SC12 – (Almost) Everything I Know in Psychotherapy I Learned in Acting School
Location: Cypress B
This experiential, creative and self-exploratory mini-workshop expands the central features of therapy laid out in The Practitioner’s Guide to Mirroring Hands – Client-Responsiveness and Sensitive Observation. Ernest Rossi states that Erickson was a Genius of Observation rather than a genius of manipulation. Being sensitively aware to both verbal and non-verbal communication, while developing a natural responsiveness to the client, is the essence of utilization. These skills are fundamental to the facilitation of effective brief therapy. When Rossi and Erickson discussed being a better therapist in 1980, Rossi concluded, “We have to find out how to read faces… inflections of words, the minimal cues that patient’s give us about their underlying problem?” Erickson replied, “Yes.” Rossi wondered, “But, there is no school for face reading, posture reading, voice inflection reading – except the school of life.” In the Hill-Rossi Conversations of 2016, we continued to discuss this gap in a therapist’s learning. When I explained I learned this in acting school and during my 25 years as a professional actor, before shifting to psychotherapy, Rossi confessed that he studied acting with Lee Strasberg to enhance his sensitive observation and improvised responsiveness. And, so was born the concept for this workshop and new publication, (Almost) Everything I Know in Psychotherapy, I Learned in Acting School.
Educational Objectives:
- Define and demonstrate Client-Responsiveness
- Define and demonstrate Sensitive Observation
- List the ways to engage in Deliberate Practice