March, 2008 :   Training Sessions in Bangladesh continue with Herb Propper and Jen Kristel..

.. from Herb Propper:

National Therapeutic Theatre Workshop '08
Trainings in Psychodrama, Sociodrama and Sociometry
March 14 - 25, 2008 held under the auspices of The Bangladesh Therapeutic Theatre Institute [BTTI], a wing of Unite Theatre for Social Action [UTSA], Chittagong

trainer: Herb Propper, Ph.D., T.E.P.,
in collaboration with Danielle Forer, Graduate Social Worker and Psychodramatist, Psychodrama Institute of Melbourne, Australia
 

1. This is a condensed report to make the information available to interested persons as expeditiously as possible. The usual detailed Trainer's Process Report with participant evaluations will be created by Herb and Danielle within the next several months.

number of different workshops: 3
number of participants: 52
number of training hours, total: 70
workshop descriptions:

Herb's Complete Interim Report - click here :

.. from Jen Kristel:

4 trainings relating to the users of Art Therapy and Playback Theatre

I did 4 different trainings in four different places with 4 different populations. The first was in Chittagong, a port city by the Bay of Bengal. It was presented at UTSA/BTTI, The title was “Using Playback Theatre for The Psychosocial Needs of Adolescents”

The second training was at Action for Disability and Development in Dhaka. The original title was “Playback Theatre for Empowering Women”.

The 3rd Training was at Jahangirnagar University, a one day training  called “Creativity for the Drama Student through Playback Theatre” and the 4rth was a training for Clinical Psychologists and students at Dhaka University on Using Art Therapy and Playback Theatre for survivors of Natural Disasters”

Jen's Complete Report - click here:

• UTSA/BTTI deliver psychosocial relief to Sidr victims

 UTSA and the Bangladesh Therapeutic Theatre Institute (BTTI), with support from the NGO ActionAid-Bangladesh,  conduct psychosocial exercises with Sidr-affected children and families.

• Psychosocial training workshops scheduled
• New curriculum integrating expressive therapies
• Special focus in Disaster Relief

ABOUT UTSA:  Unite Theatre for Social Action (UTSA, http://www.utsa.up.to/ ) was founded in 1997 by Mostafa Kamal Jatra, a Ph.D. student in Dramatics at Chittagong University.  UTSA is an umbrella organization supporting theatre projects and education with children in the slums and empowerment for people with disabilities throughout Bangladesh.  More recently, UTSA has focused on the use of creative arts as a healing modality with application to education, mental health and personal psychological growth.  UTSA has hosted several Conferences and Workshops exploring these fields with international experts since 2003.

ABOUT PSYCHODRAMA, SOCIODRAMA AND SOCIOMETRY:  Since their creation in 1921 by the late Dr. J.L. Moreno, the spontaneous action methods of psychodrama, sociodrama and sociometry have demonstrated their value as powerful and effective methods of individual and social healing. They have been used in a wide variety of therapeutic, educational and artistic contexts and are now widely used in the United States and Canada, Western Europe, South America (especially Brazil and Argentina), Turkey, Israel, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and lately in China. Beginning in 2003 they have been introduced into Bangladesh, so that there is now a core of Bangladeshi who have a basic foundation of training and are beginning to apply them. These methods have been used with equal success with adults, adolescents and children.

ABOUT PLAYBACK THEATRE:  Playback theatre was developed by Jonathan Fox in 1976 with the help of the original playback theatre troupe. Having been trained in Psychodrama by Jacob and Zerka Moreno,  Jonathan aimed to develop Playback as a form of artistic theatre that allowed people in the audience to experience seeing their stories brought to life through sound, movement and spoken word.  There are now over 300 companies in about 40 countries doing Playback as not only a form of entertainment, but as a form of healing, conflict resolution and a deep connection to community.  The Centre For Playback Theatre in New York (http://www.playbackschool.org/index.htm) coordinates the Libra Project which utilizes Playback in conflict resolution in war torn countries such as Burundi and Angola as well as in disaster relief situations like Hurricane Katrina. 

COLLABORATION WITH CHART: CHART has a broad range of experience in the application of art therapy in disaster relief scenarios since the 2004 tsunami, with continuing projects in Thailand, India and in the US Gulf Coast related to the 2005 Hurricane Katrina.  CHART's mission emphasizes transference of our expertise to local individuals and organizations with the aim of creating sustainable programs that can be run with local resources.  An illustration of this approach is the creation in Thailand in 2007 of the Asia Pacific Art Therapy Center, sponsored by Burapha University with CHART as an affiliated partner assisting in curriculum development, leading training workshops, development of international student exchanges and other roles.

CHART Clinical Director Dr. Gaelynn Wolf Bordonaro is presently collaborating with Herb Propper and Jen Kristel in development of an integrated program that combines elements of sociodrama/sociotherapy, visual art therapy and playback theatre specifically targeted for psychosocial rehabilitation in disaster scenarios such as Cyclone Sidr.  Herb and Jen are scheduled to return to Bangladesh in Spring 2008 to continue their training programs with UTSA.

UTSA Trainer / Advisor  Herb Propper, Ph.D., T.E.P.

Herb Propper is a Certified Trainer Educator Practitioner of Psychodrama, Sociometry and Group Psychotherapy.  He has traveled to Bangladesh annually since 2003, under UTSA's auspices, to conduct training workshops.  In addition to UTSA, Herb has provided training for the Bangladesh Center for Rehabilitation of Torture Victims (BRCT), for staff and graduate students at Dhaka University, Clinical Psychology Dept. and the Dramatics Dept. of Jahangirnagar University.

UTSA Trainer / Advisor  Jen Kristel, MA

Jen Kristel is a Certified Expressive Therapist, a  Certified Playback Theatre teacher/practitioner and a co-founder of the Bangladesh Therapeutic Theatre Institute (BTTI).  Jen supported UTSA in the creation of Playback Chittagong in 2001. As their main supervisor and lead trainer, and advisor to BTTI, Jen has worked with the company on challenging issues such as disabilities, the AIDS crisis in Bangladesh and using Playback in areas of conflict.  Jen is the artistic director of Vermont Playback Theatre in Vermont USA and also a professor at Burlington college in Burlington Vermont.