media campaign starting the summer.

 TSMChina08
Therapeutic Spiral Method (TSM) Action Trauma Team at a workshop at Shandong University in Eastern China. These are professors and psychologists who are advanced in their TSM training (i.e., for several years!), with Kate Hudgins, the main trainer, in the front, middle. They have reached the levels of  Team Leaders, Assistant Leaders and Trained Auxilaries and have traveled to this workshop from where they live and work in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing and even Taiwan as well as Shandong.


Also, Dr. Hudgins' book Experiential Treatment of PTSD (Springer 2002) will be translated by the Ministry of Education for the large (5000 people) psychology conference in Beijing in October 2008. Kate and her team of Professors Ruby Shi, Sang Zqhain, and Deng Xuloung will conduct a two day pre-conference workshop followed by several TSM workshops.
    -            -          -            -
2007:  
The 1st international expressive art therapy and psychodrama conference in the People’s Republic of China (on the Chinese mainland) was held in the city of Suzhou (just west of Shanghai) on August 4-7, 2007, and attended by 385 professionals and students. The theme was: “Building a harmonious society through convergence of east-west cultures and psycho- social development.”
     Currently, expressive art therapy and psychodrama have become two branches of the main modalities of psychotherapies in China. Organized by Shu Gong and local dignitaries, it was the culmination of a persistent effort initiated by her in the early 1990's.  Shu Gong brought Psychodrama to China and paved the way for Zerka Moreno to lead workshops, the most notable of which was the one on the Great Wall, near Beijing.*
     Suzhou, the host city of the conference, known for its classical gardens, canals and bridges, is dubbed "The Venice of China"; it was a superb location for this wonderful gathering,. It was a great opportunity to present, teach and connect with Chinese and other Asian colleagues and students.  Most of those attending were Chinese psychologists, counselors, educators and human resources professionals. The four-day Conference began with keynote speeches and presentations by Gong Shu (that's her name in Chinese), Fan Fumin, Yamanaka Yasuhiro,  Marcia Karp (UK) and Jorge Burmeister (Switzerland—he’s also the president-elect of the International Association of Group Psychotherapy). Non-Asian presenters came from various countries: Michael Wieser (Austria); Kate Hudgins (USA) (who has been pioneering with her Therapeutic Spiral Model—TSI—at a number of centers in mainland China); also from the USA:  Merri Goldberg, Jacob Gershoni,  Ed Schreiber and Adam Barcroft; Natasha Navarro Roldan (Spain); John Devling, Kate Hill (Australia); Elisabeth Koeberl and Elke Normann (Germany); Yaacov Naor (Israel); and Jorge Burmeister    Hudgins & Schreiber also hosted a reception.
     more:
  http://www.sungfamily.com.cn/hr/    or email to Dr. Tao at <dreamy1029@yahoo.com.cn> .
     -          -           -             -
Dr Kate Hudgins" <drkatetsi@mac.com> also reports that: I presented at the August conference in SuZhou an Introduction to the Therapeutic Spiral Model to Treat PTSD:  A Cross Cultural Perspective with my team Ruby Shi, Deng Xuloung, Fei Jung-Fei and Sang Zqhin.  We were very well received. Meanwhile, what else is happening is that I now have 5 centers in China where we are building teams---Shanghai, Beijing, Jinan, Xiamen (in the South) and Urumqi (in the West). My training insitute TSI, Therapeutic Spiral International, is forming strategic partnerships with local psychological centers to provide TSM training in experiential  psychotherapy using clinically modified psychodrama, EAP and business consultations. We are also doing private dramas where people contract for a small team to do their own work given the limits of confidentiality in China. (That is because all the workshops are taped for review by the government for subversive material!) Peter (Dummett, MBA) and I did a workshop on dating in Shanghai last month and that was fun. In mid-2007, I will have spent 8 months in China and Taiwan this year by the time I return home Nov. 15th.   For more information: www.therapeuticspiral.org
   -    -     -      -     -     -
Hettie Tu  ( happyhettie@yahoo.com.cn ) reports in March, 2007, that she has been promoting psychodrama in Shenzhen (a city near Hong Kong with 7 million people!) since 2002, as a student and translator for the Australian trainer, John Devling. Since that time, she has also organized workshops in Taiyuan (a city of 3 million in Shanxi province, northeast China), Zhuhai (a city of 2.8 million in Guangdong province in the southeast), and so far a total of 150-200 people have attended.
    -   -   -   - 
Eva Leveton visited and taught in China in 2006: Her website "blog" report (which also includes a trip to Tibet) may be read on:   http://rolfgross.dreamhosters.com/AlanEvaChengdu2006/AlanandEvaTeachinginChina2006.htm
    - - - - -
Deng Xuyang, M.A. (email: dengxy_hai@sohu.com) teaches psychology at Southeast University Psychological Counseling Center in Nanjing: After Dr. Michael Wieser of Austria presented on psychodrama around February, 2003, about 45 people have continued to be interested. 8 students and 10 colleagues in university, 10 colleagues in high school seem to be more than a little interested in psychodrama. We are also in Jiangsu Province, in eastern China, near Shanghai. There was a previous exposure to psychodrama several years ago when Zerka Moreno and Gong Shu had visited and taught at the Nanjing Brain Hospital a few years ago. A few of us are presently using psychodrama with patients in psychiatric settings in Beijing, Shanghai and perhaps other locations in China. Here, we have started a program using psychodrama with 10 female criminals once a week for three months at the Nanjing Jail, selected because they also have mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and/or suicidal ideation, as well as their underlying personality disorder. So we are interested in our international colleagues' experience in this regard.

China: Gong Shu <gong@artsci.wustl.edu> June, 2004, that she has her book published. Yi Shu: the art of living with change--integrating traditional chinese medicine, psychodrama and the creative arts.  (City, state): F. E. Robbins & Sons Press. (Printed in Taipei). ISBN is 0-9666168-7-1, to be in both hardback and softback.  The price is to be determined yet.  There are more than 80 colored pictures, mostly client's work in case studies. In English (To be translated into Chinese.)
       In March, 2004, I presented a workshop in March at Nanjing Traditional Chinese Medicine University (in mainland China). This was an integration of traditional Chinese medicine, psychodrama and the creative arts attended by 92 professionals, and was a great success, in part, because I understood the culture, many of the dialects and their subtle implication and jokes. I have a one day workshop on June 28 here in Taipei at Taipei medical University.  The event is sponsored by the Department of Education.  The enrollment limited to 500 people is full.  I will also go to Malaysia and China. The Malaysian workshop is sponsored by the oversea's Chinese association.  The China workshop is sponsored by Nanjing University.
    The International Zerka Moreno Institute also includes, in Argentina : Monica Zuretti; in Asia and U.S.A.: Gong Shu; Turkey: Deniz Altinay; the Netherlands: Renee Oudijk; West Africa: Jon Kirby; and as consultants: Marcia Karp (England)  Greta Leutz (Germany) Cheng Zu Chang (Taiwan), and Lewis Yablonsky (U.S.A.), among others.
       A large conference was planned for 2005, but the resources didn't work. Yet the spirit is there. In 2006, efforts are being made to translate Blatner's two texts into Mainland Chinese.

See Republic of China (Taiwan) under Taiwan.

Costa Rica. November, 2010: Ursula Hauser writes: Last month we held the First National Congress of Psychodrama in Costa Rica; we felt it was a great success, hosting about 90 persons, mostly young students. At this time, around 40 psychodramatists are active in Costa Rica. Training has been through ICOPSI institute ( www.icopsi.org ), that I founded in 1999 together with colleagues.
       At the congress I presented on the histoiry of psychodrama in Costa Rica, and I will also present that at the 8th International Ibero-American Psychodrama conference coming up on May 14-19 in Havana, Cuba (at the National University).
     (I also have been proud of our work in Gaza, Palestine, where 9 psychodramatists graduated from training this month.)

Croatia: Aleksandra Mindoljeviæ (email: danko.drakulic@zg.t-com.hr ) writes (in April, 2007):
    In Croatia psychodrama was introduced in late 1970s at the Clinical Hospital in Zagreb after the return of professor Stanisa Nikolic, a child psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. Dr. Nikolic was a student of Prof. Dr. Serge Lebovici, in Paris. (Lebovici was one of the main pioneers of psychoanalytic psychodrama, which is quite different from Morenian psychodrama.). Dr. Nikolic introduced analytical form of psychodrama which is still being used today. I (Alexsandra) was a pupil of Dr. Nikoic and in 2000, I graduated permanent professional analytical psychodrama training under the supervision of prof. Nikolic.
      In 2001. I met Dr. Vladimir Milosevic, psychiatrist and (Morenian) psychodrama trainer in Belgrade and after some time we decided to organize Morenian psychodrama training in Croatia in Zagreb (under the supervision of YUPA- Yugoslav Psychodrama Assoc. and EAP-European Assoc. for Psychotherapy).
       In 2003, the Croatian Psychodrama Association (Hrvatsko Psihodramsko Drustvo) was founded (at the School of Medicine Zagreb University where I have been working for ten years), and a year after we organized An International Psychodrama Seminar - The Third Cross Cultural
Psychodrama Training Days—Theme: "The Group As a Microcosmos"—which was under the
auspices of the President of the Republic of Croatia Mr. Stjepan Mesic. It was a great opportunity for promotion of Morenian psychodrama for the very first time in Croatia.
        In scientific committee there were Maurizio Gasseau, Vladimir Milosevic, Peter Haworth, Oded Nave, Stanisa Nikolic, Susie Taylor and me. 120 participants came from 10 different european countries. Of course, there were many participants from Croatia as well, and some of them decided to apply as a Morenian psychodrama trainee.
        Nowadays, we have two groups of Morenian psychodrama trainees from all over Croatia, from Bosnia, Slovenia and even one lady from Germany. All together forty people, most of them are psychiatrist, psychologist, social workers, actors and stage directors in theatres.
       The trainers are dr. Vladimir Milosevic, psychiatrist and Morenian psychodrama therapist, director of the Psychodrama Institute in Belgrade (Serbia) who is coming every month to Zagreb. Then, prim. dr. sc. Marija Cicek, also child psychiatris (like Nikolic) and analytical psychodrama
therapist from Zagreb (she is retired two years ago) and prof. dr. sc. Ivan Urlic, group analyst and psychiatrist from Split (Croatia). Supervisors are Susie Taylor  from England and Slavko Mackic from Belgrade.
     On May 12-16, 2007, the Croatian Psychodrama Association is hosting an International
Psychodrama Seminar "Introduction to Psychodrama" which will be held by Susie Taylor and everyone is invited!  All those information and some photos (of trainers, trainees, volunteers and
other) are at our CPA webpages: http://www.psihodrama.hr/   (In the Croatian language—English pages are not, unfortunately, updated from 2005.)
    These days I (Aleksandra) am writing and finishing my first book about psychodrama. It will be a glossary of psychodrama terms with 160 pages and about 150 terms connected with psychodrama, psychoanalysis and group psychotherapy. At the end of the book there is also a short chronology of psychodrama history in the world and in Croatia as well, and a few photos of Moreno. Although it will be in Croatian, I am hoping to translate it into English some day.


Cuba: Ursula Hauser writes about the history of psychodrama in Cuba: A glance to history:Although in the decades of the 1960s and further on in the 1980s there have been different colleagues, mostly from Argentine (Monica Sorin, Alicia Minujin, Mirtha Cuco), who gave introduction courses and developed some activities with groups and Psychodrama at the University of La Habana in Cuba , but the interest from Cuban colleagues in group methods for clinical , educational and community work started to develop intensely during the eight‘ ´Encuentros de psicoanalistas latinoamericanos marxistas y psicologos
cubanos’, from 1986-98. I only mention some of the group specialists who actively participated en these Congresses: Armando Bauleo (‘ Grupo operativo’), Eduardo Pavlovsky, Ana Maria Fernandez, Ursula Hauser (Psychodrama), and many colleagues more.

The systematic training in Psychodrama started 1997, initiated by Ursula Hauser with the Team of the COAP (Centro de Orientación y Atención Psicológica), the Polyclinic and Training Center of the Psychological Faculty of the University La Habana. This project was financially supported by the Swiss NGO ´medi-Cuba suiza´, until 2010.

Until the year 2003 Dr. Hauser trained 3 groups in Psychodrama Method, a process which is documented by a Book ‘ Nuestro Psicodrama’ and a Video which served as didactic material. In the meantime there exists also a DVD Multimedia with the title: ‘Psicodrama y compromiso social,’ resuming the experiences until 2009.

Eight Psychodramatists were graduated in the year 2006, who have been further on the professors for the new group in the MASTER Program, which started 2007 with 23 students on a interdisciplinary level. This Post-graduate Study Program is called: ´MAESTRIA EN PSICODRAMA Y PROCESOS GRUPALES’, and we could graduate 2010 with outstanding success 21 Students. The Team consisted by the 8 Cuban Psychodramatists, 4 Group Specialists and the following  international Professors: Eduardo Pavlovsky and Susana Evans, Ana Maria Fernandez, Mario Buchbinder, Juan Carlos Volnovich and Silvia Werthein, Jaime Winkler and Maria Carmen Bello, Mario Campuzano and Ursula Hauser.

Jorge Burmeister, Natacha Navarro and Elia Ana Monge (Costa Rica) were integrated in the professional examination Team (Jury), together with Ursula Hauser and Professors from the University of La Habana. At present, the trained group in Psychodrama and Group Processes consists counts with 30 colleagues from different areas of social science and professional skills. They all have formed their own groups in clinical work, community and educational field, organizations and institutions, and training groups with new students. These experiences shall be published in a documentary book, as soon as there is financial support for it.

The culmination of the 3-years Master Program and the 15 year long Psychodrama Training has been the recently realized VIII Congreso Iberoamericano de Psicodrama´ in La Habana, from the 14th-19th of May 2011. The group of the thirty young graduated Psychodramatists formed the organizational committee of the  Congress, and did a wonderful job. Almost 300 international participants and 150 cubans assisted the congress, which became a excellent experience and successful event for Cuba. As post-congress activity a big group of 60 Internationalists travelled to Santa Clara and realized a professional activity with almost 200 cuban students from different departments (Villa Clara, Camaguey, Holgúin, Santo Espiritú).

During this Congress we founded the ´RED PSICODRAMA SUR-SUR´ with a ceremony at the José Martí Memorial in La Habana, and in Santa Clara at the Memorial of Che Guevara. A network of many Latin-Americans and international group specialists, mostly trained in Psychodrama, manifested their wish and will to make this movement to grow and become stronger, also including poor countries like El Salvador, Nicaragua, and a little bit farer away Palestine!

In the future, there is already planned a second and third group of this Master program which ended with so much success and interest, one group in La Habana, another in Santiago de Cuba. As additional and innovative project we plan for 2012 the realization of a INTERNATIONAL MASTER PROGRAM, which is open to participants from the Spanish speaking countries, which have no opportunity in their own country to get a integrative Training in Practice and Theory of Psychodrama and Group Processes. There is already a list of more than 20 interested students from Latin America.

Beside of this offer of a International master in Psychodrama and Group Processes  in Cuba, which is a concentrated program of 5 months and includes as well group practice with different populations in Cuba, there is the project ongoing of a ´mobile Master program´ with the Cuban Team of Professors in Center America. We are in the process of making the coordination with Universities in Costa Rica and the University of La Habana, and we hope to start this project in the year of 2013.


  - - - -
May, 2011: 8th International Ibero-American Psychodrama conference coming up on May 14-19 in Havana, Cuba (at the National University).  Website: http://promociondeeventos.sld.cu/psicodrama2011/
    May, 2001: Gillian Woodward, of England,  <gillian.woodward@talk21.com> traveled to Cuba to teach. She writes: Gave an introductory workshop on psychodrama to about 12 psychologists at an International Psychology and Health Conference in November, 2000, and has been invited to go back again this year at the excellent Havana Psychiatric hospital

Denmark: (August, 1999): Ebbe Scheel Kruger (ebbesk@mail1.stofanet.dk ) writes: Around fifteen years ago we only knew of six psychodramatists: Bo Tendal, Ann Sury, Marchen Muller, Ebbe and Else Marie Schultz Rasmussen, and Lone Merethe Paavig, a psychologist–this latter now offering a 3 year training program in Hans Christian Andersen’s old town of Odense. Now we have about 50 professionals who integrate action methods, organized as a sub-group within the Danish Psychology Organization. Most mix together some Gestalt therapy, dance-movement approaches, or other experiential methods. The organization, as it is, occasionally circulates a newsletter. (The dominant style of most group therapists in Denmark, though, still remains verbal and more conventional.)


England:
     August, 2011: Chip Chimera ( chipchimera@btinternet.com ) writes: The London Psychodrama Network is going strong, having started very humbly in 2006. We run monthly open psychodrama sessions 10 times a year, and these have been increasingly well-attended with groups of 10 to 25. We are trying to assess the factors in attendance. We attract a diverse cultural mix of participants, as might be imagined in this cultural crossroads city. We have also been sponsoring one day workshops twice a year. For example, we hosted a workshop led by the Australian Director Sue Daniel - "Concretisation in Psychodrama" following the recent BPA conference. Olivia Lousada and Caroline Brazier, a Buddhist colleague and the course leader of the Amida psychotherapy training program in Buddhist approaches, are offering a day on Saturday 11th October on “Strategies for Changing Attitudes.” Next spring Marcia Karp and Malcolm Pines will offer a day-long workshop on the subject of "Foulkes and Moreno: group analysis and psychodrama. (Adam Blatner adds: Foulkes was a pioneer of what he called group analysis in England in the mid-20th century.) Our website - which will have the new calendar starting from September 2011, will be updated by 8th August, 2011. Have a look then: www.londonpsychodramanetwork.co.uk.

Our presentations at the last two BPA conferences have inspired others to set up local psychodrama networks. We know there are moves afoot in Birmingham, England and in Glasgow, Scotland. Indeed, at our recent presentation at the British Psychodrama Association conference there was also interest from Cologne in Germany! Core members of the network are Marcia Karp, Olivia Lousada, Maxine Daniels, Richard Oliver, Edna Davis, Dusan Potonjak, Gillian Woodward and Chip Chimera.
  - - - -

July 1-3, 2011: The British Psychodrama Association annual conference was attended by around 150 people in a conference venue at an old college in London.

           Clark Baim             Olivia Lousada                    Kate Hudgins                    Chip Chimera
   To the right is the Therapeutic Spiral Method (TSM) action  healing team for "Neuro-Biology and Attachment"---a pre-conference workshop (May 28)---->.
    --- Marcia Karp wrote about this conference, "Participants were mostly British but we had attendees from Israel,  Peru, Austria, Germany, Australia,  Ireland, Scotland, Taiwan,  Finland, Estonia, USA and Canada. I was Honorary President of the BPA for 11 years and a founding member in 1984. Paul Holmes was the first Chairman then. I was also made Honorary member of FEPTO at their April 2011 conference held in Israel..
   - - -

Marcia Karp in December, 2008, writes:
"I am so proud of what has developed in England, Athens(currently a 5 year programme where I go 5 times a year) Geneva with Norbert Apter. We run a FEPTO (Federation of European Psychodrama Training Organizations) 5- year training programme and this is formally ouir second training group to graduate. We have been at it since the early 1990. I run a three-year training in Kiev, Ukraine once a year and go to Moscow yearly and have gone many times in the past. I have been to Japan eight times in the recent years and many other countries. I salute the formidable task they have taken on and their courage to learn psychodrama and then to use it in a variety of settings---mostly psychotherapeutic, but there are some who use it non-clinically, for example, to teach midwives, to do coaching for business men, to work in companies, as teachers, and so forth. One satudent works in a youth club and she uses it mainly for  promoting socialization skills. The applications of psychodrama are vast, flexible and often focused on curing a sick society as Moreno intended.
   -    -    -


Left to Right: Carl Dutton; Di Adderley; Graham Prior; Kate Kirk; Dena Baumgartner, and Zoli Figush. This was our BPA organising committee plus Dena, an American presenter.. 

Top Row, Left to Right: Neil Jordan (UK); T.T. Srinath (India); Dusan Potojnak (UK & Serbia?);  Alexsandra Mindoljevic (Croatia); and Carl Dutton. Bottom Row: Smaroula Pandelis (Greece), Connie Miller, Sergio Guimaraes (Honduras). (photo following Connie's Souldrama workshop.)

  This last 2008 late Spring BPA Conference had many visitors from overseas including
USA, Canada, India, Hondurous, Iceland, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Greece, Serbia, Croatia, Australia, and Austria. I think the title and the place pulled people together for a great encounter in ‘The pool of Life’.
    - - - -
 April 2006: Richard Oliver, in London ( richard@rendez-vous.demon.co.uk ), the editor of the BPA newsletter, “Tele,” wrote: The British Psychodrama Association (BPA) has been established for over 20 years. It currently has 275 members, includes 4 training schools, hosts an annual conference, and works hard to maintain the standard of practice for members and the status of psychodrama. Amongst the 275 members, 200 of these are based in Britain and include a mixture of trainers, qualified practitioners, and psychodrama trainees. The remaining 75 are based overseas – mainly in Ireland, Greece, and Russia. There are 4 established training schools as follows:
     The London Centre of Psychodrama Group and Individual Psychotherapy was founded in 1990. In 1994 a further training school, associated with the London Centre, was set up in Thessaloniki, Greece. The centre offers an annual summer school, beside the sea at Halkidiki, Greece. The senior trainers are Jinnie Jefferies and Olivia Lousada.
     Oxford Psychodrama Group was founded in 1989 and has established a well-known training course based in Oxford. Certain workshops within the course are based at the attractive retreat centre at Henley upon Thames. The senior trainers are Susie Taylor and Peter Haworth.
     The Northern School of Psychodrama was founded in 1996. Training centres are operated in Glasgow, Newcastle, and Manchester. Trainees also benefit from the accommodation and beauty of Fawcett Mill Fields, Cumbria, the venue for their bi-annual residential weeks. The senior trainers are Jenny Biancardi, Dr. John Casson, and Celia Scanlan.
      The MPV/SAM School provides the only training in this country in sociodrama and action methods. This is now well-established and based in Sheffield. Consequently, a further training centre has been set up in Moscow for trainees in Russia. The heritage site of Bretton Hall near Wakefield is the venue for the annual summer school. The senior trainer is Ron Wiener who is assisted by Di Adderley.

   To gain acceptance as a favoured mode of therapy within the health service in Britain in comparison with cognitive and analytic approaches the BPA has recently increased its training requirements for practitioner status so thatand a total of 450 supervised clinical hours are now required. Further details on the new requirements may be obtained by inquiring at their website.
At present, all BPA qualified psychodrama practitioners are able to be registered with the British psychotherapy governing body (currently UKCP). The legal environment in which we operate is changing and the increase in training requirements will ensure that new psychodrama practitioners will be accredited.
      At present, the British government is designing a law to make the registration of psycho-therapists and counsellors a legal requirement. This law is being prepared and is likely to be introduced during 2007 or soon afterwards. Our practitioners are already achieving the required standards and they will have a legal status. It is hoped that this will lead to greater credibility for our members.

Networking Ourselves: To achieve a higher profile for the BPA, we network ourselves – within the psychotherapy community and beyond. To this end, we have (1) a website: www.psychodrama.org.uk  which is periodically updated and includes contact details for those wishing to enter training or to attend groups and workshops. (2) The ‘British Journal of Psychodrama and Sociodrama’ is a twice-yearly journal devoted to writing on the theory and practice of psychodrama and sociodrama, including issues related to practice and research. The editor is Kate Kirk: kate_kirk@manx.net. (3) ‘Tele’ is the BPA’s newsletter, also published twice-yearly, and is a small magazine format that is full of news and articles to describe what’s going on in the psychodrama field both in the UK and overseas. The editor is Richard Oliver: richard@rendez-vous.demon.co.uk.  (4). The BPA has been hosting annual conferences for at least 3 days to present workshops and allow our members to get together and mark the changes during the year. This has become established as a well-organised event with time for professional development and as a social gathering. The annual conference is open to non-members and details may be found on the BPA web site.

In the 1998 book, edited by Marcia Karp, Paul Holmes, and Kate Bradshaw Tauvon, The Handbook of Psychodrama (published by London: Routledge) is not only informative, but also reflects the type of psychodrama that is going on in the UK. (It has 16 papers covering all stages of a psychodrama session - 305pp.)

International Links: As mentioned above, the BPA has links with Ireland, Greece, Russia, and the Balkans/SE Europe and we will describe the background to these. There have long been members of the BPA in both Northern Ireland and in the Irish Republic. The growth of membership here has been fostered by the work of Catherine Murray, who has run a training school in the south of Ireland for many years.
      The growth of membership in Greece has been encouraged by the London Centre for Psychodrama and Group & Individual Psychotherapy. The London School set up a training centre near Thessaloniki in northern Greece in 1994 and this is running well today. The main tutor Jinnie Jefferies spends her time in both London and Greece to lead the two training courses.
        The MPV/SAM School in Sociodrama and Action Methods was originally set up in Sheffield and opened a further centre in Moscow in Russia several years ago. The main tutor Ron Wiener has fostered this development and now the first Russian students are near to completing the training and qualifying as practitioners – one has already qualified in 2006.
         The senior trainers in the Oxford Psychodrama Group, Peter Haworth and Susie Taylor, provided many workshops for trainers in the Balkans countries of ex-Yugoslavia in south-eastern Europe, namely Serbia, Croatia, and Macedonia. This was a response to a request from our colleagues in the region during the Bosnian civil war. Following the success of these workshops, a workshop for trainees and trainers from across Europe was held in 2002 in Belgrade in Serbia. This was well-received and the event has been held each year since then. The workshop brings together psychodrama trainees and trainers from different countries and is an international psychodrama event that is specifically aimed at psychodrama trainees.
       -           -             -             -
Great Britain:  The British Psychodrama Association is
organising the next conference to be held in
Portsmouth, England on 24-26th June 2006. Portsmouth is a traditional English port on the south coast about 90 km southwest of London. Details at BPA web site: www.psychodrama.org.uk  
or contact the organiser: jennimetcalf@aol.com
     In 2004, Marcia Karp, a major pioneer of psychodrama was given the J.L. Moreno Lifetime Achievement Award by the ASGPP for over 30 years dedication to the field. Trained herself in the USA, Marcia then became the premier trainer in England for the last 30 years. She now has a private practice in London, runs some groups, and continues to teach internationally. Recently, she taught in Estonia, where she offered a 3-day workshop, attended by 40 people, and another 2-day workshop attended by 30 people, mainly from the Moreno Institute. (The main trainer there is Sirkku Aiotoletti, from Finland.) Later, teaching psychodrama in Verona, Italy, there were about 20 in the group one day and about 30 in the two day workshop. These were students of Giampopo Mazzara, all studying psychodrama with three who had their first experience. Soon she will teach for the fifth time in Japan, hosted by Dr. Yujiro Isoda, a psychiatrist. There are four groups, with about 20 students each, in Osaka, Tokyo, Yokohama and Yamanachi.

     2005: Gordon Parrott <gparrott@gotadsl.co.uk> wrote: The British Psychodrama Association Confernence in late June had as its theme: "Roots & Branches." This well-organized event was attended by about 100 people, with interesting workshops spread over 3 days.
International Sociodrama & Psychodrama Creative Action Methods Summer School, August 22 - 26, 2005, in Bretton Hall, Yorkshire, UK.  Led by: Francis Batten and Dr. Ron Wiener (for sociodrama workshop), and Susie Taylor and Dr. John Casson. Email to: ronwiener@27gledhow.freeserve.co.uk   or   joncassun@beeb.net   (Alas, Francis Batten died in late 2005).
      - - - -
    2005 (
The 4th Cross Culture Training Days, involving participants from Serbia, other Balkan countries, Israel, England, and elsewhere, was held in September, 2005, in Henley, England, hosted by Peter Haworth and colleagues. Usually it's held in the Balkans. See Yugoslavia.

  - - -  Bernard Widlake <beju@globalnet.co.uk> this last September (2002) wrote: The Newsletter of the British Psychodrama is named "TELE" and is edited by Richard Oliver <richard@rendez-vous.demon.co.uk>  They also put out a professional journal, edited by Kate Kirk <kate_kirk@manx.net >. The website for the British Psychodrama Association (BPA) is:  www.psychodrama.org.uk.   The BPA Administrator is James Scanlon, Flat 1/1,105   Hyndland Road,  Glasgow, G12 9 JD, Scotland.
       Peter Haworth  (email: Peter.Haworth@oxmhc-tr.nhs.uk )  also notes that in his Oxford training program, two of our trainees, Sandy Wooding and Jonathan Salisbury have now become Certified as Trainers. Oxford Psychodrama has 14 trainees at the moment with about 3-4 people about to join the training programme in the next few months. The British Psychodrama Association, at the last count, has 65 registered trainees. There are also other training programs, such as the "Northern School" in Manchester, and another one in London.

England (Great Britain, UK, including Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland): (Spring, 2003): Report on the annual meeting of the British Psychodrama Association, April, 2003, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, from Kate Hudgins (edited). Lovely conference, with time alloted to workshops balanced with time spent for informal sociometry and connecting.  Liz White of Canada was one of the keynote trainers at the conference. Susie Taylor, Peter Howarth and Ginnie Jeffries were all honoured for outstanding contributions to psychodrama in the UK and aboard. Catherine Murray, who has brought psychodrama to Ireland did a really fun workshop about discovering and recovering our spontaneity and creativity. Clark Baim lead an informative and very enjoyable workshop on using psychodrama with the criminal justice system in the UK.  He and a woman have been hired by the government to train criminal justice providers to work with sex offenders using psychodrama! (See his recent book, Geese Theatre Handbook.) This is amazing that he got a proposal that uses psychodrama through the UK system, so we can all look to him for role modeling.  He has a lively teaching style that shows a great balance of leadership and drawing on the group for resources.
   There was an organized bus trip through the sectarian areas of Belfast and that was an education to everyone I am sure.  While Belfast feels very safe now in the center city, all you had to do was go to the closed off Catholic and Protestant areas that still have murals to the "martyrs" and to the paramiliatary groups on both sides to see that violence and hatred is still a daily part of the world there.
     Orla McKeargney, who was trained by Jonathan Fox, lead an incredible Playback perforamce at the BPA, the first time her troupe had performed together,though noone would have know that.  It was a superb performance with talented actors.



Equador: 2006:
Joe Romance of Florida reported on his experience attending The First Psychodrama Conference of the Andes, held in Quito, Ecuador,  May 18 – 20, 2006. Excerpts of his report follow: Although this was the Third Conference for the psychodrama community of Ecuador, it also for the first time included psychodramatists from other Andean nations, from Venezuela down to Chile. Psychodrama was first introduced in Equador by Esly Carvalho about 10 years ago, and an institute was more formally founded about 3-4 years ago. Dr. Santiago Jacome, Dr. Maria Guadalupe Alcazar and Maria de los Angeles Vaca, major trainers at the Equadorian Institute, organized the conference, which was co-sponsored by not only The Association of Psychodrama and Sociometry of Ecuador (APSE) but also the Venezuelan School of Psychodrama, headed by Dr. Niksa Fernandez, who studied with Moreno.  Although the majority of the participants came from Ecuador, there were a number of people from VenezuelaColombia, Argentina and BrazilThe keynote speaker, Dr. Sergio Perazzo, a psychiatrist from Brazil, warmed up the entire group of nearly 250 participants with songs, sculpts and sociometric exercises, established a sense of safety and confidentiality and directed a very powerful and moving psychodrama. There were 5 concurrent workshops for participants to choose from in every time slot for two full days, with subjects ranging from applications of psychodrama for health care workers, community organizers, educators, and mental health providers as well as organizational and industrial applications. It was a phenomenally good conference.

    2004:  The main training institute's director, Santiago Jacome Ordonez (email: psdrecu@interactive.net.ec ) writes: The Asociacion de Psicodrama y Sociometria del Ecuador - APSE held the 2nd Ecuadorian Psychodrama Congress with the theme: "Una Puerta Abierta al Encuentro" (An open door to encounter), in Quito, Ecuador, South America, May 13-15, 2004.     For more information, contact Santiago Jucome O.  at telefax (593-2)         2440812, Tel (593 -2)  2264300         or   apse_ecuador@hotmail.com
         There were workshops and conferences on general topics such as Bipersonal Psychodrama, Couple Psychodrama, Family Psychodrama, GroupPsychodrama, Organizational psychodrama, Psychodrama and Education, Psychodrama and special groups, Psychodrama and Churches, psychodrama and Community, Other groupal interventions, Other action methods, Other interpersonal and personal growth methods. Methods used include psychodrama, sociodrama, playback theater, sociopsychodrama, organizational psychodrama, educative psychodrama, masks, play of life    The language was Spanish.
    Esly Regina Carvalho <eslyc@attglobal.net>, a former director, now living in the USA, writes: This  psychodrama conference in Equador in May was great! There were 180 people, Dalmiro Bustos and his wife came, as well as Lilana Fasano who was the president of the previous International Ibero-Americano Psychodrama Conference. (The next Ibero-American Psychodrama Conference will be held in Mexico City, May 5 - 7, 2005, about two weeks after the ASGPP conference in Miami Beach, Florida.)
     At our Equadorian conference, five of our trainees did their final presentations as workshops. Interestingly, most of them were specializing in educational psychodrama. My daughter, Raquel, who is in training there, at her workshop, sent everyone in the group (in surplus reality) to another planet as a warmup; then had them read the pages about taming the fox, from Saint-Exupery's "The Little Prince." Then everyone divided up into the roles of the Little Prince, the Rose (flower), or the Fox. The scene to play was as a re-visitation, after two years of growth and maturation had passed: They were to share about what the experience with the fox and the prince had meant to them (in role). Very nice job, and a lot of fun.
    We had a panel with Dalmiro Bustos, me, Carmen and Liliana on violence and aggression. Dalmiro spoke about tenderness; Liliana shared about her experience with cancer patients, where the violence is within; Carmen spoke about violence in family therapy; and I shared about violence against women.
      There were workshops on some intersting themes: Play of Life (Carlos Raimundo's approach), Magic Shop, Spontaneity Theater, the process of change, senses and feelings, the feared scenes in therapy (this was great!), couples therapy, etc. Dalmiro gave the opening address on "Psychodrama and Tenderness;"  I (Esly Carvalho) did a post-congress workshop on Pillars of Life; and Liliana did a sociodrama on living with people who have cancer, very touching.
      We are all very happy with it, especially since it was a big turnout (for us), and four universities gave their endorsement. It was held at the Salesiano University and a bunch of the Pyshoclogy students attended. So we now have six more who have completed their directing test, which brings the total number of psychodramatists in Ecuador to 21!
  
August, 2000: Esly Carvalho <eslyc@attglobal.net> writes: We now have four training groups with an average of seven people in each group. About half of these people now have over 300 hours. I have recently written and published three books. One, on separation, divorce and remarriage just came out in Portuguese, "Quando o Vinculo se Rompe" (When the Bond Breaks). A second came out in October, in Spanish on Family in Crisis. In January, we published in Spanish, a long-awaited dream-come-true, a . “Manual de Psicodrama,” that contains  the basics that students must study and master in order to become certified practitioners. It is really useful for trainers to have guidelines on what to teach, and for students to have direction on what to study and prepare for exams. Available from the Plaza del Encuentro, Casilla 17-08-8633, Quito, Ecuador; $15, plus $5 shipping. There have also been more contacts with other Latin American countries. Our website is under construction and should be ready soon at www.plazadelencuentro.com  


Estonia:  See also Baltic, above.  December 23, 2002:. Andres Sild <morenokeskus@morenokeskus.ee> writes:
   We have now 14 CP-s and a lot of psychodrama students in Estonia. We have two different schools: One is Tallinn Psychodrama School, (it belongs to Moreno Centre), with the principal trainer being Sirkku Aitolehti (T.E.P.) from Finland. Another school is lead by Ruuda Palmquist (T.E.P.) from Swedish Moreno Institute. From these 14 Certified Practitioners, 8 are students of Ruuda and 6 are trained by Sirkku (including me). We have also Estonian Psychodrama Society what is connecting these two schools. We use psychodrama widely in organizational training and team work, in education and in therapy groups. Psychodrama is accepted by Estonian Psychiatry Association. Most Estonian psychologists do not have clear attitude towards psychotherapies including psychodrama. They tend to accept more "traditional" and "clinical" fields like analytical therapy, cognitive- behavioral therapy and family therapy.
     Our conferences are called "Baltic Moreno Days," beginning in 2000. This year, in September, it was in Latvia, and after two years it will be in Lithuania and then again in Estonia. This year our main event was Marcia Karp's workshop in Tallinn. It was a 3+1 day workshop for about 50 psychodramatists, and was much appreciated. Estonia is a small country, with less than 1.5 million people, so, relatively, we have a lot of psychodramatists and many psychodrama students. From both schools we have 3 generations (we start a new training after every 2-3 year). So all together we have maybe more than 100 students from different levels.
We do not have our own psychodrama books (mainly in English, some translations). Nor do we (as yet) have our own psychodrama journal. I think our main problem is like in other countries - the lack of scientific work or clinical investigations - to have clinical data to prove the efficacy of psychodrama method and to get to more "evidence based level".  Please visit our website: www.morenokeskus.ee    Or our association's website: www.hot.ee/epdy (in Estonian only)     Warmly     Andres Sild, M.D. (Psychiatrist, and Certified Psychodrama Practitioner    email to: andres.sild@morenokeskus.ee        )

Europe:  FEPTO now has its own website with newsletters and lots of photographs. Nevertheless I recently received the following notice and attached photo: January, 2010: The Coordinators of FEPTO Task Force for Peace, Maurizio Gasseau, Melinda Meyer and Eva Fahlstrom, report that the The Task Force for Peace and Conflict Resolution of the Federation of European of Psychodrama Training Organization (FEPTO) meet in Turin, Italy, from 22 to 24 of January for the 3rd International Seminar on "Models, Techniques, and Projects for Conflict Transformation." This committee began at FEPTO’s Annual meeting in Vienna and have met since in Oslo, Stochkolm, and Turin, to share and develop models and techniques of work in conflict resolution and conflict transformation among different cultures, including such associated themes as: work with refugees; or help for the the helpers after war or disaster.

The committee above shows in the top row from left:
 Galabina (Gabi) Tarashoeva (Bulgaria); Norbert Apter (French part of Switzerland); Agnes Dudler (Germany) ; Leandra Perrotta; Maurizio Gasseau; Kerstin Jurdell (Sweden), and Monica Westberg (Sweden)
Bottom Row from left: : Judth Teszary (Sweden & Hungary), Melinda Meyer (Norway), Marcia Karp (England); Eva Fahlstrom (Sweden) and Gabriella Nicotra (Italy)
This FEPTO Task force received greetings from Zerka Moreno, Monica Zuretti, Jutta Furst, Jorg Burgmeister and Horatio Albini. They support our emphasis in FEPTO holding Morenos' perspective of Psychodrama being also a vehicle for peace. The next meeting of the task force will be in the FEPTO annual meeting in Belgrade, April 2010.
 

Tthe 18th meeting of FEPTO (Federation of European Psychodrama Training Organizations) will be held in Belgrade in April 2010.  (http://www.fepto.eu/web/en/Council/Archive/)
                - - -
 
May, 2007  15th annual FEPTO meeting in Alacati, Izmir, Turkey, in late May, 2007 (by invitation only). Following that meeting, they will have a “2nd FEPTO Post Meeting Conference, associated with the 32nd International Congress of Group Psychotherapies (the theme of which is “Social Cohesion.”
  It will be held in Bergama (or Pergamon), in Turkey, from May 30- June 2, 2007,
  (And also at the Aesclepion, in Izmir, Turkey)  These co events will be referred as “The Congress” and will be organized mainly for psychodrama trainees, trainers and practitioners. While Post-meeting Conference part is only for psychodramatists and psychodrama trainees, the Group Psychotherapies Congress part is open to medical doctors, mental health professionals, social workers and psychotherapists from other modalities as well.
Some of the group leaders will include  Eva Fahlström Strömberg (Sweden), for a supervision group in English; Jutta Fürst (Austria); Yaakov Naor (Israel); Jorge Burmeister and Natacha Navarro (Switzerland, Spain) (session in both Turkish / English); Inci Doganer (Turkey);       Maurizio Gasseau (Italy); Arsaluys Kayir (Turkey); Grete A. Leutz (Germany); Gábor and Barbara Pintèr (Hungary); Judith Teszáry (Sweden); Ali Babaoglu (Turkey); Bahar Gökler (Turkey); Emre Kapkin (Turkey)
 The openning of Congress is on Wednesday at 10:00 and the closure is  on Saturday at 20:00.
        For those who will nor participate in Annual Meeting,  we recommend that you make your flight reservations to arrive on May 29 and depart on June 3, 2007 Sunday. Those who already arrived for FEPTO Annual Meeting in Alacati will be taken to Bergama by bus or shuttle on 29th of May.
    Language of Congress: All conferences and lectures  will be bilingual (Turkish and English). 3 groups will only be in Turkish; 7 groups will be bilingual (trainers and trainees of FEPTO members institutes are welcomed). If you want to receive more information, please contact   inci.doganer@gmail.com

Previous FEPTO Meeting Reports in reverse order, starting with more recent:

May, 2007: Horatiu Nil Albini sent this photo taken at the Temple of Ephesus at Pergamon (Bergama), Turkey, where FEPTO held its recent meeting: :

A nice photo of a FEPTO choir in Ephesos, after singing from fado to german lieds. Unfortunatelly I cannot attach the sound too. From left to wright beginning with the first raw: Stylianos, Jose Luis, Enrica, Judith, Suanne, Agnes, Ina, Esther, Elena, Jutta, Vanda, Horatiu, Chiara, Gabriela, Michael, Aris, Vladimir, Gabor, Hannes, Karen, Sirkku, Barbare, Loes, Peter John, Nifont.

   -    -    -    -   -

2006: Horatiu Albini writes: In May 2006, the Romanian psychodramatists hosted in Cluj the 14th FEPTO conference, Apollon with Dionysos, Theories in Action, with the participation of 57 representatives of organizations from 19 countries. The conference was followed by the first FEPTO post conference that provided a meeting place for the students of the different psychodrama institutes in Europe. Our aim was to look into different theoretical approaches and to form a work group involved in supervision, comprised of trainers and practitioners. The two events were successful, from all points of view, including the pragmatic one.


    Europe (FEPTO) 2005:   The next FEPTO meeting to be held in Vienna, Austria, around April 20-24, 2005): Jutta Fürst, Michael Wieser and the local organizing committee (Mag. Susanne Schulze, Sylvia Zentner, Barbara Farkas-Erlacher, Norbert Neuretter). The start was done with Viennese Waltz and an expressionistic poem of Jakob Moreno Levy suggested and translated from Gretel Leutz. in Bad, where a museum is planned. (An excursion is being arranged to visit Maital 4, Bad Vöslau, near Vienna, where J. L. Moreno lived from 1918 to 1925. (Also, there will be a post-conference opportunity to meet with the organization of Austrian Psychodramatists April 29 - May 1, 2005.)
      The 2006 Annual FEPTO conference is planned for the Spring in Bucharest, the birthplace of Moreno.  -- Michael Wieser (http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/~mwieser)

FEPTO (Federation of European Psychodrama Training Organizations): Manuela Maciel writes: The 13th FEPTO meeting was held in Vienna, Austria on all over April 20-24, 2005. The last meeting attended around 60 Psychodrama Training and Accrediting Organizations from Europe to discuss the Minimal Training Standars and other common topics. This meeting included visits to J.L. Moreno House (Maital 4, Bad Vöslau, near Vienna, where J. L. Moreno lived from 1918 to 1925) and historical  places for Psychodrama and even projects for the Moreno Museum. The theme was "Bridge over troubled water: Integration of opposites allows differences."
       Addressed as topics included research, psychodrama theory, other fields of aplication besides psychotherapy, certification, training standards, supervision, peace science, ethics, our FEPTO newsletter and website and the dialectics betwen opposites. Also the evolution of the inclusion of  FEPTO in the European Association for Psychotherapy was analyzed. And, as always, the dancing, the singing and the FEPTO theatre. The General Assembly was very effective with lots of harmony and the acceptance of new training institutes.
      The topic of the meeting "Bridges over troubled waters: Integrating the Opposites" brought up the discussion about the needed dialectics betwen "passion and structure", betwen "action and words", betwen "art and science" and other opposites that should be more and more integrated for our development as people , as psychodramatists, as trainers and for the psychodrama development in the world..... There were also some cultural and other differences acnowledged and transcended... And some more bridges betwen FEPTO and IAGP also to insure good quality of networking and  psychodrama presentations at the next IAGP Congress in Brazil. We also had the opportunity to have a meeting betwen 7 of the authors contributing to the coming book "Advancing theories in Psychodrama" so it would be more integrated and effective. We had very interesting presentations from Leni Verhofstadt from Belgium about conflict resolution and children work using her dialectic model and another  presentation from Wilfried Graf from Austria about peace development in Sri Lanka (south of India) using sociodrama., all very interesting.
      And the spirit of Moreno was certainly present:! We had many organized visits to the J.L. Moreno places like his house in Bad Voslau (where some people are trying to do a Moreno Museum), the Augarten gardens where J.L. used to play with the children, the place for the spontaneity theatre (where we were surprised by  a performance by the feminine art association that really tested our creativity and cohesion as a group), the refugee camp where J.L. worked and developed the idea of sociometry and sociodrama (Mittendorf, where they have a street with his name), the jewish places  and cafes and his grave where we did some gardening... Fascinating...
     In a way the whole meeting  was a travel in space and time to the real origins of Psychodrama essence  and it brought us the urgent feeling of  recreating and continuing in a cooperative mode all of this, in a way that is both creative and cohesive. We thank the Local Organizing Comittee: Jutta Furst, Norbert Neuretter, Barbara Emacher-Farkas and Michael Wieser and  the FEPTO Board (more and more effective!) for all their effort in organizing this excellent event!
The next meeting will be in Transylvania, Romania.  Warmly, Manuela Maciel
<manuelamaciel@sapo.pt>
  FEPTO website:   http://members.tripod.com/~portaroma/fepto.htm


  June, 2004: The Federation of European Psychodrama Training Organisations (www.FEPTO.go.to) held their annual meeting this year June 2 - 6, 2004) at Kauniainen near Helsinki, Finland. The theme was:Trust, Ethics and Power in Practice. 69 representatives of nearly all countries in Europe and Israel, and new ones from Estonia, came together. Also, Monica Zuretti was a guest from Argentina.
   Gordon Langley (UK) spoke on ethics on the first morning, and Pierre Fontaine on trust. Fontaine found some common ideas between Daniel Sterns new book in 2004 and Moreno eighty years ago. Both speakers formulated four questions to be discussed in small groups. We talked about the influence of third-party payers (insurance companies, government agencies) on the relationships between therapists and clients. Perhaps it's best not to see them as an enemy but to invite the social atom to cooperate. The psychodramatist should take part in pluralistic loyalty and make explicit two things:
   1. That there is trust and a safe place in psychotherapy
   2. The "no" rule: you may say no at any time.

The next morning Maurizio Gasseau and Jörg Burmeister directed a sociodrama on power. First we played the Oedipus myth. In our small group we came to a solution that the shepherd did not have to kill Oedipus but have to balance the former triangulation between Jokaste, Laios and Oedipus. In a middle large group we dramatised the acceptance and rejection of new institutes into our organisation of FEPTO. The large group sociometry gave a majority in not to believe the oracle like in the Oedipus myth.
        The afternoon was dedicated to the question of becoming a European Wide Accrediting Organisation within European Association of Psychotherapy (EAP, http://www.europsyche.org/). Pierre Fontaine informed us and answered many questions also in the small group. At the end we did a spectrogram pro and con, with role reversal, in order to give all sides expression.
    In the general assembly two new members were welcomed:
   -- Associazione Incontro (Centro de Psicodramma y Sociodramma Zerka T. Moreno) in Livorno, Italy.
   -- Institute of Psychodrama and Sociotherapy (IPS) of the Open Psychotherapy Centre (www.OPC.gr), Athens, Greece.

We have just established an ethical advisory board, with Giovanni Boria, Pierre Fontaine, Gordon Langley, Grete Leutz and Ildiko Maevers as members of the first board.. All complaints should be sent to Mauricio Gasseau. The advisory board will decide on mediators.
     The Annual Meeting Committee was asked to get information on different religious holidays. It is a pity that the next meeting is at the same time as important Jewish holidays, Passover.
      For the Research Committee, Michael Wieser was asked to present a report, which is already online under https://www2.uni-klu.ac.at/claroline/160321/     Michael plans to prepare a collaborative FEPTO-Research with Tom Treadwell in the USA, and his method of the Social Network Inventory.
    The new council for the next two years was elected with Judith Teszáry as chairperson, Pierre Fontaine as vice chairperson and together with Aris Zeilstra chair of the training Committee, Maurizio Gasseau as vice chairperson and chair of Ethic Committee and European Affair Committee (with the help of Pierre Fontaine and Michael Wieser), Chantal Neve-Hanquet as treasurer, Horatiu Nil Albini as secretary and website manager, Inci Doganer as chair of the Membership Committee, Jutta Fürst as chair of the Annual Meeting Committee, Wilma Scategni as Chair of the Newsletter Committee, and Michael Wieser as chair of the Research Committee. Many thanks went to the former long-time council members and executives Rene Oudijk, Dorothey Langley, Eva Fahlström, Marcia Karp and Gabor Pinter, who needs a rest but are willing to be of further help.
     This meeting was evaluated and very much thanked to the perfect organizers Merja Tuomisto, Pirkko Hurme, Juhani Viherlahti, Eero Julkunen, Paivi Ketonen and Jari. The next two days they had a post conference on Myth and Cosmos, Basic Images of Nature with Elisabeth Mlasko, Arsaluys Kayir and Roberto de Inocencio.

 
 Europe (FEPTO)  (Michael Weiser of Austria writes:)  Federation of European and Mediterranean Psychodrama Training Organisations  (http://www.fepto.go.to) held its 11th meeting in Estoril, Portugal, April 9 to 13, 2003; theme: Ways of Supervision. More than 50 delegates from 19 European nations came together, Switzerland and Italy formed the biggest group. We divided our training interest in several fields of supervision: Clinical; Educational/social; Art/theatre; Organisation;  Combination/encounter; and did our work in small groups. We found out that there is a split between cure and care professionals also in supervision. Rene Oudijk introduced the technique of "via negativa"--that means to start with the worst way to solve a problem and get rid of the fear.    In the large group Pierre Fontaine gave us the view that a supervisor is like a grandmother and that he prefers the term "other-vision" instead of supervision. Marcia Karp suggested to divide the supervision field in: Individual, Team, Small group and Group supervision. In the workshop with Pierre Fontaine we stated that for direct or live supervision it is important to have a clear contract and transparency to the patients. Goals of supervision are reflection and ethics. Functions of a supervisor are to be an energizer, empathizer, analyzer and artist. Important issues were burn out, frame, contract, unfinished business, deroling, questions and organisational context like how to work with a co-therapist in supervision.

     Pierre Weil, a psychodramatist and professor of psychology from Basil, gave a lecture on his work. He won an award of UNESCO for his peace engagement. He started his training in psychotherapy with psychoanalysis by Igor Caruso and took his humanistic part. Out of a fragmentation crisis in society he build an existential encounter with a sense of life. His cosmo-drama is a kind of transpersonal psychotherapy. With puppets he showed us an example in psychodrama of the dao. For a couple conflict he uses two puppets for each partner, a feminine and a masculine one. Each part is quarrelling with the other. More we can find on his homepage: www.pierreweil.pro.br and his International Holistic University (www.unipaix.org).

The general assembly of FEPTO got new members:
 - The International Institute of Human Relations "Dean and Doreen Elefthery" (Spain)
 - The Northern School of Psychodrama (Glasgow)
 - Istituto de Tecnicas de Groupo y Psycodrama (ITGP, Madrid)
 - Associazione Mediterranea di Psicodramma (AMP, Palermo)
 - Institute of Gestalt Therapy and Psychodrama (YCTAB. Moscow) and
 - Istanbul Psychodrama Institute ans Psychological Counselling Centre (I.P.I.)
The membership fee will stay equal with 165 Euros for training institutes, everything is fine with finances, thanks to Chantal-Neve Hanquet. The next annual meeting will be in Finland from June 2 to 6 with a pre- and postcongress. In 2005 the annual meeting will be the first time in Austria (Vienna), after that in Bucharest, Pamplona (Spain) and Rostov on Dom (Russia). Grete Leutz suggested to open a Moreno Museum in Bad Voslau, near Vienna, at the time of the meeting. Also there will be a donation for the women artists in Maysedergasse 2 with the photo of this Estoril congress.
    The research committee (Marcia Karp) reported on the task to find a common research
design and protocol. On problems with father including a protocol suggestion we can read:
    Verhofstadt-Den ve, L. (2003). The psychodramatical äsocial atom methodô: Dialogical self in dialectical action. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 16, 183-212.
    There is also a new article from: Kipper, D. A. & Ritchie, T. D. (2003). The effectiveness of psychodramatic techniques: A meta-analysis. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research and Practice, 7(1), 13-25.
   Akku Kopakkala brought with him a study from Helsinki: Aro, K., N  t nen, P. & Nurmi, J.-E. (2000). L'examen des projectspersonnel au cours d'une psychoth rapie destin e aux personnes souffrant d' puisement professionnel. [The role of personal project appraisals during grouppsychotherapy of participants suffering from burnout symptoms.] Revue Qu b coise de Psychologie, 21, 2-28.
     Here you will find an English abstract:
http://elias.it.helsinki.fi/psyko/Psykolog.nsf/72bffb7fe2e88f9ac225686a0040d818/bb0
2c5f2782a332dc2256a710048a0cb?OpenDocument
    Wilma Scategni does research on unconscious in organisations, see also here newly translated book:
    Scategni, W. (2003). Psychodrama, Group Process and Dreams. Archetypal Images of
Individuation. Brunner Routledge.
      Anja van Impe will collect the psychodrama research in Belgium and share it with us.
Fernando Viera from Lisbon wrote a book on psychodrama and psychopathology in
Portuguese and will translate and publish it in English.
    Maurizio Gasseau from Torino will found a M. A. program in grouptherapy and psychodrama with European partners.
    Pierre Fontaine investigates supervision inside the psychodrama training and will present the results of the questionnaire at the iagp congress (see below).
   Michael Wieser gave three papers to the board of FEPTO:
    -- Research Design in Psychodrama Therapy
    -- Austrian Psychodrama Research from November 2002 to March 2003 and
     –  Studies in Treatment Effects of Psychodrama Therapy (revised).

The membership committee (Jutta Fuerst) got new requirements.
     The training committee (Pierre Fontaine) brought minimal training standards with them which were approved.
    The committee of European affairs (Pierre Fontaine) is discussing if the 11 accrediting
organisations in FEPTO should build an EWO (European Wide Organisation) in EAP
(European Association for Psychotherapy). Ren  Oudijk, Nel Bax and Hans Verdonschot will work on this.
    The ethic committee (Maurizio Gasseau) shared a Code of Ethics and Practice of FEPTO, we will decide in the next meeting.
     Next psychodrama conference invitations:
http://www.oeagg.at/v.php?v=pd-symposion
http://www.granada-academy.org/english/index-engl.html
http://kongrebergama.tripod.com/ingindex.html
http://www.iagpcongress.org/main.html
http://www.psihodrama.ro/lifeisastage.htm

Join http://www.iagpweb.org/index.htm before the conference and vote for a psychodramatist  as president (Marcia Karp).
    Thanks to the organiser Manuela Marciel and the board of FEPTO.
  -- submitted: Michael Wieser    http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/users/mwieser
Attachment: FEPTO meeting photo (on request)

(Spring, 2003) Anne Ancelin Schutzenberger of France wrote (though I've edited): The Federation of Psychodrama Training Programs and Organizations, FEPTO, has been meeting now for almost a decade! Last April, in Sofia, Bulgaria 10-14 April 2002; this year in Portugal--March 2003; and that in Finland: 2004.  Last April about 55 of us met, the participants being the directors or major trainers who have training schools in psychodrama all over Europe: Notable were Grete Leutz (Germany), Pierre Fontaine (Belgium), Ella Mae Shearon (Germany), Anne Ancelin Schutzenberger (France), Marcia Karp (England), Eva Roine (Norway), Eva Fahlstrom (Sweden), Judith Teszary (Sweden and Hungary), Renee Oudijk (The Netherlands), Nifont.Dogolopov (Moscow), Gabor Pinter (Hungary), Manuela Maciel (Portugal), Jorg Burmeister (Switzerland), Mauricio Gasseau (Italy), Dorothy Langley (England), Chantal Neve (Belgium), Ildiko Maevers (Germany), and many others--too many to name them all--from those and other countries, including Finland, Ukraine, Bulgaria, etc.. The elections seemed to go smoothly and no political problems were noted. Judith Teszary is the president this year. Thanks to Galabina Tarashoeva and Evgeni Genchev, our hosts and pioneers of training in Bulgaria.

May, 2001: Marcia Karp writes: The Federation of European Training Programs met in March, 2001, in Grasse, France, near Nice, where they have many perfume factories. We founded FEPTO in 1993 in Stockholm with 8 members, and now there were 55 of us from 18 countries including Russia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Austria, Israel, etc. So exciting to have a place to deal with real training issues amongst colleagues who are involved at the level I am in Training. Perhaps some not so long in the tooth as Anne, Grete, and me but still grappling with philosophical and practical training issues. We had some difficult moments but in general it is a fine and worthwhile organization


April, 2000 : Ildiko Maevers, director of the Psychodrama-Institut fur Europa (PifE) <IMaevers@t-online.de> writes: We have about 23 training groups around Europe, including Hungary, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, Norway and more than 15 in Germany alone--this is aside from a number of other psychodrama institutes and training programs not affiliated with our confederation. There are probably about 10-15 people in each group. Recently, the psychodramatists in Germany have been trying to get the state psychotherapy commission to authorize psychodrama for insurance reimbursement and it hasn't yet been able to provide sufficient evidence of efficacy. We'll keep trying. But we are also cultivating a broader range of applications, beyond psychotherapy--in schools ("paedagogic"), in organizational development and in art/theater. Our 5th International Psychodrama Conference "Magic moments" will take Place at Berlin from 14th - 16th September 2001.
          As for the relationship between PifE and FEPTO: Jutta Fürst notes that these two European psychodrama organizations have different goals. PIfE  is a confederation of some European psychodrama institutes which coordinate training and exchange trainers. FEPTO is an organisation of European (and Mediterranean) psychodrama training organisations with the purpose of promoting a wider recognition of psychodrama and to promote interchange between the members, research and quality-evaluations of the method and to develop training in psychodrama.


August, 1999:   The Federation of European Psychodrama Training Organizations: FEPTO has just published a 330 page- paperback book in English, edited by Peirre Fontaine, of Leuven, Belgium, titled: Psychodrama training: A European view. In its thirty-seven brief chapters numerous trainers in Europe describe aspects of training in their various countries, and a fair amount of material on actual techniques is also included.

   
For International News in countries (or organizations) whose names begin with F - M, click here.
    For International News in countries (or organizations) whose names begin with N - Z, click here.

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