About the East Side Institute

The East Side Institute is an international training, educational and research center for new approaches to human development, learning, therapy and community building. The Institute's work is devoted to changing psychology from a diagnostic, evaluative (and often stigmatizing) practice into a positive and creative force for the emotional, social and cultural development of all people and their communities. During the last 30 years the Institute has developed a unique group-oriented performatory approach called social therapy that relates to people of all ages as social performers and creators of their lives - of what they, their communities and the world are becoming. Drawing from the discoveries of its co-founders-philosopher-psychotherapist Fred Newman and developmental psychologist and learning strategist Lois Holzman-as well as the writings of psychologist Lev Vygotsky and philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, the Institute specializes in creating learning environments that are improvisational, challenging, playful and practical.





November 14 - December 15**
Fee: $135, Retired/Student: $75; Low Income: $50
Click here to register

**Conversation is asynchronous - participants are in different time zones, and read/post messages according to their own schedule.

Ludwig Wittgenstein was a unique, eccentric and brilliant 20th century philosopher who took apart nearly every concept that underlies how psychology, education and medicine are done today - and put just a few of them back together.

Wittgenstein's writings on language, logic, learning and looking - hard but fun! - are an integral part of social therapeutics. In this Revolutionary Conversation, methodologist Lois Holzman playfully approaches Wittgenstein's reflections as valuable tools for examining some of our most basic assumptions - like causality, essence, meaning, and the very nature of language and thought.

Why investigate Wittgenstein? Psychologists and educators -- not to mention, the rest of us -- need to seriously examine, question and play with our assumptions and our language. Begin that process by playing with Wittgenstein and Holzman!

Lois Holzman, Ph.D., is the Institute's director, a co-founder, and the chief organizer of the Performing the World conferences. She is the leading expert on social therapeutics and a spokesperson for alternatives to diagnosis. She is well known for her pioneering work in exploring the human capacity to perform and its fundamentality in learning how to learn. She is particularly respected as an activist scholar who builds bridges between university-based and community-based practices, bringing the traditions and innovations of each to the other. Holzman has written and edited seven books and over sixty articles on human development, psychology, education and social therapy - among them: Vygotsky at Work and Play; Performing Psychology: A Postmodern Culture of the Mind; and with Fred Newman, The End of Knowing and Unscientific Psychology. She is currently writing a book online using input from her readers titled The Overweight Brain.





Friday, December 5; 7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
NYU School of Law, Vanderbilt Hall, Classroom 220
40 Washington Square S.
(betw. Macdougal & Sullivan Sts.)
Click here to register:
$40 ($35 in advance); Retired/Student/Low Income $25 ($20 in advance)

What does it mean to live as an independent? Ask Lenora Fulani, America's leading independent, and she'll tell you. A political independent long before the 42% of Americans today who reject political party affiliation, she has been a leader of a growing movement for progressive post-partisan reform of the American political process. Her independence as a developmental psychologist and grassroots educator allows her and the All Stars Project she co-founded to be truly innovative in helping inner-city youth and their communities to grow, and in fostering uniquely creative partnerships with professional and wealthy adults.

Join Dr. Fulani for a personal, behind-the-scenes look at the discoveries made, attacks weathered, controversies generated and victories won in her four decade-long love affair with development and independence. Hear what she has learned in taking on the political establishment, in challenging a failed educational system, in bringing together police and inner-city youth to perform, in creating new collaborations and conversations to address poverty, and more. America, and the world, is at a crossroads, with new solutions and renewed hope needed. We invite you to discover what's possible - through the eyes of an independent.

Lenora Fulani, Ph.D., is co-founder of the All Stars Project, where she currently serves as dean of UX and director of Operation Conversation: Cops and Kids, a series of workshops that uses performance to facilitate dialogues between New York City police and youth. Dr. Fulani has long been active in creating change through political action. She has twice run for president as an independent. In 1988 she became the first woman and first African American in U.S. history to appear as a presidential candidate on the ballot in all 50 states. She earned her Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the City University of New York and worked as a guest researcher at Rockefeller University, focusing on the interplay of social environment and learning, with a particular focus on the Black community.

For more information, contact Melissa Meyer 212-941-8906, ext 304 mmeyer@eastsideinstitute.org
or go to: eastsideinstitute.org/events





Social Therapy is a group therapy approach that focuses on emotional development and group creativity. Social therapists work with the capacity that groups of people have to transform how they feel and relate to themselves and others. It is an alternative to individualistic, diagnosis-based and behavioral therapies. The approach was created by Stanford University trained philosopher and psychotherapist, Fred Newman.

Since the 1980s, The East Side Institute, which Newman founded with current director Lois Holzman, has been the international training center for social therapeutics, attracting practitioners from diverse fields looking to advance their clinical practice.



PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT & TRAINING

Weekend Intensives - The Clinical Practice of Social Therapy
November 20-22, 2014 and May 14-16, 2015
Thursday 5:00 - 8:45 p.m.; Friday & Saturday 10:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m.
Fee per weekend: $375. Click here to register

Why should building groups help people suffering from emotional pain? Led by Christine LaCerva, the Institute's director of clinical training, our two-day weekend intensives offer a practical/methodological immersion in social therapeutic process for practitioners.

Explore a methodology and approach that helps groups transform how they feel. Advance your capacity to support the creative power of the groups you lead. Program includes: presentation on the core issues of social therapeutic practice, observation of social therapy groups and post-observation discussion, role-play and improvisational exercises.

Clinical Supervision - A Group Approach to the Art of Practicing Therapy
Saturdays, now thru June 6, 2015; 10:30am-12:00pm
Fee: $200/month. Student rates available. Two month minimum required.

The Institute now offers weekly clinical supervision for practicing therapists from a variety of therapeutic orientations. Supervision is a supportive environment to work with other practitioners, share new ideas, and grapple with all that's difficult.

Therapists sit with their patients - hour after hour - listen to their stories, and experience the emotional pain of their lives. What kind of support do we need to help others develop? How do we deal with the isolation and continue to grow emotionally? Clinical supervision offers therapists an opportunity to work together as a group. Participants are supported to create a rich, caring supervisory environment that goes beyond collective problem-solving or finding "the correct diagnosis" to one where therapists can exercise their creativity in practicing the art of therapy.

Professional Development Saturday
Saturday, April 18, 2015, 10:00am-1:00pm
Fee per Saturday: $85/$65 Student. Click here to register.

Join Hugh Polk and Rachel Mickenburg for a half-day interactive practicum designed for therapists, coaches, counselors and group leaders interested in learning how social therapy and a group-creativity approach can enhance their practices.Topics include: the power of group therapy, developing the therapeutic relationship, and emotional growth in social therapy.

Therapist Training Program
1-Year and 2-Year Programs, Full or Part-Time
The Therapist Training Program is an in-depth practical exploration of social therapy-its foundations, philosophy and politics-and the contributions of Lev Vygotsky, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Karl Marx to the theory and practice. Designed for students looking to develop their creativity as therapists, the program includes weekly clinical supervision, monthly seminars, and online seminars with diverse international participants. Information provided on request. Prior participation in at least one of the above trainings is recommend. An application is required.

Faculty

Christine LaCerva, M.A., is the Institute's director of clinical training. She has a diverse therapy and supervisory practice as director of The Social Therapy Group-a social therapy practice center and community hub for conversations on innovative mental health, education and community building, with offices in Brooklyn and Manhattan. She completed her graduate studies at Teachers College, Columbia University in community psychology and special education (including education of the deaf) and has a performance background in dance and theater.


Hugh Polk, M.D. is a psychiatrist and social therapist at The Social Therapy Group and medical director for Emblem/Health. He completed his undergraduate studies at Harvard University, received his M.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and did his psychiatric residency at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Rachel Mickenberg, L.M.S.W. is a social worker and social therapist at The Social Therapy Group. Rachel is a co-founder of and therapist at the High School for Public Service, an innovative public high school in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. She is a graduate of the Hunter College School of Social Work.

To register or inquire, contact Melissa Meyer mmeyer@eastsideinstitute.org
212-941-8906, ext 304.

www.eastsideinstitute.org
www.socialtherapygroup.com
www.thecommunitytherapist.com



SOCIAL THERAPEUTICS & THE PRACTICE OF METHOD
A 20-week online certificate program w/ Lois Holzman & Faculty
January - June 2015
Click here to download application


What does a five-month, online, group study on a postmodern, performance based approach to human development look like? Well, according to our most recent class of psychology, psychiatry, social work, education, counseling, applied theatre, youth development, anthropology, sociology, community development, public policy and public health alumni, it looks something like this:

Diverse, dynamic, intensely collaborative and intellectually rigorous, the program allows for a far-ranging exploration of a proven methodology for personal and social transformation. For many, it's an opportunity to deepen and develop their work as practitioners, researchers and scholars via a method that is profoundly social and surprisingly therapeutic.

The Certificate Program

This certificate program is an opportunity for in-depth study of social therapeutics with developmental psychologist Lois Holzman, who worked for over three decades with public philosopher and social therapist Fred Newman in developing the approach.

Holzman and guest faculty guide students in an exploration of the foundations, politics, philosophy and community-based applications of this unique group-performatory approach to human development and learning. We welcome applicants from a range of disciplines.

Program Overview

The program introduces social therapeutic method through selected materials from founders Newman and Holzman and other developers and commentators.

Among the focuses of conversation are:
the contributions of Marx, Vygotsky and Wittgenstein
human development and group creativity;
enhancing sociality and engaging alienation;
the practice of method and revolutionary activity;
performance and play;
developmental philosophy and developmental learning; and,thinking, speaking and creating conversation.

Social Therapeutics is:

a recognized approach within both the postmodern and the cultural-historical activity theory movements in psychology, psychotherapy, education and organizational development. Originally developed by Fred Newman as a radical psychotherapy in the 1970s, it has evolved into a practical human development methodology with broad application in diverse settings.
a philosophically informed, practically oriented method in which human beings are related to as creators of their culture and ensemble performers of their lives. Its sustained effectiveness in supporting the social-emotional growth of people of all ages and backgrounds is a much-needed challenge to mainstream psychological thought and the practices based on it.
the basis for specific social interventions using a quite specific (activistic) understanding of learning and development that has been effectively implemented in therapy offices, clinics, hospitals, classrooms, after-school programs, workplaces, and communities worldwide. It is also a contribution to the important theoretical work of scholars and researchers working to create new more humane and transformative psychological practice and method.

Program Structure

Online Seminars. The course material is divided into five seminars (with short breaks in between each seminar). Students develop short projects for each seminar with faculty and peer input.

Conferencing and Live Chats. The course includes monthly Skype conference calls and online chat sessions with faculty.

Seminars take place online and are asynchronous, making it possible to accommodate people living in different time zones. Students must be prepared to invest the time and take the responsibility for creating a dynamic online learning environment by participating frequently in online discussion.

For an application, please contact mmeyer@eastsideinstitute.org.
Tuition is $850. Students are responsible for purchasing required texts.

About the Social Therapeutics Faculty



Lois Holzman is the director and co-founder of the East Side Institute. As a leading proponent of a cultural approach to human learning and development, she has brought the writings of Lev Vygotsky to bear on the practices and methods of psychotherapy, as well as contributing to advancing their relevance to education, youth development and organizational studies. She is well known for her pioneering work in exploring the human capacities to play and perform and their fundamentality in learning how to learn. Holzman has helped shape and expand the international performance movement as a force for radical social change, through the bi-annual.

Performing the World conference, the Institute's International Class, and other collaborative community-building projects among psychologists, social workers, educators and cultural workers from around the world.

Holzman is particularly respected as an activist scholar who builds bridges between university-based and community-based practices, bringing the traditions and innovations of each to the other. She has written/edited extensively on human development, learning and play; the institutions of psychology and education; and social therapy and its applications. Her most recent book is Vygotsky at Work and Play. She is a commentator at Psychology Today ("A Conceptual Revolution" http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/conceptual-revolution) and blogs at loisholzman.org. Holzman earned her Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Columbia University and was a postgraduate research fellow at the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition.

Carrie Lobman is a leading expert in the use of improv theatre as a tool for creating developmental learning groups for children and adults. She is the pedagogical director for the Revolutionary Conversations seminar series at the East Side Institute, and Associate Professor of Education at the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University. As a teacher trainer, Lobman helps educators to create more collaborative, creative, playful and participatory learning environments for themselves and their students. She received her doctorate in curriculum and teaching from Teachers College, Columbia University. She is co-editor (with Barbara O'Neill) of Play and Performance, co-author of Unscripted Learning: Using Improv Activities Across the K-8 Curriculum, and author of numerous articles and chapters delineating a performance-based approach to teaching.

Christine Helm earned an M.A. in Anthropology and Education and M.Ed. in Applied Anthropology at Teacher's College, Columbia University. She is director of the Enterprise Center at the Fashion Institute of Technology/State University of New York where she develops programs for creative entrepreneurs and teaches at both the undergraduate and graduate level. For more than two decades she has participated in building the development community of which the East Side Institute is a part and is a long-time faculty member for the Institute's International Class and Therapist Training Program. Her area of expertise is introducing Fred Newman's philosophical contributions to postmodern therapeutics and promoting the ongoing activity of philosophizing.

Please contact mmeyer@eastsideinstitute.org for an application form.

For more information, contact Melissa Meyer at mmeyer@eastsideinstitute.org, 212-941-8906, ext 304.

www.eastsideinstitute.org

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