Last week I turned 80 and one of the many ways we marked the occasion (in addition to a fantastic truly global Zoom celebration) was for Jan Wootten, my creative advisor, and me to reread an essay I wrote for the book Narrative Identities, Psychologists Engaged in Self-Construction many years...
Instead of asking "What's the solution?" ask "How can we become the kind of species/society/community/organization that can create solutions that seem impossible?" That question—"How can we become?"— is unanswerable through traditional means. It requires a completely different relationship to knowledge, expertise, and human possibility. That's what The International Class at the...
Descartes famously said (in Latin): “I think, therefore, I am.” Such is the modernist bias of mainstream psychology. The bias of Social Therapeutics and Performance Activism is a postmodern rewriting of Descartes: "We perform, therefore, we become.” This is the activity of a humanizing mass psychology and a new kind of social activism....
We humans—with our species exceptionalism, our arrogance, our smarts and our not so smarts, our bloated brains and shrinking hearts, our degenerating ranges of sight and sound, the cooling of our touch, and the freezing of our feelings—are in deep, deep trouble. It is a trouble of our own making....
Join me on May 2 or May 7 depending on the time that's convenient for you. A developmentalist is a person with whom you can create new possibilities. In this half-day workshop, participants will explore three features of a developmentalist’s practice and how you might build ‘stages’ for development in your practice...
Since 2016, I’ve been editor of a series of books—Studies in Play, Performance, Learning and Development—published by Palgrave Macmillan. I’m proud of the nine books I helped to get written and published. Every one of them has made important contributions within and across education, psychology, youth development and theatre/performance studies,...
These Words to Ponder are those of performance activist Hector Aristizabal, taken from a wonderful interview with him at Creative Art Space. To be creative is to participate consciously in the ongoing creation of the world. Creativity is not primarily about producing art. It is about entering into relationship with life...
If you're a reader of The Developmentalist, my "developmental" advice column, you know I'm a fan of writing letters. They are a particular way of organizing your relationship with the person you're writing to and with yourself. Writing a letter and never sending it can be just as good as...
I love Chris Hoff's The Radical Therapist podcast! I was a guest for the second time a few weeks ago, this time speaking about my book, A Developmentalist's Guide. Give a listen—to mine and others!...
Dear Developmentalist, My friend Annette and I really enjoy talking together. When we meet up, both of us are eager to share about what is going on in our lives, but we also enjoy listening and learning from the other person. Whenever one of us shares something, the other is quick...
