The Moreno Institute East is rooted in the training, teaching, and education of basic theory, philosophy, and methods invented and developed by Dr. J. L. and Zerka T. Moreno. We teach the fundamentals of method and practice in Northampton, Massachusetts. We also bring this whole method to organizations, schools, families and businesses that want to learn Moreno’s tools for developing creativity and spontaneity in the service of their lives and work. We apply a synthesis of Moreno’s whole approach, in which the objective is the quality of connection with each member in the group, organization or family, and to learn together. This method offers a means to encounter, and a container, for the energetic forces of spontaneity and creativity.
We apply a “Zen-mind” to the work of Moreno. This approach organizes the magnitude of his brilliance into approachable pieces. These pieces of the total of his cosmology are reflected in four codes, which he left to us. These codes tell the story, as we now see it, of how this method in its most fundamental way is nothing less than a structured approach to access the nature of the sacred in every experience we face, have faced or will face. The synthesis of Moreno’s work into codes offers a clear paradigm for producing and accessing change in one’s personal, family and organizational life.
Psychodrama is a creative process-in-action that sustains contact with a spontaneity state. At the same time the mind integrates the freedom that the spontaneity state brings about. Dr. Moreno invented psychodrama as an educational and training method to help people live more fully. The psychodramatic method is broad, deep and rich and includes many facets including the double, the mirror, role reversal, surplus reality, the encounter, sociometry, tele, and the social atom. Psychodrama is a place where our identity can expand; we test out their dreams for their lives through surplus reality. The past can be brought into the present, and re-lived differently. Communication can be addressed and unfinished business can be completed. We offer the psychodramatic method to professionals and those interested in personal development. We offer this method as education and training rather than psychotherapy.
Sociodrama is an educational process focused on providing practice in solving the problems of human relations. It helps groups and members to clarify values and feelings and gives an opportunity to practice new behaviors. The focus is theme-and-situation oriented. "Sociodrama unlocks the threads of human experience for everyone. It offers a chance for participants to learn about themselves, the world, and their place in it." Sociodrama: Who’s in Your Shoes? Sternberg & Garcia, 1989. We offer Sociodrama to schools, organizations, groups and families to learn collectively about a life that is most desired and for the well-being of all concerned.
Dr. Moreno believed that the future of humanity depends upon the sociometric development of human society. Sociometry is a method for evaluating aspects of interpersonal relationships in groups, families, organizations, and society. Sociometry exposes hidden structures within groups. These hidden structures can help families, groups and organizations. In Who Shall Survive?, 1934, Moreno outlined the complex hidden relationships in groups, offering a visual image of the workings of the creative force in human life. Sociometry is a method to reveal this creative force that emerges in groups of two or more.
In Who Shall Survive? Moreno identified meta-forces
operating within the human social environment. We believe that Dr.
Moreno left these forces to us to fully define with bringing them to
life. We began to research his writings for hints
“embedded” in his work from which we might draw insight,
understanding and direction for how to apply Moreno’s theories
and methods more fully to the whole of humanity, to benefit all life.
We believe that as a society we are in a new wave of furthering the
development of Moreno’s theories. We are eager to form
collaborations with others in the field toward the defining and
development of sociatry as our generation’s contribution to the
application of Moreno’s work.