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Fabian Blobel
Dr. med., psychiatrist and psychotherapist for children and adolescents, psychodramapsychotherapist for children (Moreno Institut Stuttgart, international trainer (IAGP) and supervisior for psychodrama with children, adolescents and their parents.
Direct student of Alfons Aichinger and Walter Holl (creators of the Psychodrama method for children), longtime head of the group therapy department for children and adolescents at the Mental Health Service in Canton of Solothurn, Switzerland. Now working in private praxis in Hamburg, Germany.
Topic: “Sturm und Drang” – the adolescent Brain in the group matrix
The phase of adolescence is characterized by many neurological and neurohormonal changes activating the transition from being a dependent family member to become a co-creator and active participant in the society.
The peer group is an important agent for that process of acculturation. Thus the group is influencing the individual development, as the individual is affecting the matrix of the group.
In this workshop we will learn the most important aspects and peculiarities of the adolescent brain and experience how psychodrama and sociometry can be used adequately in order to influence the group dynamic and thus the group matrix in that important developmental phase.
Kalina Tosheva
Clinical psychologist, psychodrama-therapist at “Chiron” Psychodrama Institute, psychodrama-therapist for children at the German Psychodrama Institute “Szenen” and “Chiron” Psychodrama Institute. Certified as Tele’Drama Therapist – Level 1 at the International Tele’Drama Institute. Certified to work with different types of cognitive, emotional and behavioural problems in children at different ages. She has many years of therapeutic experience leading psychodrama groups for children and adolescents, as well as social skills groups for children with learning disabilities.
The Dual Psychotherapy Centre was established in 2021. Its activity is focused on psychological diagnosis, consultation and therapy of children, adolescents and adults in individual and group formats. It works in collaboration with different types of professionals.
Daniela Tahirova
MEd, MPsy Therapeutic Center “Vitae” International Tele’Drama Institute (ITI) Representative Certified Tele’Drama Practitioner. Daniela Tahirova has a master’s degree in pedagogy, speech therapy and psychology. Psychodrama Therapist, Director of Psychodrama with Children, and Family Therapist. She is conducting therapy groups for children – according to the method of A. Aichinger and W. Holl and for adults under the supervision of Dr Daniela Simmons. Daniela Tahirova is the director of the “Psychodrama and Action Methods in Education” program, which is certified by the Ministry of Education and Science at the Adler Institute-Bulgaria. She trains, practices and teaches Teledrama in Bulgaria. Co-leader in the Bulgarian groups of Dr Daniela Simmons.
Topic: Learning New Roles and Strategies for Children in Situations of Covert Emotional Incest
CEI is a role confusion in the family in which the child takes the role of partner to one of the adults. When the balance in the family system is disrupted or there are extreme situations related to chronic medical/mental health issues and when the family does not seek help and tries to adapt to the stressors, one of the risks is to develop CEI. Covert emotional incest is a discreet form of sexual abuse within the family system without phisical incest or direct abuse. It is incestual because of the flow of parent-child sexual energy. The child develops a sense of being special/chosen and by force takes the role of romantic partner to one or both parents, trying to meet their emotional needs. The healthy generational boundaries are almost completely erased, and the child’s needs are ignored. In this workshop, we will share our therapeutic experience in the opportunities and ways to learn new roles and strategies for healthier parent-child bonding, in finding new resources to move the child out of the position of partner and surrogate parent into more age-appropriate roles. In the workshop we will present a short introduction to the theory and terminology of Adena Banks Lees, but it will mostly be experiential and experimental.
Enas Jouda – Director
Bushra Abu Lila – Co-Director
Topic: How Children Play in Gaza
Gaza is different from any place else where there are lots of contradictory situations and the people here are surviving rather than living due to the constant stressful situation.
Children in Gaza lived under catastrophic circumstances that deprived them of their basic needs, which are the right to live in peace and joy. They were exposed several times to Israeli attacks that affected their psychological well-being. Lots of children in Gaza developed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder that affected their daily function and made their lives more difficult to handle. The traumatic events affected the children’s ability to concentrate and affected their school achievement, which consequently affected their relationships. The children are always considered the mirror of their family context and also reflect the social context. And mainly, both contexts were full of despair and pain.
GCMHP always thought about how to help these children overcome their suffering, and psychodrama was the solution, which helped the children reflect on their needs on the role he or they took during its application.
Through this paper, I am going to present some of the children’s play scenes that were demonstrated while we applied psychodrama sessions with them, which reflect real-life situations but through symbol presentation, and the challenges we faced as psych dramatists while applying psychodrama with them, which motivated me to apply to the conference to understand more about how trauma affected children’s minds and consequently affected their ability to play.
Assist. Prof. Kristina Gotseva-Balgaranova, PhD
PhD of Psychology, Assistant Professor in Cognitive Science and Psychology Department at New Bulgarian University, Sofia. She got her PhD in Psychology (Developmental Psychology) in 2018. She is a group and an individual child, adolescent, and adult psychotherapist. She is a psychodrama trainer for adults and, has been a psychodrama with children trainer under supervision since 2020. She is a psychotherapist in the Center for Child Development and Psychological Consulting “Cognitiva”, Sofia, Bulgaria. For many years she is conducting research projects related to child development. She has attended many scientific and psychodrama conferences in Bulgaria and abroad. She was in the research team in the Evidence Based Trauma Stabilization project (EBTS- 2017-2019), funded by Erasmus+ Programme of the EU.
Topic: Psychodrama and Executive Functioning In Children – The Effect of a Structured One-Week Program
The workshop will be focused on the presentation of a structured program for children which consists of two main parts: games which develop executive functions and psychodrama for children with semi-structured scenarios. One of the basic ideas of the program is to target and satisfy the basic needs of the children (Aichinger & Holl, 2016). On the other hand, we aimed to support their executive functions with specific exercises. It was supported by empirical data that the executive functioning of children is crucial not only for their cognitive development but also for their social-emotional competence (Liew, 2011). Research will be also presented based on the measurement of the effect of the program on the executive functions of the children. To be more precise attention, inhibitory control and working memory are measured before and after the program for all children. In addition, a social-emotional construct was measured in order to establish whether there are differences in the self-perception of the participant before and after the program. It is too ambitious to think that we can change the brain mechanisms such as the executive functions for one week, but there are research data presenting short-term effects after one-week training (Gotseva-Balgaranova, 2018). Such training put in a proper complex combination with psychodrama could be a great example of a program with broader application in the practice.
Prof. Dr. sc. Kristina Urbanc, professor at the Department of Social Work, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb kristina.urbanc@pravo.hr
Co-author of the workshop (will not be present at the conference): Sandra Matijević, social pedagogue, Center for Children, Youth and Families in Velika Gorica sandra.matijevic1@gmail.com
Topic: One Day at School
The goal of the workshop is to present a story from a psychodrama session with a group of adolescents between the age of 12 – 14. The group takes place in a Center for Children, Youth and Families in Velika Gorica, Croatia, during the academic year, on weekly bases, consisting of 8 adolescents and two co-therapists. The main activity is the group creation of a story in which all participants in the group become part of the creative process with the opportunity to symbolically define difficulties from everyday life and to “try out” new solutions. In this particular story, the focus is on adolescents’ experience of injustice at school, which is played out in a psychodrama way in an “as if” space where there is no bad solution or incompetent participants also, no judging and evaluating. The name of the story given by the group was „One day at School“. The method is based on the theoretical foundation of Hanna Kende, Basic idea is to empower children to find their own strategies through healing stories and metaphors, to experiment with them within the group and to perform them in the real world. The workshop aims to enable the participants to experience the significance of the symbolic, creative transformation that children use to face different challenges in everyday life. The workshop is intended for experts in helping professions, students, and participants in training.
Roger Schaller
Psychologist, psychodrama trainer and supervisor. He works as a psychotherapist in private practice in Biel/Bienne (Switzerland). He has written several books and articles about role-play and psychodrama, most of them in German; a book on psychodramatic role-play has been published by lulu.com in English. He is the president of the Swiss Psychodrama Association PDH.
Topic: Playing with the Moral Brain
Adolescents and young adults often have clear opinions about right or wrong, good or bad, just or unjust, and do not like to engage in moral discourse with adults even if their thinking and behavior have proven to be unsuitable. Psychodrama with its scenic techniques offers an excellent tool to enter into a challenging discourse with delinquent adolescents and young adults. In this workshop we will focus on monodrama and show how the crucial moments of change occur when the psychodrama director takes a contradictory position towards the client. In different case studies we will experience that the ability to think is realised through dissent.
Literature: Schaller, R. (2019). Imagine you are…- Role Play in Individual Therapy, Counselling and Coaching. Lulu.com Schaller, R. (2022) Crucial moments of change in monodrama: the creative contradiction. Z Psychodrama Soziom. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11620-021-00645-6
Vasilena Vasileva
Psychologist at “Regional center of inclusive education – Sofia region
Lyuba Pencheva
Psychologist at “Regional center of inclusive education – Sofia region”.
Topic: Special Play Needs
Children with special educational needs or disability (SEND) have learning difficulties due to the specifics of the disorder and their condition. There can be disturbances or inhibitions expressed in different areas of functioning – sensory, motor, mental impairment etc. These kids need additional and/or different kinds of help than the one provided to the other children of the same age group. The individual characteristics of each child with SEND reflect their play abilities. All this implies a personal attitude in the selection of toys, activities, and environmental conditions. The role of specialists is key in creating a space for the formation, construction and development of shared attention in order to satisfy the specific child’s need through play to develop the nervous system and the brain. Acting provides a field for the formation of social and cognitive skills, emotional intelligence and the formation of a realistic Self-image. The participants will have the opportunity to step into the shoes of children with various diseases, to feel the difficulties and limitations as well as the opportunities to develop their personal potential, to discover themselves and the world, through the play. They will be able to see the world through the point of view of one of these children and to understand more about them and about themselves. Sharing the experience is a living and developing try for psychologists, educators and other professionals who choose to attend our workshop.
Daniela Tahirova
MEd, MPsy Therapeutic Center “Vitae” International Tele’Drama Institute (ITI) Representative Certified Tele’Drama Practitioner. Daniela Tahirova has a master’s degree in pedagogy, speech therapy and psychology. Psychodrama Therapist, Director of Psychodrama with Children, and Family Therapist. She is conducting therapy groups for children – according to the method of A. Aichinger and W. Holl and for adults under the supervision of Dr Daniela Simmons. Daniela Tahirova is the director of the “Psychodrama and Action Methods in Education” program, which is certified by the Ministry of Education and Science at the Adler Institute-Bulgaria. She trains, practices and teaches Teledrama in Bulgaria. Co-leader in the Bulgarian groups of Dr Daniela Simmons.
Eva Miceva
Bachelor’s degree in psychology. She is in CBT training. Certified Tele’Drama Practitioner, Level 2. She is a psychologist specializing in children’s therapy and early childhood development. Eva has a private practice and more than 5 years of experience in counselling and therapeutic work with children with special needs, emotional and behavioural problems. She also works with parents and adults.
Topic: Role Playing – and Opportunity for Cognitive Development
We have found that the creation of psychodramatic roles develops all cognitive processes, enriches the imagination and releases the trapped emotions. Because the role is the connection between the emotional and the cognitive in the personality. In our workshop, we will try to explore and trace the relationship between entering a role and creating and experimenting with new behavioral patterns and strategies in children. Together we will look for the connection between emotions and the cognitive processes of learning, understanding, integrating behaviors through imagination. How the role helps the person to know himself, to better understand the behavior of others and ultimately to have more fruitful interactions and be effective in his reality. Participants will have the opportunity to experiment and role-play and understand how this affects the enrichment of cognitive processes and why play is fundamental to human development. In the subsequent analysis of role choice as well as role interaction, participants will have the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the motivations that drove them to choose a role, therefore understanding more about what drives children’s role choice, why do they do it? What brings them? What new skills does it build? What new cognitive connections do they make? At the end of the workshop, the participants will have better understanding about the role of imagination and emotions in building cognitive strategies.
Dagmar Mingers
Music Therapist
Psychodrama Therapist for children and adults
Family Counsellor at Kinderschutzbund Aachen, Germany
Heidi Schaul
Music Therapist
Psychodrama Therapist for children and adults
Family Counsellor at Caritas Familienberatung Aachen. Germany
Topic: What Stories Tell Us
In our children’s psychodrama groups, we work with children to support them in their social-emotional development. We play stories and adventures with the children. In the final round, we tell the children the story we have just created and make the observation that the children seem to enjoy this very much and an additional experience is created in the process. The children are now relaxed and filled with play, and can listen to and connect with the entire story. We are concerned with how this process promotes brain development in terms of integration and enhancement of self-awareness and confidence. Researchers such as McGilchrist and Damasio describe how storytelling of embodied stories supports lasting connections between the two brain hemispheres, fostering interpersonal connections, coherence, and attention skills. In the workshop, we will share our experiences, provide theoretical input, and explore story play and storytelling together.
Emőke Takács
Psychodramatist
Migration and Intercultural Expert
Project Coordinator at the Jesuit Refugee Service Budapest, Hungary
Topic: Houses of Encounters – Psycho-sociodrama with Children, with their Parents, and their Helpers of Family Foster Care Homes
In the past few years specific forms of the drama methodology was developed for children who live together in different types of institutions: in children and family foster care homes or in youth detention centers. This work takes in consideration that (1) classical forms of psychotherapy and psychodrama for children can not be applied in these settings, and that (2) in order to achieve results not only the children, but the whole system should be involved in the socio-therapeutic intervention. Children, parents and professional helpers of the institutions have groups and play together in order to create a trauma informed environment where children and youngsters can experience safety and trust, can work on their identity and belonging issues, can express their dilemmas and conflicts, find their resources and build up a vision of a better life. The developed methodology – called institutional drama – combines the approach and techniques of psychodrama for children learned from Hanna Kende and of the Morenian sociodrama. Our working group (SCOPE) based in Budapest applied the institutional drama to more than 20 organizations. Our workshop at the conference – presented by two members of the SCOPE working group – will give a demonstration of this institutional psychodrama – sociodrama work.
Craig Stevens
Craig has 30 years of experience working with adolescents in the UK. He qualified as a psychodrama psychotherapist in 1999 and is registered with the British Psychodrama Association and the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapists (BPA and UKCP). He has provided training to many groups and organizations across the UK and Europe.
Topic: Working with Resistant Adolescents
This workshop will look at the very good reasons clients have for resisting help, and how a clearer understanding of this can lead to productive ways of circumventing their defences. Through an experiential workshop where attendees will be invited to share some personal material, we will work together to demonstrate spontaneous and creative ways to help our resistant clients.
Radostina Minina
PhD, Asst. Prof., Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Topic: Interdisciplinary Education Project for Teaching Philosophy and Civic Education at School Using Psychodrama and Role Plays
This workshop is suitable for professionals working with children such as psychologists, psychotherapists, pedagogists, teachers as well as child caregivers. The workshop is based on the analogy of the child brain presented by Dr Dan Siegel and Dr Tina Payne Bryson in their book “The Whole-Brain Child” (2012) and the theory of interpersonal neurobiology. The brain is a complex system that is interconnected, and its different parts work together for healthy development. Secure attachment and connection are essential for a child’s early brain development. The analogy of the “downstairs” brain and the “upstairs” brain describes the lower and more primitive part of the brain, and the higher and evolved part of the brain respectively. In psychodrama with children, the therapist can help children regulate their emotional responses, build resilience, develop social skills, and strengthen the mind-body connection. Psychodrama with children can be adapted to meet the child’s individual needs and interests. The analogy of the child’s brain as a house with two storeys is a simple and understandable way to explain the different parts of the child’s brain and how they work together.
Reijo Kauppila
Master of Adult Education, Psychodrama trainer TEP, certified supervisor and business coach ACC, is working with adult learning (individuals and groups) in both public organisations and private companies. He is the director and the main trainer of Helsinki Psychodrama Institute, Helsinki, Finland.
Topic: Serious Brain – Playing with Adults
Children automatically switch between playing and reality. We, adults, have a tendency to be too serious to play, even though playing is a serious business. Why? In this workshop, playing of adults is explored both in theory and practice. We will study the paradox of playing in philosophy and neuropsychology, and their connections to psycho- and sociodrama and sociometry. Playing as creation of opportunities is experienced in relation to spontaneity-creativity (canon of creativity). Morenian role theory is revisited in playing as learning – what happens to our roles while playing? As practitioners, we need to warm up adults for playing, and in this workshop, warm-up methods are presented and co-created. This workshop is targeted to psychodramatists and professionals in other fields, who are interested in practice and theory of adult playing.
Ahmad Sheikhani
With over 20 years of MHPSS experience, I am a psychotherapist, supervisor, and master trainer specializing in children’s play therapy and therapy for war survivors. I have held positions in international NGOs, providing training, supervision, and capacity-building for MHPSS services. I have authored academic books on children and booklet for female survivors of detention and conducted research on the mental health of Syrian refugees and IDPs.
Topic: Child-Centered Therapy for Children Who Have Experienced War Conditions: A Case-Based Workshop
This workshop will provide an introduction to child-centered play therapy and its use in working with children who have experienced war conditions. Through the presentation of a case study, participants will learn about the techniques and strategies used in child-centered play therapy with a child who has experienced war conditions. Additionally, we will discuss the basic principles of child-centered play therapy and how they relate to the unique needs of children who have experienced war. Through interactive activities, participants will learn how to establish a therapeutic relationship with children, create a safe and nurturing environment for play, facilitate self-expression, and process trauma to promote healing. Additionally, we will address the importance of cultural sensitivity in child-centered play therapy with children who have experienced war conditions. Participants will leave with practical skills and knowledge to apply in their own work with children who have experienced war.
Annamaria Szentes, PhD
Topic: Equine Assisted Psychodrama Group for Children with Cancer
The equine assisted psychodrama can be an effective alternative approach for children with cancer, with positive effects on their quality of life. With the help of the therapeutic horse in the psychodrama groups, children are provided with a safe and supportive environment to express their emotions and share their experiences with others who are going through similar challenges. I am going to show the experiences and outcomes of a horse assisted psychodrama group conducted for children with cancer treated in the Oncology Department of the 2nd Department os Pediatrics, Semmelweis University, Budapest. The outcomes of the psychodrama group were positive, with many children reporting improvements in their mood, self-confidence, and overall quality of life. They were able to develop new coping skills and a greater sense of resilience in dealing with the challenges of cancer treatment and recovery. The aim of the workshop is to present the benefits and effectiveness of equine assisted psychodrama group and encourage healthcare professionals and patients to consider this therapeutic approach in the treatment of cancer.
Bogdan Draganski
Professor Bogdan Draganski, native Bulgarian, is a Consultant Neurologist at the Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University Hospital of Lausanne, Switzerland, Director of the neuroimaging laboratory LREN and of the Departmental MRI platform. After qualifying in Clinical Neurology in Germany he spent time working on computational anatomy research in neurodegenerative and movement disorders at the Institute of Neurology, UCL, London, UK, followed by research at the MAx Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
Topic: The Neuroscience of Psychotherapy – The Brain Imaging Point of View
Moira Verhofstadt
Bart Haes
Topic: Decisions: How to Put The Good Lives Model Into Action with Psychodrama Techniques
We all make decisions. Good ones, bad ones… How can we use our brain, or rather : which part of our brain should we use to make « good » decisions? In this workshop, we will show you one way to use The Good Lives Model in action to take the right direction, towards a Good Life.
Csilla Nemeth, MD
Trainer and Supervisor for Psychodrama with Children and Youth
Hungarian Psychodrama Association and Kende Hanna Association
Beáta H. Pozsár
Trainer and Supervisor for Psychodrama with Children and Youth
Hungarian Psychodrama Association and Kende Hanna Association
Topic: Neurodiversity in Psychodrama with Children and Youth
Neurodiversity is broadly defined as “everyone is the same in different ways”. Since the late 1990s, the neurodiversity movement has been drawing attention to the fact that “otherness” does not necessarily need not be seen as pathology or disability. In this theoretical framework, we describe how we work in child psychodrama groups with high-functioning children on the autism spectrum. In psychodrama with children and youth, we create a relationship in a co-created “potential space”. Children on the autism spectrum typically differ from their neurotypical peers in the quality and quantity of this relationship. Their mentalization deficit – the poor ability of “mind-reading” i.e. attributing meaning and intention to the words and actions of others – determines their relationships with their peers and their leader. We illustrate with examples how various characteristics of autism spectrum disorder, such as mentalization deficit, sensory sensitivity, etc. may manifest in the group. We will share our experience on how child psychodrama can help to build acceptance and improve the relationship between neurotypical and neurodiverse children. The workshop will also provide examples of how to combine techniques (e.g. art therapy and sensory tools used in sensory therapy) to enhance effectiveness. In the second half of the workshop, we will play some excerpts from our case studies to liven up the presentation. Everyone is welcome to join the play!
Krasimira Ilieva
Psychologist, Psychodrama therapist for children and youth
Over the past 13 years, Krasimira has gained extensive experience in diverse fields of psychology, providing her with a broad understanding of working with both adults and children. More recently, her focus has been on emotional intelligence, emotional balance, and psychodrama therapy, in which she continues to develop her expertise and research.
Topic: The “Two Storeys” Brain of Children – How Psychodrama with Children Can Be Used to Access the “Two Storeys” of the Brain of Children
This workshop is suitable for professionals working with children such as, psychologists, psychotherapist, pedagogists, teachers as well as child caregivers. The workshop is based on the analogy of the child brain presented by Dr. Dan Siegel and Dr. Tina Payne Bryson in their book “The Whole-Brain Child” (2012) and the theory of interpersonal neurobiology. The brain is a complex system that is interconnected, and its different parts work together for healthy development. Secure attachment and connection are essential for a child’s early brain development. The analogy of the “downstairs” brain and the “upstairs” brain describes the lower and more primitive part of the brain, and the higher and evolved part of the brain respectively. In psychodrama with children, the therapist can help children regulate their emotional responses, build resilience, develop social skills, and strengthen the mind-body connection. Psychodrama with children can be adapted to meet the child’s individual needs and interests. The analogy of the child’s brain as a house with two storeys is a simple and understandable way to explain the different parts of the child’s brain and how they work together.