Improv for Therapists Continuing Education Workshops
Come play!
Serious Play: Improv for Therapists
The workshop provides experiences designed to illustrate and illicit various aspects of self-discovery; anxiety-related thoughts and beliefs that may interfere with therapeutic goals; explore how collaboration, relationship and partnership (and isolation) influence well-being; experience ways that posture and physical movement influence and can be used to shift moods and attitudes; and, ways to use the practice of play to decrease anxiety and increase presence in the moment, both of which are shown to improve overall well-being and functioning. Each workshop and session ends with clinical processing of how the games played relate to and impact work with patients and/or could be directly used and applied with patients.
Learning objectives of the course:
After completing this course, participants will be able to:
This course is appropriate for social workers at the following levels of practice: beginning and intermediate.
Because the workshop is highly participatory and draws heavily on clinician experiences and scenarios, it is applicable to a wide-range of social workers at varying levels of experience. Indeed, social workers will walk away with different take-aways depending in their level/experience in practice, as outlined below:
Beginner: Beginning social workers will have an opportunity to explore how presence, spontaneity, and a spirit of play can and does impact their practice, and to start to develop their own values and identity related to self-disclosure, boundaries, and bringing alternative modes of therapy, such as expressive arts, into their work.
Intermediate: Intermediate level social workers who may have developed a more cohesive professional identity and values will be able to explore how improvisation and its related skills of presence, authenticity, support, attunement, trust, and anxiety may or may not fit into their current practice and where they may wish to make changes to incorporate it in various ways that may benefit patients.
The workshop will be led by Lisa Kays, LICSW, LCSW-C. Lisa began writing and thinking about the intersection of improvisation and therapy as an MSW student and has continued to teach, write, and learn about these issues throughout her career as a social worker since 2011 Through the development and execution of a variety of classes and workshops for therapists and social workers, she has refined and improved her methods based on feedback and class observations and continues to do so..
Sample 3-Hour Workshop Agenda:
15 Minutes: Introduction to topic and improv tenets via introductions and statements about participant interest in the workshop
15 Minutes: Overview of concepts important to improv and agreement to adhere to them during today’s workshop: support, trust, agreement, welcoming “mistakes” as opportunities to learn and grow
15 Minutes: Statement of personal intentions for the class and raising of any clinical concerns or questions that you are hoping you may be able to answer through the workshop
30 Minutes : Warm-Ups/Name Games to reduce anxiety and increase personal familiarity
1 Hour 15 Minutes: Various improv games as appropriate to group questions, comfort level, and interests and processing of each afterwards, with clear tie-ins to clinical work and therapy
20 Minutes: Q&A, additional clinical processing of how games or experience of games relates to social worker’s experience of self or patients
10 Minutes: Evals
Details
Upcoming Workshop Dates: TBD. Contact Lisa at [email protected] to be informed as dates are set.
Time: TBD
Location: DC Writer's Salon, 1807 18th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009
CEs: Participants successfully completing this workshop and the course evaluation will receive 3 Category I Continuing Education credits.
Fees: $60, payable by check to Lisa Kays or by credit card here. Payment must be made prior to the workshop. Refunds will not be given for cancellations once fees are paid.
In order to receive CEs and certificate, attendees must attend the full workshop, sign in and out and complete a course evaluation. CE certificates will be handed out at the end of the workshop.
“Lisa Kays, #1526, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. Lisa Kays maintains responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period:
January 27, 2019-January 27, 2022.
Social workers completing this course receive 3 Category I continuing education credits.”
If you have questions or concerns about the course content, references or content evaluation, contact Lisa Kays at [email protected] or 202-350-1640.
If you have questions or concerns about registration, facilities, accommodation for disability, or course administration, contact Lisa Kays at [email protected] or 202-350-1640.
The workshop provides experiences designed to illustrate and illicit various aspects of self-discovery; anxiety-related thoughts and beliefs that may interfere with therapeutic goals; explore how collaboration, relationship and partnership (and isolation) influence well-being; experience ways that posture and physical movement influence and can be used to shift moods and attitudes; and, ways to use the practice of play to decrease anxiety and increase presence in the moment, both of which are shown to improve overall well-being and functioning. Each workshop and session ends with clinical processing of how the games played relate to and impact work with patients and/or could be directly used and applied with patients.
Learning objectives of the course:
After completing this course, participants will be able to:
- Identify three specific movements or improvisational acting techniques that can shift feeling states.
- Explain performance anxiety and its impact on them and others emotionally and physically and identify two strategies to reduce it.
- Practice three techniques, phrases, and approaches that can positively influence how we interact with and engage clients.
- Identify two barriers we (and our patients) experience to intimacy, authenticity and spontaneity and two ways to begin to overcome them.
This course is appropriate for social workers at the following levels of practice: beginning and intermediate.
Because the workshop is highly participatory and draws heavily on clinician experiences and scenarios, it is applicable to a wide-range of social workers at varying levels of experience. Indeed, social workers will walk away with different take-aways depending in their level/experience in practice, as outlined below:
Beginner: Beginning social workers will have an opportunity to explore how presence, spontaneity, and a spirit of play can and does impact their practice, and to start to develop their own values and identity related to self-disclosure, boundaries, and bringing alternative modes of therapy, such as expressive arts, into their work.
Intermediate: Intermediate level social workers who may have developed a more cohesive professional identity and values will be able to explore how improvisation and its related skills of presence, authenticity, support, attunement, trust, and anxiety may or may not fit into their current practice and where they may wish to make changes to incorporate it in various ways that may benefit patients.
The workshop will be led by Lisa Kays, LICSW, LCSW-C. Lisa began writing and thinking about the intersection of improvisation and therapy as an MSW student and has continued to teach, write, and learn about these issues throughout her career as a social worker since 2011 Through the development and execution of a variety of classes and workshops for therapists and social workers, she has refined and improved her methods based on feedback and class observations and continues to do so..
Sample 3-Hour Workshop Agenda:
15 Minutes: Introduction to topic and improv tenets via introductions and statements about participant interest in the workshop
15 Minutes: Overview of concepts important to improv and agreement to adhere to them during today’s workshop: support, trust, agreement, welcoming “mistakes” as opportunities to learn and grow
15 Minutes: Statement of personal intentions for the class and raising of any clinical concerns or questions that you are hoping you may be able to answer through the workshop
30 Minutes : Warm-Ups/Name Games to reduce anxiety and increase personal familiarity
1 Hour 15 Minutes: Various improv games as appropriate to group questions, comfort level, and interests and processing of each afterwards, with clear tie-ins to clinical work and therapy
20 Minutes: Q&A, additional clinical processing of how games or experience of games relates to social worker’s experience of self or patients
10 Minutes: Evals
Details
Upcoming Workshop Dates: TBD. Contact Lisa at [email protected] to be informed as dates are set.
Time: TBD
Location: DC Writer's Salon, 1807 18th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009
CEs: Participants successfully completing this workshop and the course evaluation will receive 3 Category I Continuing Education credits.
Fees: $60, payable by check to Lisa Kays or by credit card here. Payment must be made prior to the workshop. Refunds will not be given for cancellations once fees are paid.
In order to receive CEs and certificate, attendees must attend the full workshop, sign in and out and complete a course evaluation. CE certificates will be handed out at the end of the workshop.
“Lisa Kays, #1526, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. Lisa Kays maintains responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period:
January 27, 2019-January 27, 2022.
Social workers completing this course receive 3 Category I continuing education credits.”
If you have questions or concerns about the course content, references or content evaluation, contact Lisa Kays at [email protected] or 202-350-1640.
If you have questions or concerns about registration, facilities, accommodation for disability, or course administration, contact Lisa Kays at [email protected] or 202-350-1640.