Psychodrama Training for Your Therapists

Are your therapists able to engage clients in group therapy?

Many clients report that groups are boring and repetitive, especially for folks who have been in treatment multiple times. Are your staff able to actively engage group members beyond “check-ins” or lecturing to them? Incorporating some simple experiential therapy techniques into your groups can significantly increase the quality of your program and keep clients engaged in their treatment. Some programs we work with even found that their clients ask to stay in treatment longer to attend additional experiential/psychodrama groups.

Training your staff in psychodrama and experiential methods will pay for itself in longer client stays and improved satisfaction. Make your program stand out from the competition by offering experiential therapy and psychodrama groups. Dr. Scott is a psychodrama trainer and experiential therapy trainer and can provide training hours towards certifications in experiential therapy and psychodrama.

Group therapy is distinctly different from individual therapy and requires unique skills, theories, and training. We can help your team develop these competencies in group therapy and psychodrama. Dr. Scott Giacomucci is a Board-Certified Trainer, Educator, & Practitioner in Sociometry, Psychodrama, & Group Psychotherapy (TEP) and has received awards for his psychodrama practice, scholarship, and teaching. He has written multiple psychodrama books and frequently teaches psychodrama at treatment centers around the country and training institutes around the world. His ongoing psychodrama training attracts attendees from throughout the country and around the world.

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Benefits Beyond Training – Team Cohesion, Self-Care, and Purpose-Driven Staff

These training workshops not only provide new professional skills and CE hours – but also offer avenues for your staff to deepen relationships with each other, enhance team cohesion, engage in self-care and personal growth, while also addressing impacts of burnout and vicarious trauma.

Many of the treatment center leaders that we’ve provided psychodrama training for have commented on the enhanced relationships between team members and how the cost of the training was worth it just for that unexpected outcome. An organization is only as strong as its team cohesion.

We teach and learn psychodrama by doing it. While these are professional trainings, there are a multitude of opportunities for personal and professional growth integrated throughout the workshops. These growth opportunities help staff address internal conflicts, insecurities, fears, and other barriers that may prevent them from being the best that they can be at work.

Levels of Training Investment

Psychodrama is a complex method that typically requires multiple years of training to become board-certified. After providing training for dozens of treatment centers, Dr. Scott has simplified options for organizations to consider when investing in psychodrama training for their staff. These trainings are very process-oriented and can be adapted to focus on any content area (addictions, mental health, trauma, burnout, etc).

– Level 1: Experiential Group Tools and Sociometry (1-10 hours of training)

This level of training focuses on group dynamics and experiential sociometry tools such as locograms, floor checks, spectrograms, small group work, step-in sociometry, circle of strengths, and hands-on-shoulder sociograms. Each of these tools can be modified for use in any group with any topic. Most of these experiential processes can be taught and utilized pretty quickly by staff (we will also provide additional free videos/reading material to guide facilitators).

Level 2: Psychodrama-Like Interventions (10-30 hours of training)

Beyond experiential sociometry tools, the next step in learning psychodrama is to integrate psychodrama interventions and psychodrama-like techniques into sessions, without directing full psychodramas. This level includes learning a variety of interventions such as concretization, doubling, mirror position, role reversal, spontaneity games, psychodramatic letter writing, psychodramatic journaling, psychodramatic sculpting, sociodramatic empty chair work, and psychodramatic structures.

Building off of the prior level of training, participants will learn how to seamlessly incorporate psychodrama interventions within sociometry exercises. Multiple psychodrama structures will be taught that already include built-in roles, goals, and/or trajectories to simplify the process of leading psychodrama exercises. Spontaneity games and improv tools will be provided for warm-ups and cooling down after more emotionally intense sessions.

Level 3: One-to-One Psychodrama Directing (30-50 hours of training)

The next step in learning how to direct a full psychodrama in a group is first learning how to direct a psychodrama with an individual client. Facilitating a psychodrama with one client (vs a group) provides a lower risk/stress arena for strengthening one’s psychodrama skills and becoming familiar with the psychodramatic process. One-to-one psychodramas often involve a single role in an empty chair, but can also involve a more dynamic scene with multiple roles in a single session.

This level of training will include a heavy emphasis on directing practice for participants with guidance on working with various types of roles – resources/strengths, spiritual roles, defenses, emotions, parts of self, trauma roles, deceased loved-ones, perpetrators/antagonists, inner child work, and roles related to recovery and growth.

Level 4: Directing Psychodrama’s in Groups (50+ hours of training)

Learning to facilitate a group psychodrama is the final level of learning, which will be much more accessible for participants after learning warm-up exercises, psychodrama interventions, and one-to-one psychodrama. In this level, participants will explore how to elicit a protagonist from a group warm-up, how to direct auxiliary role players, and how to keep the audience engaged throughout the psychodrama session. This level of training will also cover various types of roles and themes in psychodrama, such as those listed in the previous level, while also offering directing practice opportunities for attendees.

The American Board of Examiners in Sociometry, Psychodrama, and Group Psychotherapy established an 80 training hours guideline for trainees to begin directing full psychodrama in group settings with clients. The training plan outlined above will help support attendees in working their way up to facilitating full psychodramas while providing practice opportunities, supervised practice sessions, and real-time feedback.

The Facilitator

Dr. Scott Giacomucci’s work has been internationally recognized, and he is the recipient of various awards. He has published various articles on using experiential methods (especially sociometry, psychodrama, and group work) in clinical, educational, community, and organizational settings. Scott has taught trauma-focused psychodrama courses as an adjunct professor and research associate at Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work & Social Research, University of Pennsylvania’s Doctorate in Clinical Social Work Program, as well as Villanova University’s graduate counseling program. 

Throughout his career, he has published several books that have been used in many graduate courses internationally. He is Co-Chief-Editor of the Journal of Psychodrama, Sociometry, and Group Psychotherapy. He is an active member of the International Association of Group Psychotherapy & Group Processes (IAGP) Social and Collective Trauma Committee and Psychodrama Division.r University. Outside of his clinical experience, Lincoln teaches and offers continuing education workshops on a variety of topics, including Grief and Loss.

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Which training(s) are you interested in?

• Group Therapy w/ Dr. Scott Giacomucci
• Trauma-Informed Care w/ Dr. Scott Giacomucci
• Team Building and Workplace Wellness w/ Dr. Scott Giacomucci
• Vicarious Trauma & Burnout w/ Dr. Scott Giacomucci
• Psychodrama Training with Dr. Scott Giacomucci
• Grief and Loss with María José or Lincoln Blackwell
• Integrating Gender-Affirming Care into Trauma-Informed Care w/ Chris Klem
• The Aging Brain with Chris Klem
• Healers' Haven: Addressing Vicarious Trauma and Burnout with Brian Gallagher
• Psychodrama Workshop with Dr. Scott Giacomucci
• Supporting Survivors of Religious and Spiritual Harm with Kennesha Rodgers
• Trauma-Informed Practices for Working with Immigrant and Refugee Communities with María José Sotomayor-Giacomucci
• Other

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We can provide CE Hours for NBCC, PA SW, PA LPC, PA LMFT, and PA Psychologists.

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