Psychodrama Workshop

Psychodrama Weekend Workshop November 8, 9 & 10, 2024
Friday, November 8th: 6:30-8:30pm
Saturday, November 9th: 9am-6pm
Sunday, November 10th: 9am-4:30pm

Limited to 6-8 participants

What is Psychodrama?

Psychodrama is a creative and embodied experience that utilizes aspects of acting and theatre to work through personal material. This weekend workshop offers an opportunity for participants to experience this approach for themselves! In psychodrama, group members work together to explore and work on their own meaningful personal material as well as step into supporting roles in service of the personal work of others. It is a shared experience that can provide opportunities to see things in new ways, to develop new personal insights, express important emotions, and to work in a fully embodied, experiential way on personal material.

How Does It Work?

As a participant in a psychodrama, you may step into various roles or characters, cast inner parts of yourself, have unfinished conversations, or explore alternative scenarios in an importance scene from your life. You will be guided in how to do all of this based on what is alive for you at the time, and you do not need to know how the drama should look or what needs to happen. Your facilitators will help you co-create the work live in the moment.

The structure of psychodrama includes three different roles: a witness (“audience” member), an auxiliary (supporting as a role in someone else’s scene/drama/inner world), and a protagonist (the person whose piece of work or topic/issue it is). You will have an opportunity to step into all of these roles, some more than once, over the course of our weekend together. You will be invited to reflect on how you relate to others’ experiences and to make connections to your own life or the insights that arise from your participation.

Who Should Join?

• Adults 18+

• People who have been curious about psychodrama or drama therapy and want an opportunity to try it for themselves

• People who enjoy personal growth, group connection, and self expression

• People who are looking to explore a less cognitive or analytical way of approaching a personal issue and want some structure and support, or those who simply want to try something new

• People who are open to the group process and what can be gained by joining in the meaningful work of others, as well as doing your own work with others’ support

Workshop Schedule

This workshop starts with a Friday evening meeting to get to know each other and begin to warm up to the process. Expect activities that might be like “ice breakers”, but more intentional and designed to cultivate familiarity and confidence in preparation for the weekend’s intensive work.

We then meet all day Saturday and Sunday to dive into psychodramatic experiential work together. These days will include warm ups and sharing/reflection/processing as well. Breaks for lunch, etc. will be included.

Please note that end times are approximate, as the nature of this work means sometimes we will end a bit early or run a bit over our scheduled time. Please allow a 30-minute buffer if making outside plans.

About Your Facilitators

This workshop is co-facilitated by Sean Coyle and Sarah Rodgers. Sean and Sarah both have special training and experience in psychodrama and they truly enjoy the opportunity to do psychodrama in a group setting. It’s so cool, y’all.

How Do I Sign Up?

Step One: Complete our intake form
The form allows us to learn a little more about you before our consultation call. In that form you can indicate the best way(s) to contact you. We will reach out to you to find a time for a call together.

Step Two: Consultation call
Your phone call will be with Sean or Sarah, the co-facilitators of the workshop. This call will be approximately 15-30 minutes and is free of charge. The purpose of this call is to answer your questions, tell you more about the workshop and psychodrama, learn more about you and help determine if the experience is a good fit. We recognize this is a specific offering and it is helpful to make a connection with us and discuss all the details before signing up.

Step Three: Payment

1. Secure your spot by paying the non-refundable deposit of $85. You will be provided a link to pay your deposit after your Intake Call.

2. Balance of $600 is due by November 1st. You will receive a link to pay the $600 balance on Monday, October 28th.

FAQ

1. Do I Need Acting Experience?

   No. No previous experience of any kind is required. Your facilitators are trained to warm you up into the process and these methods can be tailored to meet you where you’re at. As long as you bring interest and an openness to learn, you can do this work.

2. This Sounds Scary and Weird. Where Does It Come From?

   This can be a very different way of exploring personal issues than a lot of us are used to. Feel free to ask us questions during the registration and intake process. However, these methods have been around for over a century in some form and have been applied successfully with groups of all kinds to help achieve increased insight, personal growth, and healing from symptoms of mental health disorders. The first psychodrama session was in Vienna in 1921, and the history of theatre, ritual and role play as important in our society goes back even farther in human history.

3. I’m Worried About Dual Relationships

   We recognize we work in a relatively small community here in Nashville with a lot of shared interests. Let us know during the intake process if you are concerned about a possible dual relationship that would impact your participation and we will navigate it together.

4. Is This Therapy?

   No. Psychodrama can be used in psychotherapy, but this is meant to be an intensive workshop experience open to anyone who wants to explore psychodrama for themselves. Psychodrama is commonly used in schools, community settings, and other spaces to facilitate connection, self expression, and personal exploration. It can be a therapeutic experience and often attracts those interested in personal growth, but this is not a therapy group. We are not treating any mental health diagnoses in this workshop, nor are we setting clinical treatment goals.

5. Is This a Professional Training?

   No. We love this work and want to share it with interested folks of all sorts. It is rare that people get to come together to explore themselves in this way in community, and we are happy to create space for that. However, neither of us (Sean or Sarah) is a certified trainer for those seeking professional training in psychodrama.