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| Greetings! |
 Spring weather has arrived in Portland, and the news from through-out the Process Work community is coming in.
Contribute
to the InProcess Newsletter
We've been getting feedback from readers that they really enjoy hearing about the "little" things people do to live Process Work in their day-to-day lives. If you've got a story about your experiences, challenges, or insights of how you bring Process Work into your world, we'd love to hear from you.
The InProcess Newsletter is published three times a year: Fall, Winter, and Spring. If you have news from your neck of the woods and want to share it, or know someone who's doing something interesting with Process Work, let us know. Please send your submissions, photos, etc. to Julie O at pwi@processwork.org.
Become A Member Today!
Become a member of Process Work Institute, and help make deep democracy and awareness part of the global conversation. Members receive a 10% discount on all classes at PWI. To become a member click here or contact the Process Work Institute office at 503-233-8188 or pwi@processwork.org. |
| News Notes & Gossip |
Popculture... who's doing what, with whom, where, and how!
If you happened to pick up a copy of the Portland Monthly magazine for May, you would have been surprised (or perhaps not!) to see Chris Allen featured as Portland's new Dating Guru in an article on dating in Portland... Best comment in the interview: "Ideally there should be some love in the room when sex happens."... And, speaking of dating in Portland, if you happened to get a pie and coffee at Portland's Bipartisan Café, you would have seen Robert King's drawings of Native American leaders up on the wall... It sure was nice to have Susanne Roessing back in town, even if it was just a brief visit... Ingrid Rose is about to have her new book published by Karnac Books in London. Keep an eye out for School Violence: Studies in Alienation, Revenge, and Redemption, coming soon... And speaking of schools and kids, Sonja Straub and Julie Diamond have been spending their free (!) time hanging out with a bunch of third graders at Rigler Elementary in Northeast. They became sponsors of the I Have A Dream Foundation, and over the past two years, raised a million dollars to provide their kids with tutoring, mentoring and enrichment activities, and guaranteeing them a college education... And a welcome to the newest member of the Process Work community, Magdalena Skoczewska gave birth to baby Vincent Peter on April 24th!
Madness and Disability Rights
As you might recall from the Winter newsletter, on Sunday, March 9 from 7-9pm, Will Hall facilitated a forum at PWI.
He reports:
The March research symposium on "Madness and Disability Rights" was a huge success, with 60+ people joining Will, Mouse from Reed College Icarus, and Jason Renaud from the Mental Health Association of Portland for a lively community discussion at the Process Work Institute. Also, on May 11 The New York Times Sunday edition did a big story on "Mad Pride" that discussed The Icarus Project and Freedom Center, two mental health organizations Will works with. The culture is moving around things madness!
Diagnosed with schizophrenia, presenter Will Hall is co-founder
of Freedom Center (www.freedom-center.org),
an award-winning peer-run support and advocacy community in Massachusetts.
He is also on the collective of The Icarus Project (www.theicarusproject.net),
exploring art, creativity, spirituality, and political activism
as alternatives to mainstream mental health care. Will has traveled
internationally in his work, including recent visits to Toronto,
Canada, and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Will Hall is a new Diploma
student who has studied Process Work since 1996. You can contact
him at will@theicarusproject.net.
Process Work Greece and the Community
Alexandra Vassiliou, Ph.D., Lena Aslanidou, M.A., Lily Vassiliou, Ph.D.
Certified Process Workers
In May 2008, we had the pleasure of having our Swiss friend and colleague, Lukas Hohler, in Athens, Greece, for a few days. Process Work Greece organized a training on "Violence and Aggression" for street workers and staff of KETHEA (an agency working with drug addiction), and a networking meeting at "Arsis" with representatives of organizations doing street work in Athens. It was a useful first step in trying to create a more official network of street workers, to share resources, support each other and explore training opportunities.
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| Process Work Joins the Circus
by Jenn Cohen |
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 Diploma student Jenn Cohen is taking Process Work to a new level, literally: up! In response to her career as a circus performer and her studies at the Process Work Institute, Jenn created an innovative approach to coaching, grounded in the tenets of Process-oriented Psychology. What began as her Master's thesis, has exploded into The Circus Project, a non-profit corporation, complete with a board of directors and a ten year plan.
The mission of The Circus Project is to enable homeless and at-risk youth to develop their physical and emotional integrity by providing intensive skill training in circus and performing arts. The emphasis of The Circus Project is on empowerment, personal development, and relationship building. Youth participants are encouraged to create and direct their personal stories in innovative and artistic ways, while having the opportunity to reach out to the community through the production of original theatrical performances.
Jenn was introduced to Process Work while a tenured coach at the San Francisco Circus School in 2001. There she began to experiment integrating Process Work principles with circus training to better serve the needs of her students, some of whom faced significant challenges including Tourettes Syndrome, ADHD, addiction, and depression. Acting as "facilitator" rather than "teacher", and utilizing a number of Process Work techniques, Jenn helped her students in a variety of ways. They were better able to focus and absorb material, and their self-esteem and ability to engage in healthy relationships increased substantially. With three advanced students, Jenn co-created the aerial act, "Triptyc," which gained national recognition at the American Youth Circus Organization's (AYCO) international festival in Minnesota in 2003.
The Circus Project is based in part on the success of this pilot program. "Triptyc" drew the attention of Cirque du Soleil's social action director, who expressed interest in the application of Process-oriented Psychology to circus and offered support to Jenn's future endeavors with at-risk youth. Five years later, Cirque du Soleil provided much of the seed money and organizational support necessary to establish The Circus Project.
The circus ring has long been viewed as a metaphor for the social systems we inhabit. Indeed, all roles have a place under the big top. It follows then that circus provides a unique opportunity to explore our unique personas and the contexts in which they thrive. Circus and Process Work complement one another. Both offer the opportunity to see the 'other' in oneself, provide insight into the mysterious, often disavowed aspects of the self, and engage us on the mythical level.
Throughout history, the circus has held the role of the freak show, a place where marginalized people are celebrated for their strange eccentricities and special talents. Thus, circus provides a vehicle for youth to celebrate their diversity and reclaim their unique abilities.
The Circus Project is based on the belief that art is a powerful vehicle for individual and collective transformation, which cuts across social barriers to inspire new perspectives and creative solutions to conflict. And that, given the tools to express themselves and the container in which to experiment, marginalized youth can evidence profound insight and remarkable ability, while contributing significantly to the community of which they are a part.
For more information, please visit: www.thecircusproject.org. |
Creating a Documentary:
When the Filmaking Process Leads the Way
by Vassiliki Katrivanou |
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"Intimate Interactions" is a one-hour documentary film exploring how a group of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot women handle conflict during the period of the Referendum in Cyprus for the reunification of the island in April 2004.
The Filmmaking Process
This filmmaking process, I feel, had a life of its own, and I just had to follow it. I knew very little about video and editing and I had no money, but I had a long-term desire to create a documentary. A friend of mine was going to Cyprus to make a documentary on the referendum, so I decided to follow him and do my own project focusing on what the women had to say around the Cypriot problem and gender relations.
I went to the Northwest Film Center in Portland, a major non-profit media center and a resource for independent filmmakers, and learned the basics for shooting digital video. Most of the film I shot myself, following my very limited knowledge, my past experience in photography and my instincts. In some cases friends helped in the shooting.
In the first version of this film, my goal was to create teaching material for conflict resolution as my project for the Msters in Process Work. It mostly included group conversations of Greek and Turkish Cypriot women around the Referendum and the conflict in Cyprus and my comments on the process as a facilitator. A friend helped me to do a basic editing. It was an interesting beginning, but I had the feeling that my material had much more potential. I decided to create a film for a broader audience and not just focused in conflict resolution facilitation. I wanted to integrate issues of definitions of home, community, the refugee experience and how women handle conflict in their everyday life. I showed my material to, Bushra Azzouz, an award-winning independent filmmaker who comes from the Middle East, knows the culture of the region and has shared the experience of dislocation of the women I filmed. She believed in this work from the beginning and dedicated her time editing it, even when there was no financial compensation. The film would never have been possible without her. Then I was fortunate to receive a first grant from the Jubitz Family Foundation and later on a second one in order to complete my documentary and to do an educational DVD, which includes a "Special Features" section with individually indexed topics based on footage of interviews and public discussions that I was unable to include in the documentary itself.
After having a rough edited version, I did several screenings to small groups of friends and filmmakers for feedback. I traveled to Cyprus to screen the film for the women who participated in the original interviews and public meetings. They received it most enthusiastically and they commented that it was the only documentary they had seen that represented women's voices and experiences on the island regarding the conflict. They were very excited about the possibility of more screenings to initiate public discussions and community forums. At the same time the Turkish Cypriot women felt that their experiences as a minority had to be more strongly represented. I felt strongly a responsibility as a Greek woman doing this work to go back to Cyprus and shoot more material about the Turkish Cypriot experience. This was a crucial step because I wanted this project to provide participants ownership in the film and to feel that they could use it in order to make a difference in their community.
This whole journey has been one of the most creative and demanding experiences in my life. It needed a whole team of friends, colleagues and professionals to make it happen and I am grateful for their fortitude.
The film will be out in September. Bushra and I want to screen it in festivals, women's and human's rights groups, and universities. It comes out at the right moment, where there is a shift in the politics on Cyprus and a major effort for the reunification of the island. |
Long Term/Short Session Coma Work
by Bill Say |
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I have the very fortunate situation to volunteer at a local hospital where I get to do process-oriented coma work, mostly with folks in persistent vegetative states. My work is unusual in that I am doing long term work with these people, and because of my schedule and temperament, see them for very brief periods, often three clients in one half hour.
A few things I have found interesting is that the continuity of my visits seems to have quite an impact on their responsiveness.
One man, a former Vietnamese monk, becomes much more on the surface; however, when I am not able to see him for a couple of weeks, it seems I have to rebuild the relationship all over again.
In my very short sessions I find that a connection can be made and that seemingly meaningful experiences happen. I am a meditator and notice that when I am in a more still place I blend more readily with my clients and my interventions seem to be more effective.
The other phenomenon that I am beginning to explore is work with two people at a time as most of these folks have roommates. What I began to notice is that sometimes their neighbor is more responsive to my interventions than the client with whom I am working!
Furthermore I find something interesting happened with my main clients when I pay more attention to their roommates. I interpreted it as jealousy! It reminds me of Arny's comment that the secondary process of a client shows itself when the therapist's attention goes elsewhere. For example, when I begin to respond to the signals of both clientssimultaneously, it amplifies both clients' activities, a bit like an orchestra of sound and movements. Very exciting! | |
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