Mitigating with Impact: Harnessing the Power of Social Atoms in Sentencing

Mitigating with Impact: Harnessing the Power of Social Atoms in Sentencing

Learn innovative ways to produce better sentencing results for your clients while earning 8 CLE and 11 ABE psychodrama training hours

By Michigan Psychodrama Center

Date and time

October 18 · 6pm - October 19 · 6pm EDT

Location

Barone Defense Firm

280 N. Old Woodward Ave. 200 Birmingham, MI 48009

Refund Policy

Contact the organizer to request a refund.
Eventbrite's fee is nonrefundable.

About this event

  • 1 day

Workshop Description

Join esteemed Michigan criminal defense attorney Patrick Barone and renowned Arizona sentence mitigation expert attorney Doug Passon for an immersive two-day workshop exploring innovative approaches to sentence mitigation in criminal law cases.

In this dynamic workshop, participants will learn to leverage the powerful combination of the social atom model from psychodrama and the ABT (And, But, Therefore) narrative template, as outlined in Doug Passon's groundbreaking book "Narrative Gym for Law."

The social atom model provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the social dynamics surrounding an individual and exploring further avenues of mitigation, while the ABT narrative template offers a structured approach to crafting compelling and persuasive sentencing narratives once the mitigation information is uncovered and developed.

Through interactive exercises, case studies, and discussions, attendees will gain hands-on experience and actionable strategies to enhance their advocacy skills and achieve better outcomes for their clients.

Key Takeaways

  1. Integrated Approach to Advocacy: Learn how to seamlessly integrate the social atom model and the ABT narrative template into your advocacy toolkit, enabling you to develop comprehensive and persuasive sentencing narratives.
  2. Narrative Crafting Mastery: Explore the principles of narrative structure and storytelling techniques, and discover how to apply the ABT template to construct compelling narratives that resonate with judges, juries, and other stakeholders.
  3. Targeted Mitigation Strategies: Utilize the insights gained from the social atom model to identify and highlight relevant mitigating factors, and learn how to strategically incorporate them into your sentencing narratives for maximum impact.
  4. Effective Communication Skills: Develop communication strategies for effectively conveying the complexities of your clients' lives within the framework of the ABT narrative template, fostering greater understanding and empathy among decision-makers.
  5. Ethical Considerations and Professional Growth: Examine the ethical implications of narrative advocacy and gain insights into professional development opportunities for honing your skills in crafting persuasive sentencing narratives.

Additional Information

Psychodrama is an action method of psychotherapy that has long been viewed as a highly effective tool for trial preparation and presentation. But did you know that psychodrama is also an incredible tool for preparing lawyers, clients, and witnesses for SENTENCING? Therefore, come learn with us how to use this incredible tool to create more compelling plea negotiation and sentence mitigation narratives for your clients.

Hosted by Patrick Barone of the Michigan Psychodrama Center, in conjunction with Set for Sentencings Doug Passon, participants in this highly interactive workshop, will be introduced to the various building blocks of psychodrama, which may include scene setting, doubling, role reversal, concretization, and encounter.

In this "learn by doing" 12-hour CLE program, Patrick imparts the basics of psychodrama and the social atom. Doug assimilates this information, explains and demonstrates how we use the social atom to develop compelling sentence mitigation narratives that allow the decision makers (prosecutors and judges) to reach a deeper understanding of how our clients got in trouble and what they have done or will do to achieve redemption. This workshop designed to help you make sure your client's story is well told, and to thereby empower decision makers to arrive at more favorable and just results.

USING THE SOCIAL ATOM AS A SENTENCE MITIGATION TOOL

The social atom will be utilized as a tool for exploring your client’s story and bringing it to life using the modalities of psychodrama. The social atom is an innovative tool originally developed by Dr. J. L. Moreno, the inventor of psychodrama. It is a simple to use diagnostic map of a person's social connections. The social atom can be creatively explored to delve into your client's emotional life and biographical history.

As a workshop participant you will take with you a good basic understanding of theories and modalities of psychodrama and the social atom, which is an easy-to-use sociometric tool that you can immediately utilize to achieve better results for your clients.

While most legal workshops emphasize how psychodrama can be used for improved trial preparation and presentation, this workshop will emphasize how to use these tools in plea negotiations and sentencing.

KEY WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES

Objective One – Workshop participants will gain a basic understanding of how the tools and interventions of psychodrama can be creatively utilized in the practice of law.

Objective Two – Workshop participants will leave the workshop with an easy-to-use tool that will allow them to immediately produce better sentencing results for their clients.

Objective Three – Workshops participants will personally experience the transformative power of psychodrama.

WORKSHOP SCHEDULE AND LOCATION

Starting Friday, October 18th, the workshop will begin with 3 hours of sociometry, which is an essential trial skill for lawyer. As a homework assignment each student will prepare their own social atom. The following day seminar participants will learn how to utilize the social atom as a tool to deeply discovery their client's life stories, and then how to use this information to develop a plea and sentence mitigation narrative.

The seminar will take place in Birmingham, Michigan. There will be a lunch break on day two allowing participants to dine at one of the many nearby excellent restaurants. Snacks and light refreshments will be served.

WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

Friday, October 18th, 2024: 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Saturday, October 19th, 2024: 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

WORKSHOP COST

$199.00 plus a small processing fee (collected by and for Eventbrite).

Arizona CLE as well as ABE psychodrama training hours will be available for participants upon request.

Don't miss this opportunity to revolutionize your approach to sentence mitigation and elevate your advocacy skills with the innovative techniques explored in this engaging workshop. Join us for two days of immersive learning and practical skill-building, and take the next step towards achieving justice for your clients.

Contact the Michigan Psychodrama Center, Patrick Barone or Doug Passon for more information.

Frequently asked questions

Who Should Attend?

If you want to attend a one-of-a-kind CLE and learn a creative method to discover and develop more compelling sentencing narratives from one of the nation’s handful of lawyers board certified in psychodrama and an award winning narrative film maker, this workshop is for you.

What is Psychodrama?

Psychodrama was developed by an innovative and brilliant Austrian psychiatrist named J.L. Moreno. In 1956 he said of his theories "a truly therapeutic procedure cannot have less an objective than the whole of mankind."

Is Psychodrama a Kind of Therapy?

Yes, and no. Psychodrama is used by therapists and other professionals. It includes role play, role training, and a variety of action techniques that have been adopted and adapted by talented trial lawyers, including most notably Gerry Spence, to obtain remarkable results for this clients.

Is this Training Like What They do at the Spence Trial Lawyer’s College?

Yes, but only to the extent that we too will be teaching lawyers how to use psychodrama to obtain remarkable results for your clients. What's different is that our focus will be on sentence mitigation, not trial, though admittedly there is a lot of overlap between trial prep and sentencing prep.

What is Your Refund Policy?

Space is very limited, and for this reason, we cannot offer refunds.

Will CLE be Available?

Yes, for lawyers in some states including Arizona.

Will Psychodrama Training Hours be Available?

Yes, because Mr. Barone is a certified by the American Board of Psychodrama Examiners as a trainer, educator and practitioner of psychodrama, sociometry and group psychotherapy, training hours will be available for those seeking practitioner certification.

Who is Doug Passon?

Doug has been practicing criminal defense for nearly twenty-five years. Also an award-winning documentary filmmaker, Doug combines his passion for film-making and storytelling with his practice of law by producing short documentaries for use as mitigation at sentencing. www.dougpassonlaw.com

Who is Patrick Barone?

Patrick is the author of the two volume treatise Defending Drinking Drivers, four other books, dozens of articles , and several book chapters. He frequently teaches legal concepts, trial skills and forensic science at national and state conferences. https://www.baronedefensefirm.com/patrick-t-barone

How Many Attendees Will There Be?

Attendance is strictly limited. Attendees will be selected on a first to register basis.

Organized by

Founded in 2015 by Dr. Elizabeth A. Corby, C.P., T.E.P. and Patrick T. Barone, J.D., C.P., P.A.T., the Michigan Psychodrama Center (MPC) is Michigan’s only training center in the methods of Psychodrama, Sociometry, Sociodrama, Bibliodrama, Organizational and Group Dynamics.

The MPC provides personal growth workshops for individuals as well as professional training for therapists, lawyers, pastors and other spiritual leaders, CEOs and other business leaders.  We also provide certification training for others wishing to become certified in psychodrama, sociometry and group psychotherapy.

Here is a brief description of some of the things we do at the MPC

  • Psychodrama – reenactment of a personal scene, dream, fantasy or imagined event from a person’s life, one that may have taken place in the past, is taking place in the present or that could take place in the future.  The goal is either to obtain greater insight into yourself and/or to have an emotional reaction to the event (catharsis).
  • Sociodrama – enactment or reenactment of a scene related to a group issue rather than a personal issue. This is a great method to explore business work-group and/or societal issues, such as assisted suicide or police abuses.  But, it can also be used to gain insight into a work-group issue and is also a terrific way to train people in the workplace.
  • Biobliodrama – action oriented but does not involve reenactment, Bibliodrama is the exploration of the written or oral story, and is particularly applicable to stories structured as myths.  The text explored may come from popular culture, such as the Lord of the Rings, or even a fairy tale, such as Pinocchio.  Bibliodrama is a powerful wat to explore the “white fire” of the Bible.  White fire refers to the white space between the characters of the text from which additional meaning can be derived. Bibliodrama provides tremendous insight into the story and affords the opportunity to experience it deeply and personally.