Story telling is healing. Story telling creates communities and bonding through hearing, listening, seeing and sharing. Yet we can learn to unpack the gifts of experiential story telling and improvisational theater to use in a variety of therapeutic settings, including psychotherapy, coaching and teaching.

This three-hour online training workshop introduces simple embodied forms of improvisational expression and deep listening based on the method of Playback Theatre, a method honoring stories in a group and often experienced as therapeutic by participants.

About the workshop

Chris Fitz, M.A., founder of River Crossing Playback Theatre and graduate of the School of Playback Theatre, will lead the workshop with Cintra Harbold, LCPC, a trained Playback facilitator and actor and Psychodrama practitioner. Both will guide participants through a series of experiential, embodied exercises to explore, learn and practice elements of Playback Theatre that can be used in other therapeutic settings, including those online. Following a highly experiential series of activities and reflection opportunities in the full group and in small groups, a feedback and question-answer period will help to unpack the experience and consider applications for its use in your own practice.

You will learn:

• Ritual elements of Playback Theatre that enhance listening and create feelings of safety.
• Improvisational exercises that can build group trust and elevate the energy of a group.
• Basic Playback Theatre forms to honor participants’ experiences including “Chorus,” “Fluid Sculpture” and “Three Part Story.”
• Ways in which Playback Theatre has been used in a variety of community and clinical situations.
• Playback Theatre’s similarities to and differences from psychodrama.

The workshop is scheduled 1 to 4 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, April 30, using the online Zoom platform.

Who will benefit

This training is designed for mental health professionals and professional helpers, including social workers, marriage and family therapists, licensed counselors, addictions counselors, physicians, nurses, creative arts therapists, drama therapists, massage therapists and bodyworkers, alternative health practitioners, life and wellness coaches, educators, clergy, clinical supervisors, administrators, youth leaders, group leaders, graduate students and others interested in experiential psychotherapies and experiential learning.

Tuition

Tuition is $65 if registered by April 23, $85 after. It will include three CE credits, plus psychodrama and Act 48 hours and a generous online handout page of slides, handouts and links to videos and online information of interest, which you may retrieve online.

How to register

• You may register online here immediately with your credit card.
• We suggest that you use your credit card to register with Eventbrite rather than the PayPal option, since some attendees have reported problems with PayPal.
• If you wish to register and pay in another way, please contact Karen for information.

CE credits and psychodrama hours

The program provides three CE credits for social workers, marriage and family therapists, professorial counselors and psychologists, plus psychodrama credits and Act 48 hours.

CE credits

Karen Carnabucci, LCSW, TEP, Companions In Healing and the Lancaster School of Psychodrama and Experiential Psychotherapies are approved by the Pennsylvania State Board of Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists and Professional Counselors to offer continuing education for social workers, marriage and family therapists and professional counselors according to Pennsylvania Board Approval # 004002.

The Pennsylvania State Board of Psychology has approved continuing education programs with License #PSY000216.

The Wisconsin State Board approves continuing education credits for social workers, MFTs and LPCs Provider #6834-123.

These training hours may be counted towards the Certified Psychodramatist (CP) credential as approved by the American Board of Examiners in Psychodrama, Sociometry and Group Psychotherapy.

Training hours may be counted towards certification by the International Society of Experiential Professionals.

Training hours are approved for Act 48 credits for educators, school counselors and administrators.

You may be able to submit your certificate for credits in another helping discipline or in another state. Please contact your respective state board for information.

About Zoom

Our classes are currently online due to the coronavirus pandemic, and we are using the online platform Zoom. If you are a new user to Zoom, please download on your computer or tablet here.

You may also use your smartphone but keep in mind that you may not enjoy the same learning quality due to the small screen on your smartphone.

If you have used Zoom in the past, please make sure you download the most recent version of Zoom a day or two before the program.

Questions

Contact Karen for questions including information on refunds.

About Chris Fitz

Guest instructor Chris Fitz is founder of River Crossing Playback Theatre and director of strategic initiatives at Advoz, a mediation and restorative justice organization in Lancaster, Pa. He has practiced Playback Theatre and other improvisational methods since 2003 in Washington, D.C., Germany and now in the Susquehanna Valley, with a focus on addressing conflict and division in groups. He holds a master’s degree in Peace and Development Studies from the University of James I (Castellon, Spain) and a bachelor’s degree in conflict resolution from Hampshire College, Amherst, Mass.

River Crossing Playback Theatre is an ensemble in the lower Susquehanna Valley building community through the dramatic portrayal of real-life stories. In Playback Theatre, audiences tell, watch and learn from their own stories, participating in a new common story that honors both their differences and common ground. Founded in 2007, the ensemble draws from cross-disciplinary members in Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, York and Baltimore counties.

Playback Theatre is an original form of improvisational theatre developed in the 1970s by Jonathan Fox and Jo Salas in the Hudson River Valley. In a performance, audience members tell stories and watch them played back on the spot. Playback is performed in five continents, dozens of languages and more than 70 companies across North America. In Playback Theatre stories take a new life on stage as an audience becomes connected in a community dialogue that is both uniquely personal and powerfully universal. Playback Theatre performances and workshops can be a catalyst for new personal insights and group connections in a variety of public and group venues.

Learn more here.