Lotary-17

TELE-tronic August 2014 TELE-tronic The electronic bulletin from the BPA August 2014 Vol.3 No.4 28.08.14 - 01.09.14 Welcome to the August 2014 edition of TELE‐tronic We are just a week or so away from our megaconference. Whether you’ve decided to attend or not, you can’t have failed to notice the enormity of the efforts the conference team have made to pull it all together. Personally, I’m really looking forward to attending the pre-conference workshop with Sue Daniels (who I’ve previously only worked with in short conference bursts and now can’t wait to get a bigger dose of), to meet old chums from far and near, to make new chums, to hear plenaries from people I’ve never met or heard from before who work in fields I have little knowledge of etc. etc. As it stands in place of an actual holiday for me this year (as in chilling on a warm beach with a large, cool white wine somewhere, or exploring some hitherto unknown land), I’m trusting the universe (and the conference committee) that my high expectations will be realised! This edition of TELE-tronic includes a lovely article from Mark Wentworth on some work Dynamic Theatre did in Bangladesh. Many thanks, Mark, for responding to my plea for material. Paul Holmes announces the first group of Anne Bannister Scholars who will receive their certificates and bursary awards at the conference dinner. Our President makes a plea for us to attend the AGM and have our say in how our organisation can go forward. Barbara Abis puts forward a motion to AGM in relation to required CPD hours and mothers on maternity leave – please read and, if you won’t be at the AGM, send Kate your comments and votes on this motion in double quick time (by 22nd August) otherwise it will not be possible to include your views/votes in the discussion. Don’t delay, do it today. Huw Richards announces the first graduate from Worcester University/OSPIP’s MSc in Psychodrama Psychotherapy course. Warm congratulations to Martin Gill. And we have an update on how Margaret Bird and Lynette Green are getting on with producing the next edition of the BPA Diversity and Equality Handbook. A theme running through much of the content is the ever more urgent need for a more active BPA membership in terms of offering to do the work of our organisation. To give service on a committee, write a piece for TELE-tronic (or the Journal), assist with the production of the Handbook – all of these things can count towards your CPD. And let’s face it, 50hours a year is a fair chunk to achieve. It doesn’t all have to be attendance at training events that cost you money. I hope you find this month’s offerings of interest, and please do send me something for the next edition – deadline 12th October. Di Adderley, Editor tele@psychodrama.org.uk TELE-tronic August 2014 CONTENTS 1 • Introduction by Di Adderley, TELE-tronic’s Editor • Quick Info • Note from the Chair - Kate Kirk •• Minutes of Exec meeting June • Motion for the AGM - Barbara Abis • The Importance of the AGM - Ron Wiener • A Call To Action - Mark Wentworth • Press Release MSc Psychodrama Psychotherapy - Huw Richards • Culture, Competence & Collaboration - Margaret Bird & Lynette Green • Anne Bannister Scholars 2 3 5 6 7 8 10 11 12 QUICK INFO Dates of next Executive meetings - to be at the MAC, Birmingham Please remember that participant observers are welcome to these meetings. Just let Natasha know on administrator@psychodrama.org.uk ! ! ! ! Saturday 25th October 2014 Saturday 28th February 2015 Saturday 23rd May 2015 Saturday 27th September 2015 AGM - Saturday 30th August 2014 17.00 at the Royal Holloway, London ! Saturday 13th June 2015 at Friend’s Meeting House, Lancaster Accreditation Committee meeting - 31st October 2014 - It will be held at the Centre for Counselling and Psychotherapy Education, London, 12 noon until 5pm 2 TELE-tronic August 2014 Message from Kate Kirk, Chair of the BPA “ Moreno's death was forty years ago and Mike Watson's death twenty years ago; and it’s thirty years since the first BPA international conference. On Saturday, we will be wooed by the world famous John Horler Trio, for an evening of jazz in the auditorium of the Windsor Building. The gala dinner will be a wild and wonderful affair with the Ceilidh Tree giving pizzazz; a ceilidh with international flavours to reflect the international audience. Dear Friends, Colleagues and members, We have some amazing books for launching – not least the book of the conference! It is a great book that reflects the conference theme, so it's entitled: Empowering Therapeutic Practice – Integrating Psychodrama into other Therapies. Other BPA members have books out as well, so keep an eye open for them; for example, Paul Holmes has not one, not two, but three books out. I want to thank Nancy for covering for me in my absence in TELE-tronic, not once but twice. The first time was planned: we had thought that we could take it in turns and you would get to know Nancy as Vice Chair, and even some of the other Executive members. The second time I was away, just about to start walking eighty miles of the Great Glen, when Di rang me to remind me about my TELE-tronic letter. EEK ... so Nancy's turn came around sooner than she imagined; thank you Nancy for stepping into the breach. Two connected things came up in the June Executive meeting, one about an individual with no connections to the BPA, and one an individual previously registered as a BPA member but not accredited as a BPA Trainer, who were both offering training. So this message is for our trainees – check the current status, background and training of people offering workshops. Their psychodrama / sociodrama hours will not count if they don't meet the criteria. In many ways I'm not sure what to tell you as my days, other than the full-time day job in CAMHS, are filled with conference business. I don't want to be too over the top but ... it is going to be brilliant. We have some amazing and varied workshops and presentations, not only from BPA members but also from a truly international crowd. We've over 200 people registered and there is space for anyone who still wants to come. So if you are one of the few who haven't checked the website for the full conference programme, go to: One thing that is truly exercising my mind at the moment is the lack of connection or response, and (I hate to say it) apathy it seems, in relation to what's going on in the organisation. We have sent calls out for motions for the AGM, your chance to have a say in the running of the organisation – only one motion has resulted (see page 6 – please read and email me your comments and your vote on this motion by 22nd August, otherwise they won't be included in the AGM discussion). We have had only one person (Susie Taylor) seek election (or, rather, re-election) to the Executive Committee (her reelection statement was published in the last edition of TELE-tronic, on page 5); http://britishpsychodramaconferences.org.uk/ Apart from a really busy programme of events, we have some great evenings planned. On Friday, the Mike Watson Trust has planned an evening of music, open mike session, dancing and generally good fun. They will celebrate and commemorate some of the significant anniversaries that are around this year: a hundred years since WW1 commenced; 3 TELE-tronic August 2014 no proposals were received by the deadline for the Lifetime Achievement Award, nor for the Unsung Hero Award. Now either I / we the Executive are doing such a great job that you have nothing to say, or we are doing such a rubbish job that you can't be bothered to waste your breath, believing nothing will happen anyway. Maybe if those two positions are at either end of the continuum, then you occupy a place somewhere in the middle. of London. You will be very welcome. Come and have a say. We have one resignation and one retirement to announce. Valerie Monti Holland resigns: this is particularly sad as she takes her sociodramatic and organisational perspective with her, which has been invaluable when working through thorny issues. Eve Doyle retires at the end of her tenure. She has held the role of Secretary for 7 years and is one of the five Officers of the organisation. She will be missed. I feel so passionate about the BPA and I so want it to survive; it is the place where I believe that I, as a psychodramatist, belong. Not solely as an individual direct member of the UKCP, lost in the politics, structure of colleges and factions of different psychotherapies, but somewhere where people know my name at the very least. So, as things currently stand, after the AGM, your Executive will consist of only six people. We have three vacancies, one of which is an Officer role, the Secretary of the Association. Both the conference and the AGM are vital events for the BPA. I’m looking forward to seeing you at both. About the AGM – the documents for the AGM will be sent to all members. So, even if you are not coming to the conference, come along for two hours on Saturday 30th August from 17.00–19.00 to the Royal Holloway, University Kate chair@psychodrama.org.uk ” INSURANCE Some insurance companies offer very competitive rates to psychotherapists registered with the UKCP, so it may be worth checking with them when you’re coming up to renewal time. 1. Howden: enquiries@howdenpro.com www.howdenpro.com (recommended by Susie Taylor) 2. Balens Specialist Insurance Brokers (underwritten by Zurich Insurance): info@balens.co.uk (recommended by Di Adderley) 4 TELE-tronic August 2014 Minutes from Executive Meeting 21st June 2014 Eight attendees and two apologies Matters Arising We discussed issues related to people offering psychodrama training events, who are neither trained in psychodrama nor registered as a Trainer with the BPA. We have to explore the benefits of being an organisational member of the IAGP. The question of the BPA representative for FEPTO continues to bubble around and we have decided to create a job description before seeking applications for the role. Accreditation Committee Peter Haworth is now the Chair of this committee. He discussed the closing of OSPIP as a school. There are three vacancies on this committee and Peter would like someone to shadow him to learn the role. The Training Standards document is nearly finalised, it will bring the BPA into line with UKCP. The document will be ratified at the next Accreditation Committee meeting in October and emailed to the Executive Committee for ratification in February 2015. The CPD and Re-accreditation Policy committee is a sub-group of the Accreditation Committee. The policy has been circulated and was discussed. It is broadly welcomed and is to be phased in gradually over a year as there are significant changes to be assimilated. Organisational Communication Ioanna Psalti and Peter Haworth were congratulated on their efforts in getting the BPA Journal up to date and sent out. The next BPA Journal will be out in July. Annei Soanes asked about an online-only journal. Peter will look into this and email the membership for feedback as to preference. The Executive thanked the editorial team of Di Adderley and Natasha Campbell for all their work on TELE-tronic. We explored the need for TELE-tronic to be transparent and to truly represent the voice of the members. International Conference 2014, AGM 2015 and Conference 2016 Following on from the Dublin conference and the International conference, we will only have an AGM next year. Annie Huntington has put in a proposal for AGM 2015. The Executive are discussing this question with some concerns as to the fact that it is in the north. There is a tentative proposal from Annie Huntington for conference 2016. 5 TELE-tronic August 2014 Motion submitted for AGM 2014 I, Barbara Abis, propose that the BPA writes a clear maternity policy, particularly focussing on CPD hours and professional status requirements. The policy should calculate CPD hours on a pro-rata basis and not require 50 hours to maintain the professional status for each year of maternity taken. The evidence to support my proposal is the lack of a clear policy around this. My understanding is that, as long as therapists have 250 hours in a five-year period, they should be fine. This is discriminatory towards mothers and does not take into account the rights of each mother to act according to her beliefs in terms of child care, i.e. taking a full year off to facilitate good attachment with the baby and to be able to breastfeed him/her. If I don't do 50 hours this year, the assumption is that I will have to make up the hours in the following years. This does not take into account that I haven't worked for a year and that therefore I may not be in a position to pay for any workshops/training. It also does not take into account the fact that I still have a young child to look after, which implies having to pay for childcare if family is far away or if both parents work. Not to mention that some mothers decide to breastfeed for over a year. It also implies that it is OK to leave a young child for a weekend or more. This should be at the discretion of the parents, without feeling the pressure of losing their professional status. Regarding the 50 hours practice to maintain professional status, similar considerations apply. It's discriminatory to expect mothers who care for their babies to work as well, under the pressure and fear of losing their professional status. If agreed, what I would like to happen is that the BPA calculate CPD hours on a pro rata basis. For example, if one takes one year of maternity leave, in a five- year period, the CPD requirement should be reduced to 200 hours. If two years are taken off, then the requirement should be 150 hours. This is fair and is respectful of the rights that each mother has to take care of their baby in what they believe is the best possible way. I also think that the same principle should be applied to practice hours. The minimum hours practice required by the BPA to maintain the professional status is 50 hours per year. Whilst on maternity leave, therapists should not be required to work 50 hours. If the hours are counted over a longer period than one year, this should also be calculated on a pro rata basis. Submitted by Barbara Abis and Seconded by Chris Andrews 6 TELE-tronic TELE-tronic August 2014 August 2014 The Importance of the AGM In the middle of the conference, our BPA AGM will take place on Saturday afternoon. While the international event is important, our AGM also needs to be felt and experienced as a significant event. Since the last international conference ten years ago, we have lost nearly half of our membership and half of our training schools (Ireland, Oxford and SAM). This trend is likely to continue. The economic recession, the government support for CBT, the emergence of energy therapies and the effect of living in a digital age are among the factors which are likely to impinge on us as an organisation. One factor in our loss of members is the fact that practitioners can now register directly with the UKCP – they no longer need to stay with the BPA as a condition of their registration as therapists. Also, there is little new blood coming through to volunteer for posts in the BPA, as evidenced by the difficulty we have had in filling the positions of Treasurer and Chair of Accreditation. It has been the old guard that has come to the rescue. And the old guard are stretched close to breaking point. When an organisation is in decline, there is a real risk that it will start to turn in on itself – cliques, bad mouthing, unhelpful gossip etc. Some of this is already starting to happen. It would be really sad if this were to continue. So, at this AGM, we need to find a way to breathe new life into our ageing body, organisationally, through finding new areas for growth and getting more volunteers to do the work. I know that this is no easy task, having taken part in numerous workshops on this theme within the BPA over the years but, unless there are some new initiatives, our world will end, as T.S. Eliot said, ‘not with a bang but with a whimper’. Ron Wiener BPA President CONTACT DETAILS Some members did not receive their journals so could you please let Natasha – our very efficient administrator – have your details if they have changed to ensure you receive the journals. administrator@psychodrama.org.uk 7 TELE-tronic August 2014 A Call to Action – Dynamic Theatre in Bangladesh Mark Wentworth Our physical journey started from London Gatwick on Thursday afternoon 29th September 2011 via Dubai and Dhaka heading for Chittagong, a city in southern Bangladesh. Our emotional journey had started six weeks earlier when Mostafa Kamal from Unite Social Theatre for Action (UTSA) in Chittagong put out a call for assistance to the IAGP Trauma Task Force. Team Director Esther Stone posted the request to the IAGP list-serve group. In his call for assistance, Mostafa had shared news about a tragic bus accident that had happened in July, in the small village of Mirasorai, killing 43 boys and injuring many more. Being an experienced leader in Social Theatre, Mostafa knew the benefits that drama and expressive arts would bring to help this community deal with their loss. Reading that email on a Sunday morning was for us an immediate ‘Call to Action’. I contacted Mostafa to find out more about what he needed and when. His reply to when was ‘We need help asap!’ Within six hours of saying ‘Yes’ to Mostafa, our first email went out to people, telling them of our plans and asking for help to raise the funds we needed to go to Chittagong. By 11pm that same night, donations had already started arriving and by the following morning we had received over £500. In the weeks that followed, people donated from as far away as Siberia, China and Australia, all with much the same message: ‘Tell the parents my heart goes out to them. I'm reaching out to them through the Dynamic Heart Project’. Within two weeks of that first email, we had the funds to buy our air tickets: we were on our way. We arrived in Chittagong and started work almost immediately. We had four days to teach and share the techniques of Dynamic Theatre with the group of people who were coming with us to Mirasorai. Thankfully, everyone present was familiar with some form of action methods so the process went quickly. Dynamic Theatre works with the collective unconscious, so the first part of our work was to encourage people to get out of their heads and into their bodies; to be even more spontaneous than they already were. Filipe took everyone through warm-up exercises from being Super-Heroes to wild animals, running or flying free in nature. Even in the most creative of arts, we sometimes forget how to be spontaneous: our spontaneity may become rehearsed and we can lose touch with our connectedness and sense of belonging to the collective whole. By encouraging people to become spontaneous and laugh until they are crying, we free up a space inside, which then allows each individual to become both a strong container and a good channel for more painful emotions. This Dionysian-type ecstatic state allows for the holding of what Jung would call the tension of opposites and when, as individuals, we can hold the tension of opposites, we have the potential of being part of a healing sacred alchemy for ourselves and for our greater communities. TELE-tronic August 2014 Twelve of us travelled to Mirasorai in a minibus made for six, complete with luggage and materials for five days. We were welcomed with happiness and relief by some, with resistance and suspicion by others. Social Theatre is used a lot in local areas to help people express their views and bring together the community to effect change for the better. Here, theatre is used for changing lives and to bring awareness of child trafficking. Here, theatre saves lives. loss. By letting the unspoken be voiced, by letting the river of tears flow and by allowing people to ride that stormy torrent, we could guide them through to the soothing and healing waters further upstream, to the distant view of a new day dawning. A Call to Action became A Call from the Heart. Do you hear the call? In every nation there is work to be done. In every community there are wounds to heal. In every heart there is the power to do it. Marianne Williamson ************************ When tragedy occurs and life ends suddenly, those left behind often feel they didn't get to say goodbye. There may be a need to say one last thing or hug the person who has died one final time. It is our belief, and that of many others in the field of Expressive Arts, that the techniques of psychodrama can create both the container and the healing tool for allowing the expression of the unspoken words that may otherwise stay stuck in our hearts forever. Dynamic Theatre (DT) is an action method created in 2003 by Mark Wentworth and Filipe De Moura. It is inspired by the ancient wisdom of theatre and storytelling, as well as by the works of J.L. Moreno and C.G. Jung. It is often introduced onto the psychodrama stage as the ‘Incognito Auxiliary’. In 2008, Mark and Filipe created the Dynamic Heart Project, a not-for-profit association, with the intention of taking Dynamic Theatre, Colour Dynamics, and other expressive arts out into the world where such methods are not available but much needed. In 2010, they made the first DHP trip to Nepal to work with child soldiers and other children who had been caught up in the civil war. In subsequent years, other adventures have followed. As the accident had affected so many people in so many different ways, we decided to use surplus reality. We chose roles relevant to the tragedy but had no script, just improvisation. Our intention was to invite audience members who felt the need or desire to say something to one of the characters or, using role reversal, to become one of the characters, to do or say what their act hunger required. Whilst we could not bring the children back, we could allow people the sacred space to cry, grieve and join together in their pain and mark@colourforlife.com 9 TELE-tronic August 2014 June 2014 First Graduate of the UK’s Only MSc in Psychodrama Psychotherapy The University of Worcester, in partnership with the Oxford School of Psychodrama and Integrative Psychotherapy (OSPIP), are proud to announce the first graduate of the UK’s only MSc programme in Psychodrama Psychotherapy. Martin Gill, Dramatherapist and Psychodrama Psychotherapist, successfully completed studies on the ‘Top Up’ programme of study this year. He was awarded the MSc Psychodrama Psychotherapy for his innovative enquiry and currently holds the first Masters of Science degree in Psychodrama Psychotherapy in the UK. Martin’s study was entitled ‘Beyond Moreno: if spontaneity is a central concept within psychodrama, might it also be of importance to another form of therapy? His research explored how this central Morenian concept is shared with systemic family therapy, and affects practice in that discipline. Martin’s work identified that there is no explicit understanding of spontaneity informing systemic family therapy training or practice and that an opportunity exists to develop further interdisciplinary training or research that could benefit psychodrama and systematic psychotherapy practices. Such pluralistic approaches are a theme of this year’s BPA International Conference in London, and of the new book, Empowering Practice, (Holmes, Farrall & Kirk, Eds.) which will be launched at the conference. The MSc Psychodrama Psychotherapy award on which Martin studied provides two route options: • Full five-year BPA and UKCP accredited programme leading to the award of Masters of Science in Psychodrama Psychotherapy. • ‘Top up’ programme for accredited Psychodrama Psychotherapists consisting of four modules of study, including advanced research methods and a three modular independent research dissertation, leading to the Masters of Science in Psychodrama Psychotherapy. The programme is supported by Dr Mark Farrall, Huw Richards and members of the Academic Unit of Psychological Health within the Institute of Health and Society at the University of Worcester. Enquiries regarding the programme should be directed to Huw Richards, Senior Lecturer at the University of Worcester, at h.richards@worc.ac.uk or phone 01905 855350 10 TELE-tronic August 2014 Culture, Competence and Collaboration … … this conversation is only just beginning Margaret Bird and Lynette Green In the operating conditions of the 21st Century it is impossible to be competent alone. Competence is a function of culture, which is a function of relationship. This is not only a plea for attention to teamwork, collaboration and other competencies relating to an individual’s performance in group settings. It is a deeper acknowledgement that we create our lives in a pattern of relationship with other lives and always have done. M. O’Hara and G. Leicester (2012) Dancing at the Edge: Competence, Culture and Organization in the 21st Century We are in process …. The emerging shape of the BPA Diversity and Equality Handbook is looking good. We are aiming for a dynamic and creative format and we hope that the variety of content and approach will engage people’s interest – stimulating thought, development and growth both personally and professionally. We want it to be something you can come back to, use often and also contribute to, collaborate with … What we need now are volunteers to peer review our handbook draft. If you are a trainee, a practitioner, trainer or senior trainer in psychodrama or sociodrama, we want to hear from you. It’s vital that the handbook is able to engage people at all stages and ages, and will be a useful resource whether you are learning, practising, supervising or training. It’s a collaborative process and we want your feedback. We are also looking for someone with appropriate skills to help format the electronic version of the handbook so that it works well in its new home on the BPA website. As a volunteer you will be able to claim hours towards your CPD. Please get in touch via Natasha before 31 August at: administrator@psychodrama.org.uk Or come and speak to us at the Conference. Or come to our workshop there! We look forward to hearing from you. Thank you. 11 TELE-tronic August 2014 The Anne Bannister Scholars 2014 Anne Bannister Scholars will be created bi-annually by the BPA, in honour of Anne, and given to individuals in acknowledgement of their research and / or publications that focus on creative, action-based, therapeutic work with children and young people who have suffered neglect, abuse or other forms of social or medical adversity. The British Psychodrama Association is delighted to announce that the Anne Bannister Scholars’ Committee has decided this year, given the exciting spread of experience and nationalities of the nominees, to create three Anne Bannister Scholars. The Scholars will be formally presented with their certificates and a small bursary by Anne’s husband Stan Bannister, at the banquet of the BPA / IAGP international conference Empowering Practice on Sunday 31st August 2014 12 TELE-tronic August 2014 Dr Christina Citron Christina is a retired child psychiatrist who has worked since the 1980s with those who have suffered child sexual abuse, placing her emphasis on groupwork using creativity, mostly based on psychodrama. In 1985, she started the first therapy group in Sweden for teenage girls. Between 1989 and 1990, she initiated and led a major project, with groups for teenagers and small children and parallel groups for their mothers. This work was described in the Blicken (The Look), edited by Erik Centerwall (1992). She was the principal initiator of the Vasa Clinic, the first Swedish Outpatient Child Psychiatric Clinic specializing in working with sexuallyabused children. The Clinic opened in Stockholm in 1994. From 1995, she led groups for small children and young schoolchildren, as described in the book edited by Anne Bannister & Annie Huntington, Communicating with Children and Adolescents – Action for change (2002). Dr Citron described and evaluated group therapy with fifty teenagers in a report, Det trygga rummet (The safe room) in 2003, and from 2002 to 2004 she led a project working with fourteen young women in a halfopen psychodrama group. Sonja Nyström Sonja is a Swedish psychodramatist, who has worked for the last thirty years in mental health care, in community-based alcohol and drug abuse programmes and in private practice. Many of these clients had a history of childhood sexual abuse. She has also worked in education and supervision over the last twenty years and with young people in psychodrama groups. Between 2002 and 2004, she ran a group for young adults who had been sexually abused in their childhood by someone in their family. Her work was described in Feel for others – Feel for myself. From 2006 to 2009, she worked in a project for maltreated women. Claudia Vau Claudia is a London-based actress, singer and songwriter. She started to write, compose and sing her own songs for a cause: to give voice to voiceless women, young girls, children and men from all around the world. Her first single, ‘Make Your Voice Sound’, is a theme-song which expresses the mission of an international network that promotes Women's Rights and Gender Equality (VOWW - Voices of Women Worldwide). She works with teenagers aged 12 to 19 living in residential communities in London as well as teens at risk of becoming labelled as NEET – Not in Education, Employment, or Training. Claudia is a psychodrama trainee at the London Centre for Psychodrama and a playback theatre performer and conductor. She currently works in a therapeutic community with the Richmond Psychosocial Foundation International. 13