Events and Classes: April
Can Teenagers Develop?
Revolutionary Conversations: Can Teenagers Develop?
with Barbara Silverman
Wednesdays, April 7-28, 7:00-8:30pm
Location: A.R.T. New York, 138 South Oxford Street, Studio G
(Between Atlantic Avenue and Fulton Street)
Fee: $100.00
Click here to register
Adolescence is generally viewed as a "tumultuous stage" when young people are eager to separate from adults and form their identity. Teenagers are described, often even by themselves, as moody, unpredictable, and difficult to talk to. However, given the right environment, young people are also capable of creating new kinds of conversations with each other and with adults. Over the past 17 years, Barbara Silverman, a social worker and youth developmentalist has utilized the social therapeutic method of Newman and Holzman to support the development of young people. She works with youth in groups on a wide array of issues, including sex, academics, family tensions, being poor, violence and abuse. Her work brings together adolescents of mixed ages, cultures and ethnicities, gender and sexual preferences, and academic levels. Together they break rules and cross the boundaries of how youth and adults "are supposed to" talk with each other to create new, more intimate conversations and relationships. In that process, the young people become more active in creating their lives and choices and develop important leadership skills. Join Barbara Silverman in exploring what it takes to practice this method and why it is successful.
Barbara Silverman, LCSW is a therapist at the Social Therapy Group and an expert on adolescent development and group work. She has created an array of innovative programs using the social therapeutic approach in community-based agencies, mental health centers and schools -- among them, Faces, a teenage improvisational theatre company, which she co-founded, and a nationally recognized mental-health program at Erasmus High School in Brooklyn called Let's Talk About It. She is co-author of The Let's Talk About It Model: Engaging Young People as Partners in Creating Their Own Mental Health Program, and she is on the faculty at the East Side Institute.
with Barbara Silverman
Wednesdays, April 7-28, 7:00-8:30pm
Location: A.R.T. New York, 138 South Oxford Street, Studio G
(Between Atlantic Avenue and Fulton Street)
Fee: $100.00
Click here to register
Adolescence is generally viewed as a "tumultuous stage" when young people are eager to separate from adults and form their identity. Teenagers are described, often even by themselves, as moody, unpredictable, and difficult to talk to. However, given the right environment, young people are also capable of creating new kinds of conversations with each other and with adults. Over the past 17 years, Barbara Silverman, a social worker and youth developmentalist has utilized the social therapeutic method of Newman and Holzman to support the development of young people. She works with youth in groups on a wide array of issues, including sex, academics, family tensions, being poor, violence and abuse. Her work brings together adolescents of mixed ages, cultures and ethnicities, gender and sexual preferences, and academic levels. Together they break rules and cross the boundaries of how youth and adults "are supposed to" talk with each other to create new, more intimate conversations and relationships. In that process, the young people become more active in creating their lives and choices and develop important leadership skills. Join Barbara Silverman in exploring what it takes to practice this method and why it is successful.
Barbara Silverman, LCSW is a therapist at the Social Therapy Group and an expert on adolescent development and group work. She has created an array of innovative programs using the social therapeutic approach in community-based agencies, mental health centers and schools -- among them, Faces, a teenage improvisational theatre company, which she co-founded, and a nationally recognized mental-health program at Erasmus High School in Brooklyn called Let's Talk About It. She is co-author of The Let's Talk About It Model: Engaging Young People as Partners in Creating Their Own Mental Health Program, and she is on the faculty at the East Side Institute.
Everyday Creativity: Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century
Revolutionary Conversations
Everyday Creativity: Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century
with Gwen Lowenheim
Saturdays, April 10-May 1, 11:00am-1:00pm
Location: 920 Broadway, 14th Floor (betw. 20 & 21 Streets)
Fee: $100.00
Click here to register
At their best, teaching and learning are creative playful adventures in which we continuously explore new ways of doing things and push back the boundaries of what is possible. This class is for any teacher or learner who wants to develop more creative learning environments.
Over the last thirty years, the Institute's performance-based developmental learning methodology has been of enormous value to thousands of educators around the world -- from schools in NYC, Sao Paulo and Uganda to youth programs in the U.S. and Juarez, to colleges and universities everywhere. The Institute's founders, philosopher/psychotherapist Fred Newman and Vygotskian scholar and developmental psychologist Lois Holzman, have worked to evolve a social-cultural approach to human development and learning that relates to people of all ages as social performers and creators of their lives.
Join Gwen Lowenheim, a practitioner of the Institute's teaching methodology, with decades of experience working with schools, on a philosophical, pedagogical and practical journey where we will explore assumptions about how people learn and create environments where learning, creativity and development can flourish.
Gwen Lowenheim is the founding director of The Snaps Project, an educational consulting firm specializing in leadership development among school-based administrators, faculty, students and parents. She has been a staff member of the East Side Institute for 20 years and is on the faculty of the Developing Teachers Fellowship Program. She has trained educators and administrators throughout the country in a performance-based learning approach that brings creativity and innovation into schools.
Everyday Creativity: Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century
with Gwen Lowenheim
Saturdays, April 10-May 1, 11:00am-1:00pm
Location: 920 Broadway, 14th Floor (betw. 20 & 21 Streets)
Fee: $100.00
Click here to register
At their best, teaching and learning are creative playful adventures in which we continuously explore new ways of doing things and push back the boundaries of what is possible. This class is for any teacher or learner who wants to develop more creative learning environments.
Over the last thirty years, the Institute's performance-based developmental learning methodology has been of enormous value to thousands of educators around the world -- from schools in NYC, Sao Paulo and Uganda to youth programs in the U.S. and Juarez, to colleges and universities everywhere. The Institute's founders, philosopher/psychotherapist Fred Newman and Vygotskian scholar and developmental psychologist Lois Holzman, have worked to evolve a social-cultural approach to human development and learning that relates to people of all ages as social performers and creators of their lives.
Join Gwen Lowenheim, a practitioner of the Institute's teaching methodology, with decades of experience working with schools, on a philosophical, pedagogical and practical journey where we will explore assumptions about how people learn and create environments where learning, creativity and development can flourish.
Gwen Lowenheim is the founding director of The Snaps Project, an educational consulting firm specializing in leadership development among school-based administrators, faculty, students and parents. She has been a staff member of the East Side Institute for 20 years and is on the faculty of the Developing Teachers Fellowship Program. She has trained educators and administrators throughout the country in a performance-based learning approach that brings creativity and innovation into schools.
The Politics of Loss in Dealing with Depression
Revolutionary Conversations:
The Politics of Loss in Dealing with Depression
with Ann Green
Saturdays, April 10-May 1, 4:00-5:30pm
Location: 920 Broadway, 14th Floor (betw. 20 & 21 Streets)
Fee: $75.00, $50.00 Senior/Student, $40.00 Unemployed
CLICK HERE to register
The World Health Organization recently declared depression an international pandemic. In the U.S. alone, the number of people taking antidepressant medication — over 27 million has doubled since 1998. Why are so many people so depressed, and what can we do about it?
While there are no easy answers, many psychologists agree that loss — the death of a loved one, the end of a relationship, or a job or financial security, the diminishment of one’s youth, health or beauty, etc. — can often lead to depression. In these profoundly uncertain times, where loss seems impossible to escape, it is little wonder that sadness, anxiety and depression are dominating the emotional landscape. How then should we relate to loss — and what difference will it make to those in pain? Is our goal to remove the pain of loss or to include it as part of the process of emotional development? Social therapy, a performance-based group therapy founded by Fred Newman and developed by Newman and Lois Holzman, has a 30-year track record of helping people — including very depressed people — to continuously create new emotional responses even in the most difficult of life situations. Join Ann Green, a longtime social therapist who has worked with people of all ages and from all walks of life, for an exploration of loss and depression and the role of creativity and development in transforming our relationship to both.
Ann Green, R.N. is one of the pioneers in the development and practice of Social Therapy with over 30 years experience in individual, couples, family and group therapy. She began her practice in 1971 as a founding member of Fred Newman’s first social therapy center in New York City. She later helped open a center in the San Francisco Bay area, now the West Coast Center for Social Therapy. As a health professional, Ann worked as a Visiting Nurse and as a head nurse in several psychiatric facilities, where she treated both adults and adolescents. She holds a Bachelor's in Nursing from the University of Phoenix and is currently attending the Hunter College Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner program.
The Politics of Loss in Dealing with Depression
with Ann Green
Saturdays, April 10-May 1, 4:00-5:30pm
Location: 920 Broadway, 14th Floor (betw. 20 & 21 Streets)
Fee: $75.00, $50.00 Senior/Student, $40.00 Unemployed
CLICK HERE to register
The World Health Organization recently declared depression an international pandemic. In the U.S. alone, the number of people taking antidepressant medication — over 27 million has doubled since 1998. Why are so many people so depressed, and what can we do about it?
While there are no easy answers, many psychologists agree that loss — the death of a loved one, the end of a relationship, or a job or financial security, the diminishment of one’s youth, health or beauty, etc. — can often lead to depression. In these profoundly uncertain times, where loss seems impossible to escape, it is little wonder that sadness, anxiety and depression are dominating the emotional landscape. How then should we relate to loss — and what difference will it make to those in pain? Is our goal to remove the pain of loss or to include it as part of the process of emotional development? Social therapy, a performance-based group therapy founded by Fred Newman and developed by Newman and Lois Holzman, has a 30-year track record of helping people — including very depressed people — to continuously create new emotional responses even in the most difficult of life situations. Join Ann Green, a longtime social therapist who has worked with people of all ages and from all walks of life, for an exploration of loss and depression and the role of creativity and development in transforming our relationship to both.
Ann Green, R.N. is one of the pioneers in the development and practice of Social Therapy with over 30 years experience in individual, couples, family and group therapy. She began her practice in 1971 as a founding member of Fred Newman’s first social therapy center in New York City. She later helped open a center in the San Francisco Bay area, now the West Coast Center for Social Therapy. As a health professional, Ann worked as a Visiting Nurse and as a head nurse in several psychiatric facilities, where she treated both adults and adolescents. She holds a Bachelor's in Nursing from the University of Phoenix and is currently attending the Hunter College Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner program.
"Doctor, Tell Me What to Do!" A philosophical guide to medical uncertainty
What's Philosophy Got to Do with Your Health?
A Conversational Series led by Dr. Susan Massad
"Doctor, Tell Me What to Do!" - A philosophical guide to medical uncertainty
Wednesday, April 14, 7:00-8:30pm
Location: 920 Broadway, 14th Floor (at 20th Street)
Fee: $30.00
Click here to register
Join Dr. Massad and special guests to explore the activity of medical decision-making. What's a patient to do when even the most commonly accepted medical procedures (such as the mammogram) are called into question? How does one decide which treatment approaches to follow when expert opinion is conflicted or when research outcomes are uncertain?
For health consumers and medical professionals alike, Dr. Massad suggests how philosophy can be both an antidote and a challenge to the search for certainty. She argues that the healing community's excessive concern with gathering information could be more positively directed to advancing the social, philosophical and methodological activity of decision making.
The conversation is the fourth in a series that examines the role of philosophy and postmodernism in addressing the health-care crisis in America.
Susan Massad is a medical educator and general internist at the Brooklyn Hospital Center. She has taught and lectured widely on postmodern and humanistic approaches to the practice of medicine. In 2004, she was named by New York Magazine as one of NYC's top-10 doctors for her expertise in doctor-patient communication and her groundbreaking work in bringing improv and performance into the medical education of resident physicians.
A Conversational Series led by Dr. Susan Massad
"Doctor, Tell Me What to Do!" - A philosophical guide to medical uncertainty
Wednesday, April 14, 7:00-8:30pm
Location: 920 Broadway, 14th Floor (at 20th Street)
Fee: $30.00
Click here to register
Join Dr. Massad and special guests to explore the activity of medical decision-making. What's a patient to do when even the most commonly accepted medical procedures (such as the mammogram) are called into question? How does one decide which treatment approaches to follow when expert opinion is conflicted or when research outcomes are uncertain?
For health consumers and medical professionals alike, Dr. Massad suggests how philosophy can be both an antidote and a challenge to the search for certainty. She argues that the healing community's excessive concern with gathering information could be more positively directed to advancing the social, philosophical and methodological activity of decision making.
The conversation is the fourth in a series that examines the role of philosophy and postmodernism in addressing the health-care crisis in America.
Susan Massad is a medical educator and general internist at the Brooklyn Hospital Center. She has taught and lectured widely on postmodern and humanistic approaches to the practice of medicine. In 2004, she was named by New York Magazine as one of NYC's top-10 doctors for her expertise in doctor-patient communication and her groundbreaking work in bringing improv and performance into the medical education of resident physicians.
Keeping the Group in View: Exploring the Difference Between Miracles & Growth
Revolutionary Conversations
Keeping the Group in View: Exploring the Difference Between Miracles and Growth
with Cathy Rose Salit and Carrie Lobman
Wednesdays, April 21-May 12, 7:00-8:30pm
Location: 920 Broadway, 14th Floor (betw. 20 & 21 Streets)
Fee: $100.00
Click here to register
A hallmark of the social therapeutic approach is focusing on the development of the group as the way to support individuals to grow and learn. Practitioners of this approach - whether they are therapists working to help clients who are in emotional pain, educators helping students to grow as learners, or corporate trainers supporting managers to lead new teams - have their work cut out for them, because (of course) not everyone in a group takes to this process in the same way. Some people embrace it whole-heartedly and feel miraculously transformed by it; others are far less enthusiastic. How do you keep the group in view when you've got people who feel so differently? How do you help everyone to grow when some people "love it," and others could "care less"?
Join Cathy Rose Salit and Carrie Lobman for an inside look at this challenge through the lens of a social-therapeutically-inspired program-in-process. For the past year, oncology nurses at a leading teaching hospital have participated in a "resiliency" program with Performance of a Lifetime (POAL), to help them deal with the enormous stresses of their jobs. The program was designed to support the emotional, social and personal growth of this group of 250 nurses - and the journey has included transformation, resistance, joy, anger, intimacy, "miracles," passion, indifference and confusion. With the resiliency program continuing through 2010, this class will be a "living case study" of the social therapeutic group development process. Sign up and learn/help to grow the group!
Cathy Rose Salit is president of Performance of a Lifetime, a theater-based executive-education and consulting company that works with a broad range of global companies and organizations. Cathy is an activist, entrepreneur, singer, organizer, improviser and performer. She began her rebellious career when at the age of 13 she dropped out of eighth grade and started an alternative school, never to return to a traditional school environment. She's been organizing and improvising ever since, playing multiple roles - from operations coordinator for Lenora Fulani's independent campaigns for President, to a managing partner at the Social Therapy Group, to director of musical performances on and off the avant-garde Castillo Theatre stage.
Carrie Lobman is associate professor of education at the Graduate School of Education, Rutgers University, and director of pedagogy at the East Side Institute. She is co-author of Unscripted Learning: Using Improv Activities Across the K-8 Curriculum (Teachers College Press, 2007), a guide to creating improvisational learning environments. Carrie has written and presented extensively on the relationship between performance, improvisation, play and learning. Carrie received her M.Ed. from Hunter College, City University of New York and her Ed.D. from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Keeping the Group in View: Exploring the Difference Between Miracles and Growth
with Cathy Rose Salit and Carrie Lobman
Wednesdays, April 21-May 12, 7:00-8:30pm
Location: 920 Broadway, 14th Floor (betw. 20 & 21 Streets)
Fee: $100.00
Click here to register
A hallmark of the social therapeutic approach is focusing on the development of the group as the way to support individuals to grow and learn. Practitioners of this approach - whether they are therapists working to help clients who are in emotional pain, educators helping students to grow as learners, or corporate trainers supporting managers to lead new teams - have their work cut out for them, because (of course) not everyone in a group takes to this process in the same way. Some people embrace it whole-heartedly and feel miraculously transformed by it; others are far less enthusiastic. How do you keep the group in view when you've got people who feel so differently? How do you help everyone to grow when some people "love it," and others could "care less"?
Join Cathy Rose Salit and Carrie Lobman for an inside look at this challenge through the lens of a social-therapeutically-inspired program-in-process. For the past year, oncology nurses at a leading teaching hospital have participated in a "resiliency" program with Performance of a Lifetime (POAL), to help them deal with the enormous stresses of their jobs. The program was designed to support the emotional, social and personal growth of this group of 250 nurses - and the journey has included transformation, resistance, joy, anger, intimacy, "miracles," passion, indifference and confusion. With the resiliency program continuing through 2010, this class will be a "living case study" of the social therapeutic group development process. Sign up and learn/help to grow the group!
Cathy Rose Salit is president of Performance of a Lifetime, a theater-based executive-education and consulting company that works with a broad range of global companies and organizations. Cathy is an activist, entrepreneur, singer, organizer, improviser and performer. She began her rebellious career when at the age of 13 she dropped out of eighth grade and started an alternative school, never to return to a traditional school environment. She's been organizing and improvising ever since, playing multiple roles - from operations coordinator for Lenora Fulani's independent campaigns for President, to a managing partner at the Social Therapy Group, to director of musical performances on and off the avant-garde Castillo Theatre stage.
Carrie Lobman is associate professor of education at the Graduate School of Education, Rutgers University, and director of pedagogy at the East Side Institute. She is co-author of Unscripted Learning: Using Improv Activities Across the K-8 Curriculum (Teachers College Press, 2007), a guide to creating improvisational learning environments. Carrie has written and presented extensively on the relationship between performance, improvisation, play and learning. Carrie received her M.Ed. from Hunter College, City University of New York and her Ed.D. from Teachers College, Columbia University.
PHILM: Philosophy & Film @ the Institute
Philm: Philosophy and Film at the East Side Institute
Steamboy (2004)
with Chris Helm and Rafael Mendez
Friday, April 23, 6:30pm-9:00pm
Location: 920 Broadway, 14th Floor (at 20th Street)
Suggested donation: $12.00
Click here to register
Join in for a sociable evening of film … it’s Friday-night-at-the-movies with a philosophical and methodological twist! Enjoy a favorite film, followed by some playful, philosophical conversation.
Steamboy (2004)… At a cost of $20 million, this striking anime film blends Japanese and Western sensibilities to explore the proper role of science.
Christine Helm earned an M.A. in Anthropology and Education and an M.Ed. in Applied Anthropology at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is director of the Enterprise Center at the Fashion Institute of Technology/State University of New York and teaches at both the undergraduate and graduate level. Chris is a faculty member for the Institute’s International Class and Therapist Training Program.
Rafael Mendez is an associate professor and coordinator of psychology at Bronx Community College, his alma mater. He earned his doctorate in Clinical-Community Psychology at Boston University in 1983 and was a Clinical Fellow at Harvard Medical School at Children's Hospital in Boston. He's a trained social therapist practicing at the Brooklyn Social Therapy Group and is on the faculty of the East Side Institute where he assists in leading Fred Newman's Developmental Philosophy Group.
Steamboy (2004)
with Chris Helm and Rafael Mendez
Friday, April 23, 6:30pm-9:00pm
Location: 920 Broadway, 14th Floor (at 20th Street)
Suggested donation: $12.00
Click here to register
Join in for a sociable evening of film … it’s Friday-night-at-the-movies with a philosophical and methodological twist! Enjoy a favorite film, followed by some playful, philosophical conversation.
Steamboy (2004)… At a cost of $20 million, this striking anime film blends Japanese and Western sensibilities to explore the proper role of science.
Christine Helm earned an M.A. in Anthropology and Education and an M.Ed. in Applied Anthropology at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is director of the Enterprise Center at the Fashion Institute of Technology/State University of New York and teaches at both the undergraduate and graduate level. Chris is a faculty member for the Institute’s International Class and Therapist Training Program.
Rafael Mendez is an associate professor and coordinator of psychology at Bronx Community College, his alma mater. He earned his doctorate in Clinical-Community Psychology at Boston University in 1983 and was a Clinical Fellow at Harvard Medical School at Children's Hospital in Boston. He's a trained social therapist practicing at the Brooklyn Social Therapy Group and is on the faculty of the East Side Institute where he assists in leading Fred Newman's Developmental Philosophy Group.
Click on event title for more information.