Canterbury Update

by Jim Goodwin, Secretary
Hi from the ANZPA- Canterbury Westland branch, based in Christchurch, New Zealand. We are an active branch with about 26 members. We meet every two months and often have a social gathering in the period between meetings.
Our meetings consist of the business part followed by a presentation by one or more of our members. Usually this presentation is in action. So far this year the presentations have consisted of: a Probation Officer, a Whanau Support Worker and a Psychiatric Nurse presenting aspects of their work; a writer, Gwen Reekie, giving us a taste of her work as a novelist; and Baljit Kaur showing us some of her discoveries as she researches the history of psychodrama in our region.
Currently we are exploring ways to increase our sociometry in the communities in which we work and through this to develop ways to promote the use of the method of psychodrama in our region. To this end, four of our members, Annie Currie, Colin Elliott, Sara Crane and Jenny Wilson, are preparing for an “Action at Work” professional development day they are running on October 7th, to give members of the wider community an idea of the potential use and value of psychodrama.
Other activities include a group of members sorting out our library – this includes developing a digital database of the assets in the library. There is another group looking at the development of a brochure for members to use in promoting the method. There is a validation committee responsible for revalidating practitioners, and, as mentioned, Baljit Kaur is conducting a project researching the history of Psychodrama in Canterbury.
So, there you go, a brief insight into the activities of ANZPACW.
from Sara Crane
At our May ANZPA meeting in Christchurch Gwen Reekie read us a short story that she had recently had published. We were able to identify together how her experience as a psychodramatist has informed and vitalised her writing. This meeting had quite a different atmosphere from other sessions at which members have presented their work or we have focussed on particular topics. Something about the intimacy of being told a story produced a quality of gentle interaction between us. I felt deeply appreciative of the community I belong to and had strong memories of other events at which we have shared the diverse and creative ways in which psychodrama has shaped our lives. I highly value the opportunity to get to know how others express themselves and get inspired to experiment and stretch my own accustomed mediums of relationship.