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What's new, what they're building, and how they're advancing a performatory or social therapeutic orientation to community building Compiled by Helen Abel and Lou Hinman | October 2011 |
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With this issue, Reports from the Field broadens its scope -- from news of graduates of The International Class and other Institute programs -- to include many other grassroots and academic colleagues and partners. Our friends around the globe are innovating and experimenting with play, performance, social therapeutics and other unorthodox methods of education, public health, psychological help, youth development and women's empowerment. We proudly share the work they are doing on behalf of their communities.
- Lois Holzman, Director
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In the community therapy clinic...
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Annalie Pistorius opens new social therapy practice in South Africa
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 Annalie Pistorius (IC 2006) opened a social therapy practice in Arcadia, Pretoria, South Africa in March 2011. According to Annalie, "I'm excited that we've finally found a space in the Unipark Building that is big enough for developmental playwork with groups, as well as individual, group, family and couples therapy. It is in the shop floor level of an apartment building in a mid-city suburb where there are people -- including self-employed, business and professional people -- from many countries. I love the area, which at night is alive with people, many of whom pop in for a friendly conversation." Annalie's patients come from as far away as Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon, as well as from the Arcadia area and throughout Pretoria. As one of Annalie's patients remarked "I have never talked about my problems in the way I am doing now. I used to talk about myself having a disorder or being handicapped in my interactions with people. Now I 'perform' my depression, which is helpful in our focusing on my development, but it is very hard work." Social therapy has been a great help to Annalie with her performance of couples therapy; she finds that by focusing on the couple's performance (as well her performance as therapist), she can stop destructive blaming and criticizing. Annalie says that by sharing how she experienced their performance in the session (instead of being drawn into the fight), she can open up new activities and conversations between the husband and wife, as well as between the couple and her.
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| Presentation on SEVAC at International Clubhouse Conference |
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Prativa Sengupta at the International Conference of Clubhouses
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Prativa Sengupta (IC 2009) attended the International Conference of Clubhouses in Sweden this past July. The conference was jointly organized by the International Centre for Clubhouse Development (ICCD) and Fountain House in New York. Over the last three decades, the clubhouse movement, which facilitates the community-based rehabilitation of mental patients, has spread to 28 countries throughout the world. With the emergence of the SEVAC Clubhouse of India -- which is affiliated with ICCD and modeled after Fountain House -- India became an active partner in this global movement.
At a conference plenary session, Prativa spoke with participants from 23 countries about the SEVAC model, which is concerned with the comprehensive well-being of mental patients and with teaching the international community why, at this moment in world history, it is urgent that all mental health issues be addressed as human rights issues.
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| Jhanker Jewelry Making Project |
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Designing and making costume jewelry
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Ishita Sanyal (IC 2008) reports on Jhanker, a new project at Turning Point, the grassroots mental health rehabilitation center which she founded in 1998 in Kolkata, India. The participants design and make costume jewelry. ("Jhanker" is a Sanskrit word for the elation that comes from music or a creative pursuit.) They have already done an exhibition at Shoppers Stop, selling jewelry worth 140,000 rupees. Their next exhibition will be in September. Ishita reports on how Jhankar has impacted on two of its participants. "One of them was restless, fragile and unable to control her sexual feelings. She desperately craved attention, and gave out her phone number to strangers. She became aggressive and hostile if her parents tried to stop her. But when she learned about the jewelry exhibition, she became completely absorbed in designing, making and selling jewelry. In three weeks, she produced half of the jewelry for our exhibition and had stopped seeking the attention of strangers. "Another woman slept the whole day, was given to temper tantrums and aggressive outbursts, and muttered constantly to herself. At Turning Point, she was accepted and appreciated. She became less vulnerable to comments and conflicts and has become more rational. At the exhibition, she took initiative and helped display our jewelry. She seems happier and more energetic. "These experiences demonstrate that people suffering from mental illness should not be cast out of the society. Given proper support, they have a great deal to contribute."
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In the academic research arena...
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| Vygotsky research conference in Brazil |
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Elina Lampert-Shepel visits with children in Brazil
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Dr. Elina Lampert-Shepel, of the Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership at Walden University and a long-time Institute friend and colleague, together with her Brazilian colleagues Dr. Zoia Perez and Dr. Suely Melo, was invited by The Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) in Brazil to run a week-long seminar on "Theory and Practice of Learning Activity" for the faculty and graduate students. At the research conference roundtable, she presented "L.S. Vygotsky's Cultural-Historical Psychology as a Source of Transformative Pedagogical Practices." |
| Inviting scientists to develop and perform |
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An Improv Workshop for Scientists
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Raquell Holmes (IC 2011) is taking the social therapeutic understanding of development to some seemingly unlikely places: to scientists and scientific conferences. Since being introduced to Newman and Holzman in 1991, Raquell has been bringing their discoveries to her work in science. She recalls Fred Newman saying, "I don't know what this conversation might look like with quantum physicists..." Since that time, she has devoted considerable energy to creating just such a conversation.
In March 2011, Raquell led an "Improv Workshop for Scientists" at the Computational Cell Biology (CCB) Conference convened by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories on Long Island. This conference brought together researchers in biology, physics, mathematics, and the computational sciences. The workshop was attended by 40 people, including graduate students, faculty, post-docs and administrators. As one participant commented: "...at first I was nervous and didn't really want to be there, but by the time it was over, I didn't want it to end."
Immediately following the CCB conference, Raquell presented "Creativity and Culture in Computing Sciences" at the Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing convened by the Coalition for Diversity in Computing in San Francisco. Approximately 80 of the 600 participants -- most of them students and faculty of color -- attended her presentation. She introduced the audience to scientists singing and creating fictional movies, and lead a conversation about the value of improvisational activity for creating supportive, developmental environments for computing scientists. |
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In the university classroom...
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Deconstructing Ken and Barbie
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 In May, Tamara Borovica (IC 2011) organized a small group of pedagogy (the science of education) students from Serbia to travel to France, where they joined peers from Germany and France for a week-long exploration of gender issues. The trip was the first part of a tri-lateral and tri-modular project aimed at helping young people from different cultures and backgrounds to achieve a broader social-cultural and historical understanding of gender issues. During their week in Strasbourg, France, the young people talked, shared, discussed, played, improvised, pretended and had lots of fun, all while dealing with their many differences.
For some Serbian students, this was the first time travelling outside their country; for others, their first contact with feminism. According to Tamara, "Many of them had not realized that Serbia is a patriarchal country and that there is prejudice against women. It was an opportunity for them to learn about the marginalization of women in the 21st century. For others, doing something about the oppression of women was already a passionate concern that gives direction to their lives."
The group also visited the Council of Europe, where politicians meet to talk about how to improve various aspects of life in Europe. They had a conversation with Mme. Sonia Sirtori-Milner, the head of the Secretariat of the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men. For Tamara, "This was us learning to talk, to listen, to understand and to perform a 'head taller' than ourselves!" |
| Student theatre project in Serbia |
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Young people perform in Serbia
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Vera Erac (IC 2005) reports that the "Apply Theatre, Change Life" project came to an end in October 2011. During June and July, 40 Belgrade students from the Faculty for Special Education and Rehabilitation and 30 youngsters from social assistance institutions created three different performances. The plays were performed in the institutions and attended by large audiences. The youngsters were excited and proud and want to continue performing, while the audience was extremely emotionally touched. See more at www.apsart.org.
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| Student theater workshop in South Africa |
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A theatre workshop in South Africa
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Alexandra Sutherland led a workshop in applied theater (theater for personal and social change) with a group of young people from disadvantaged communities in Grahamstown, South Africa. In an email sent to colleagues with whom she had participated in the East Side Institute's Social Therapeutics Online Certificate Program (a 20-week online program), Alexandra reported, "The work was structured around creating a fictitious political party by and for young people, which came up with policies for education, health, community and youth development. The young people worked to find ways to campaign for their ideas in a hostile community that tends to demonize youth as 'the problem.' Their ideas and passion were inspirational. They struggled to find a way to consolidate what they had done and to 'leave' the project, which was unfortunately short term. In their last meeting, they wrote a collective poem, 'We the Youth'." WE THE YOUTH We the youth That comes together Brings joy in each other's life We the youth That gives laughter to each other when needed Youth that can work together And make the world a better place With bright colours in it Click here for the entire poem
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About the East Side Institute
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The East Side Institute for Group and Short Term Psychotherapy research center for developing and promoting alternative and radically humanistic approaches in psychology, therapy, education and community building. Founded in 1985 by social therapy's creator, the late Fred Newman, and developmental psychologist and current director Lois Holzman, the Institute functions as a unique community think tank, building bridges between university-based and community-based practices and bringing the traditions and innovations of each to the other. Through its programs and collaborations, the Institute has introduced thousands of educators, mental health and medical workers, scholars and community organizers to the most successful and cutting-edge approaches to tap, re-ignite and support the kind of human creativity, performance and developmental play so desperately needed if people are to transform the world. For more information on the Institute training programs, click here. |
| Reports from the Field is published by the East Side Institute for Group and Short Term Psychotherapy in New York, NY. Readers are welcome to submit reports, announcements and story ideas to Helen Abel, habel94107@aol.com. |
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