PAGPS/APNAPA Conference – A Philadelphia Area Group Psychotherapy Society & American Psychiatric Nurses Association Conference

Contemporary Group Therapy in a (Hopefully!) Post Pandemic World
A Two Day Conference: April 30 – May 1, 2022
Widener University, Chester, PA

All day Saturday, April 30, 2022 (9:30-12:30 and 2:00-5:00)

A-1: Trauma-Focused Psychodrama: Safe Experiential Processes for Embodied Healing
Dr. Scott Giacomucci, DSW, LCSW, BCD, CGP, FAAETS, TEP

This workshop presents trauma-focused psychodrama which moves the group process beyond
words and into action. The importance of safety and strengths for trauma work will be
highlighted along with a basic introduction to Moreno’s triadic system – Sociometry,
Psychodrama, and Group Psychotherapy. As the field of neuroscience and trauma research
expands, evidence points to trauma’s impact on the body and the importance of holistic
interventions that involve the whole person (body, mind, social, spirit). Participants in this
workshop will experience the power of experiential methods through strengths-based
psychodrama while learning multiple experiential tools that can be incorporated into practice in
diverse settings.

1. Develop practitioners’ skills in leading process groups
This workshop will provide group therapists with additional skills for enhancing process
groups, assessing the sociodynamics of a group, and engaging participants in the group
process.
2. Examine the use of groups for healing trauma
This workshop will focus on psychodrama as an experiential and holistic approach to
trauma healing supported by neuroscience and clinical research. Psychodrama allows
clients to have corrective emotional experiences impossible otherwise while renegotiating
how the body keeps the score.
3. Identify the needs of traumatized professional caregivers and how group process may
promote healing
Though this is a Saturday group led like a therapy group, we will not do a psychodrama
focused on a participant’s individual trauma. Instead, the psychodrama in the afternoon
will focus on strengths, support, professional goals, or vicarious post-traumatic growth
(depending on the group’s choice)
4. Identify methods for reawakening the human-to-human kindness connection
Strength-based processes demonstrated in the workshop certainly will tap into the
human-to-human kindness connection and provide participants with methods for
reawakening it within their own groups/communities.
5. Use experiential modalities to enhance understanding of group process in outpatient and
inpatient groups
This workshop teaches and demonstrates psychodrama, the first experiential therapy
(now over 100 years old). The facilitator will include clinical examples and insight
related to psychodrama practice across the treatment continuum based on his experience
in inpatient, PHP, outpatient, and multi-day workshops.