Summer Academy 2025

Workshops and Lectures

Workshops Thu/Fri

Workshop 1 (E)
Making space between Real and Symbolic Whiteness and Blackness
Navigating the Opposite alongside our Fearing of Difference
Samantha E. Adams

‘Symbolism – an artistic and poetic movement or style using symbolic images and indirect suggestion to express mystical ideas, emotions, and states of mind’

It seems to me to be a positive and beautiful aspect of human nature that we are mostly intrinsically curious about the differences we encounter in others and the world around us. Fear of difference might be considered to be the necessary opposite of our innately curious nature, or at the very least, a survival instinct or mechanism. In a world of polarity, binary
hought and extremism – how can we actively rehearse meeting with difference and nuance? How can we remain human in our differences? Perhaps, by lifting acts of our innate human creativity as first medicine, first universal language, and ritual encounter with the profound depth of the collective human psyche.
This workshop will allow us to meet each-other, in our difference, in the ‘ between’ place. After a personal exploration, we will look for ways to send out into the world a part of the made experiences to nurture growth, to nourish Mother Earth and the nature of Humanity.

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Workshop 2 (E)
‘Zorg goed voor jezelf’
Dramatherapy and embodied performance as selfcare in times of crisis
Dr. Ditty Dokter

The Dutch phrase above is a family admonition ‘Zorg goed voor jezelf = Take care of yourself’ which many of us hear throughout our lives as therapists. Sometimes this can be easier said than done in times of personal, professional and world crises. Personal life crises happen to therapists too, how do we deal with them? Professionally our clients’ material can interact with that of our own thus increasing the risk of vicarious traumatization and burn out, how do we recognize that? How do we look after ourselves using our dramatic media?

This workshop will aim to explore aspects of our intersectional identities and how they may interact with those of our clients. We will use different dramatherapy techniques to engage with external and internalized oppression. We will help each other identify signs of vicarious traumatization and how play, improvisation and embodied performance can help the process of agency and being witnessed. Some examples of autobiographical performances by dramatherapists will be shown and participants will be encouraged to share the selfcare tools they have developed in their practice. We will consider the impact of organizational structures as well as wider support sources in identifying our professional selfcare strategies. It is hoped that by the end of the workshop the participants will leave with an increased sense of their strengths and vulnerabilities and as close to achieving a self-care ‘toolkit’ as possible.

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Workshop 3 (D)
Playing towards the community spirit:
The sixth, social sense
Astrid Habiba Kreszmeier and Hans-Peter Hufenus

In times of war and crisis, when division, resentment, mistrust and threats shake not only private spaces but also political institutions, lived experiences of community spirit, responsibility and confidence in humanity are sorely needed. This is not about blind hope or moral overload. It is about attitudes and actions that give common ground a chance in difficult friend/foe dynamics. Just as every therapeutic process supports individuals or groups in finding a good coexistence with themselves, contributions can also be made from here to other and wider social associations.

„What is possible today in protected therapy could also be effective in everyday life to realign relationships between individuals and groups.“*

We look forward to the traveling community that will come together in this workshop and invite to explore histories and stories of community spirit. To do so, we will travel far back in time, into the history of the earth and humanity and right up to the present day. With our senses, bodies and stories, we want to get on the track of the sixth, social sense. In nature experiences, constellations and mythodrama, we will explore this force that works between people and, beyond that, between humans and the world.

* Assmann, Aleida and Jan 2024.
Gemeinsinn: Der sechste, soziale Sinn. Munich: C. H. Beck, p126.

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Workshop 4 (D)
wahrnehmen – ins-Herz-nehmen – loslassen – danken (wi♥ld)
(perceive – take to heart – let go – give thanks)
Connection with inner knowledge
Dr. Simone Klees

In therapeutic learning and working, it is fundamental to know your own resources. In everyday life, we easily lose sight of the fact that we, as living beings, are rooted in nature. This is where we find our sources and opportunities to grow and to transform our experiences. wi♥ld is an approach for processing feelings and impressions. Following a set process, the first step is to become aware and make contact with our body and inner issues. The next steps serve to process and let go. We use movement, embodiment of the four elements, scenic approaches, dramatherapeutic constellation and ritual work to root ourselves deeply. Like every living being, we as humans also have tasks in the complex interplay of nature. Pausing and the joy of play lead us to our inner knowledge, which strengthens us as living beings in our therapeutic work and enables necessary transformation processes.

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WorkWorkshop 5 (E / D)
Climate change and mental health
Developing awareness and community resilience through dramatherapy and ritual
Dr. Susana Pendzik, Ingrid Lutz

One of the greatest challenges currently facing humanity and nature – that is, life itself –, is climate change. This phenomenon threatens human existence as we know it and has also been associated with an increase in mental health disorders. The psychological effects of climate change manifest themselves in individuals and communities through a variety of symptoms including increased stress, anxiety, PTSD, grief, depression and suicidality, as well as otherforms of psychological distress.

This workshop explores climate-related mental health conditions through dramatherapeutic interventions that seek to promote connections with our own feelings. Our approach proposes developing mindful perception, attention and awareness of the natural environment and our inner processes regarding it, through the use of creative ritual tools and other dramatherapeutic processes. Coinciding with many other scholars in the field, we believe that when people are faced with challenging situations and existential crises, when reality is altered to the point that it seems to make no sense, rituals can help them cope with the emotional turmoil they are experiencing, and also create a sense of community, which promotes feelings of security and hope. This is how community resilience can be achieved.

The formation of a collective identity and sense of purpose is of paramount importance in the context of climate change, as the overwhelming nature of this crisis can engender feelings of powerlessness, which can only be countered effectively through a collective response.

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Workshop 6 (E)
Theatre with former combatants and victims of armed conflicts
The “Theatre for Reconciliation” initiative in Colombia
Dr. Angelo Miramonti

“Theatre for Reconciliation” is an action-research initiative carried out in Colombia. This project aims to experiment and systematize creative methods to foster dialogue between former combatants and victims of armed conflicts and between those directly affected by conflicts and the rest of society. The workshop will focus on experiencing some of these techniques and reflecting on the experience. We will work with adaptations from Theatre of the Oppressed, Autobiographical Therapeutic Performance, Dance Theatre and Mythopoetic/Ritual Theatre to encounter our wounds, connect with our gifts and reconcile with ourselves, others and nature.

More specifically, we will work on:

Nonverbal listening of myself and the other
Enemification: how we construct and deconstruct the “enemy” (as individuals and as a group)
Feeling and thinking how my “enemy” feels and thinks (embodying the “enemy”)
Using theatre as part of Restorative Justice systems (e.g. the Truth Commission in Colombia)
Building co-existence with nature in post-conflict settings: theatre for ecosystemic justice
Testimonies from work with former combatants and victims of the Colombian conflict
How to use these approaches to work on other conflict situations (different from armed conflicts).

Literature on this research is available at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Angelo-Miramonti

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Workshop 7 (E)
Bridging Divides
Exploring Identity and Conflict Through Dramatherapy
Dr. Amani Musa

In the context of global conflict, fostering mutual understanding and unity requires approaches that honor diversity without imposing unification. This workshop explores the role of dramatherapy as a transformative tool for bridging cultural divides by creating a space for individual and collective processing. Participants will engage in activities designed to help them explore personal identities and navigate conflicts encountered in everyday life and professional settings. By maintaining personal identity while seeking to understand those who represent the“other,” individuals can access the “gray areas” of interaction—spaces where dialogue replaces division. Observing and engaging with these nuanced spaces offers pathways out of conflict and into deeper connection. Drawing on Robert Landy’s role theory, this workshop emphasizes the therapist’s role as a “guide” in bridging roles and counter roles through theatrical expression. This approach fosters cultural sensitivity and provides tools for dramatherapists to navigate cross-cultural interactions effectively.This workshop will utilize the techniques of Playback Theatre and Theatre of the Oppressed, both of which provide powerful tools to deepen the understanding of the issues at hand. These methodologies encourage active participation, empathy, and reflection, creating a dynamic space for exploring personal and collective experiences related to conflict and cultural understanding. The use of metaphor and indirect aesthetic space in dramatherapy creates a safe environment where differences can be explored without direct confrontation. This creative and playful framework allows participants to process their experiences, express themselves, and build cross-cultural understanding in a way that transcends conflict. This workshop invites participants to embrace the dynamic potential of drama therapy as a medium for dialogue, healing, and unity in a divided world.

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Workshop 8 (D)
The human voice in the wounded world
Dr. Ralf Peters

In artistic work with the voice, as in many other areas, we must ask ourselves whether and how we can respond to the ecological crises of our time. A closer look reveals that thehuman voice in action has always been connected to the “three ecologies” (Felix Guattari): the self, others and the more than human world. The path via voice and hearing is therefore very promising for the development of a new and less destructive relationship to the world. In the research ” vocal ecotism – vocal art in the damaged world “, initial approaches were developed that will be presented in this workshop. It is first and foremost about a “vocal ecotomy”(element theory), in which we work with the four elements of earth, water, air and fire to find a new kind of reference system between the world, the self and the voice. If, in vocal practice, we seek out the kinship between humans and everything else in the world and at the same time explore ways of coming into contact with all other beings and things, we will not be spared from perceiving the woundedness of the world as something that can be found within ourselves. The wounded world encompasses the human inner world. By questioning our own voice through intensive individual work, we will also bring this aspect to light in the workshop. In the encounter with our own voice, we create a connection to ourselves and at the same time to the world to which we belong.

http://stimmfeld.de/vocalecotism.html

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Thursday evening

Thursday evening online seminar (D)
Diversity-sensitive and power-critical therapy: an introduction to intersectionality
Dr. med. Amma Yeboah

Discriminatory acts in therapeutic support often take place unconsciously and without intention. This event will focus on the structural, cultural, interpersonal and individual practices of dominance in our healthcare system, using sexism and racism as examples. The interdependence of different forms of discrimination with social power relations will be presented and discussed using the analytical tool of intersectionality. Intersectionality includes analytical and practical methods to understand the complexity of social realities in a globalized world, social structures, the experiential reality of individual subjects and human identities. The goal of intersectional practice is social justice. Participants are invited to sensitize themselves to social structures of domination and multiple practices of discrimination in everyday life, as well as to explore ways of diversity-sensitive and power-critical practice.

Dr. Amma Yeboah leads this seminar pro bono and donates her proceeds to the Theodor- Wonja-Michael Library (Black Library NRW) in Cologne.

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Saturday

Collective Intervention (E / D)
Climate change and the need to develop community-building approaches and collective resilience as a basis for therapeutic action that can sustainably meet the challenges of our time
Susana Pendzik und Ingrid Lutz

In this hour we will develop a large group ritual together that has been tested in Mexico and Israel, among other places.

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Graphic Recording
The conference will be accompanied by Johanna Benz and her wandering graphic recording lab.

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Some workshops are held in English, some in German, they are marked accordingly (E) / (D).