Open nights and such things

[Adam Blatner]

For a while there was some controversy over the ethics of open sessions. A number of people use this, as did Moreno, of course. In the wake of a heightened sensitivity to people becoming more vulnerable than they thought they'd be (e.g., encounter group casualties of the 1970s, subtle sexual harassment, power politics, etc.), the question of informed consent was raised.
     Jacob Gershoni has been working on a possible paper on this, but has been caught up with other things. I sent him some past exchanges on grouptalk (these occurred several years ago), and I suspect we could re-consider it again, pros and cons.

     Rebecca, might you be able to send me that guide, so I can pass it along to Jacob? Or post it on grouptalk as an attached file or if it's not very long, put it in the body of an email?
   
      Warmly, Adam  

From: HV Psychodrama To: list at grouptalkweb.org Sent: Friday, July 14, 2006 3:13 AM 
Subject: Re: Open nights and such things - marketing Dear Peter,

    The Hudson Valley Chapter of the ASGPP has been running monthly open sessions for the last twelve years or so. We run them on the third Friday of the month, September through June. Different certified psychodramatists direct them. (By the way, if there is anyone out there who is certified and would like to have the chance to direct on the original MORENO psychodrama stage, please get in touch with me as we are always looking for new directors). We have anywhere from twelve to forty people show up. The numbers depend upon who is directing (people like Jonathan Fox bring in a large crowd), if the local universities send their students and if there is a training in session that weekend.
    There is a core of regulars who come most months, and there are always new folks. The open sessions serve a number of important purposes. One, it gives people a chance to see what the method is, which is useful especially for college students and professionals. Two, it provides an inexpensive place for people to do psychodrama as training and ongoing therapy groups are out of some folks financial reach. And three, it provides a sense of community. This became very clear to me right after September 11th when a large crowd of people turned up, Someone described the theater as a very spiritual place that evening...I think that evening it provided something that is often found in church, mosque and temple.
   I created a guide for doing open sessions that provides information both about format and marketing. I will send it to you. Rebecca
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