Creative Advances in Groupwork

This is an edited collection, which begins with the promise of an "organic" book, developed by means of group dialogue between the contributors.

The book covers an intriguing range of topics, including playback theatre, social dreaming, socio-drama, psycho-political analysis, deep ecology and "alchemical" transition, all viewed through the lens of group work. The contributors are trainers, consultants and analysts, drawing mainly from psychoanalytical perspectives.'

- Community Care

Groupwork is a constantly evolving area, and the authors of this book seek to encourage, inspire and lure practitioners into thinking new thoughts and developing new methods. A range of experienced and respected group workers explore developments in their specific fields of practice, moving from well-established approaches towards newer ideas. Subjects covered include experiential groups, merging and splitting, group therapy and planetary awareness, social dreaming, playback theatre and sociodrama. The authors show how group-analytic concepts can be creatively drawn on in the context of, for instance, business practice or inter-European relationships.

Running through the book are themes such as the sustainability of working from traditional theory in an ethos of continuous change, and the development of theory and practice across internally or externally constructed boundaries. Developed by means of a group dialogue process between the contributors, this exciting and challenging book reflects the way in which groupwork is changing and moving beyond orthodoxy, and will inspire practitioners in this field.

Anna Chesner, MA is a UKCP registered psychodrama and group analytic psychotherapist and has been qualified as a supervisor for over twenty years. She has trained dramatherapists, integrative counsellors and psychotherapists and is course director of the London Centre for Psychodrama Group and Individual Psychotherapy Training in Creative Supervision. She has presented her work in creative supervision in the UK and internationally at the Federation of European Psychodrama Training Organisation conference, Jerusalem 2011. She has written extensively on supervision and action methods.