Barn’s burnt down ─
Now
I can see the moon.
– Masahide (13th C. Zen poet)
Barn’s burnt down ─
The past year has been a barn-leveling experience for many of us. We’ve had so many losses and seen so much suffering! However, as the Zen poet suggests, these dark nights can lead to moments of gratitude, peace, even transcendence.
A wise person once said: The gift of suffering is compassion. May we cultivate compassion, and may all be well in 2021!
Staying Safe
Due to the unprecedented COVID-19 public health crisis, all services continue to be offered online. Please take care: Practice physical distancing, wear a mask when in contact with others, and wash your hand frequently.
May you be well!
Dear Psychodramateers:
Welcome to the fifth edition of Behind the Scenes at Laurel Psychodrama Training Institute (LPTI)!
BTS-LPTI is intended for colleagues, friends, students and others interested in psychodrama and the programs and services offered at LPTI. We hope you find these occasional communications with updates, interviews, announcements and reflections of interest.
A special feature of this edition is an article by newest LPTI Leadership Circle Member, Thomas Northrup, facilitator of a new peer-led reading group. We also feature information about a new weekend workshop on developmental repair and memory reconsolidation in psychodrama with LPTIers, Carley Foster and Cintra Harbold assisting Cathy.
May we be filled with lovingkindness; may we be well!
Upcoming Special Topic Weekend (February 19, 20, 21):
Directing Skills: Developmental Repair and Memory Reconsolidation.
Join Cathy and the team for a deep-dive into the theoretical underpinnings of psychodrama viewed through the lenses of: The Modified Hollander Curve; attachment/developmental theory; traumatology, and the emerging science of memory reconsolidation.
Learning modalities include: didactic presentations; action learning experiences; viewing all or portions of videotaped psychodrama sessions with processing according to the theories presented, as well as vignettes or a full psychodrama. Although the workshop includes significant experiential work, this is not primarily a personal growth workshop, but rather an opportunity for serious students and practitioners to take a close look at how and why psychodrama is such an effective modality that can promote deep healing and growth. This important knowledge helps us choose interventions carefully and wisely.
Meet the Team:
Carley and Cintra are both licensed LGPCs in Maryland, are LPTI-certified Trained Auxiliary Egos, and are Assistant Directors-in-Training.
Carley has special experience working with individuals in treatment for substance use disorders. She earned her Master’s degree in Counseling from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. In addition to her continuing psychodrama training with LPTI, Carley is also preparing to study Somatic Experiencing. She is an avid yoga practitioner and a fan of gardening and spending time with her husband, Andrew, and their four-legged companions, Penny and Simba.
Cintra has been studying psychodrama with LPTI for nearly 10 years. While in psychodrama training, she completed her Master’s degree in counseling at Loyola University. In addition to her experience in psychodrama, Cintra has been a member of a long-standing Playback Theater Troupe, River Crossing Playback Theatre. She and her spouse, Ursula, live with their two dogs, Brindle and Bruno in NE Baltimore.
Carley Foster, LGPC
Cintra Harbold, LGPC
Cathy & Linda Ciotola Reuniting
Cathy and Linda Ciotola together again — for HVPI Workshop on Psychodrama and Eating Disorders – March 05, 1:00-5:30 p.m., EST.
Join Cathy and Linda Ciotola, M.Ed., CET III, TEP, for a workshop offered by Hudson Valley Psychodrama Institute, entitled Healing Eating Disorders with Experiential Methods. Linda was co-trainer with Cathy for many years, and she co-led the 2019 LPTI Psychodrama Intensive at Blue Mountain Retreat Center. Cathy is delighted to be co-leading this workshop with her friend and colleague, Linda.
Click here for further information: https://www.hvpi.net/working-with-eating-disorders-track/
Coming Up at LPTI
Friday, February 19- Sunday, February 21– Special Topic Weekend Directing Skills: Developmental Repair and Memory Reconsolidations (Event Page)
Sunday, March 14– Finding Meaning: Narratives of Transformation in Action (Event Flyer).
All programs require preregistration.
Email: cathynugent@verizon.net
Phone: 410-746-7251
LTPI Reading Group:
A Peer-Led Theory Discussion Group
In December, five members of the training cohort met to discuss Antonina Garcia and Dale Buchanan’s article, Psychodrama*. Facilitated by LPTI Leadership Circle member, Thomas Northrup, the group enjoyed diving into this overview of psychodramatic history, theory, and techniques. They gave particular attention to exploring threats to spontaneity and effective interventions when spontaneity drops or is frozen.
Each month the reading group will meet on Zoom to discuss a topic in psychodrama theory. The January 27th meeting (via Zoom, at 4:00 p.m. EST) will use the Garcia and Buchanan article as a foundation to further reading on role theory.
Anyone who has attended an LPTI workshop in the last two years is invited to come! If you are interested in joining, please reach out to Thomas Northrup, LPTI’s reading group facilitator so he can connect you with the link and reading materials: thomasalexandernorthrup@gmail.com.
We hope to see you at the coming meeting or some future theory-exploring event.
*Garcia, A. & Buchanan, D.R. (2000). Psychodrama. In P. Lewis & D.R. Johnson, (eds.) Current approaches in drama therapy, Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas Publishing, Ltd.
Cartoon Corner
Having supportive auxiliaries goes a long way to easing our sufferings:
Staying Safe
Developmental repair describes the process of identifying unmet attachment needs from childhood, and meeting them through the surplus reality of psychodrama. In a psychodrama, developmental repair usually occurs after the catharsis of abreaction, and is often one of the most powerful and moving scenes in the psychodrama.
Memory reconsolidation refers to the process of uncovering previously (usually aversive) memories stored in long-term memory, and modifying these memories with new meanings more supportive of adaptive functioning. In psychodrama, this process is actively facilitated, often during the catharsis of integration, when the protagonist creates a new meaning from a previously held negative schema or life script.
