ABSTRACT:

As therapists and group leaders, we usually amplify the advantages of being a part of a group. That is because we know the profound processes that groups allow an individual and a community to go through. A group is considered a master tool for achieving a desired change.

But what happens between different groups? Europe and the entire world are experiencing an enormous wave of clashes between groups on political, religious and racial grounds. The impact of these clashes is experienced like a tsunami that everyone can feel in their own country or community.

In this workshop, we will bring forth this concept that groups can bring us together but also tear us apart. We will bring forth different kinds of encounters and role reversals to allow the participants to experience themselves in positions that constantly change as does our reality these days.

By using sociometric tools such as spectrogram and sociogram, we will try to follow J.L Moreno’s footsteps in order to actively understand how we can harness the power of groups in orders to make good, to connect rather than divide. In order to do so we will need to arouse spontaneity and creativity because as Moreno says, ‘the problem is how to elicit from every man his maximum spontaneous participation so that we can lay bare the fundamental structures between persons and between persons and objects’ (Moreno, J.L, Sociometry 1, pp 206, 1937).

During this session participants will experience firsthand the warm embrace that groups can give, as well as the dangers they can cause to an individual and a community.

Hopefully, after the workshop, participants will be able to better identify harmful processes between groups and, as group leaders and therapists, allow a dialogue that connects between different individuals and societies.

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS: