Social Therapeutics

Back: Mayari Perez Arroyo , Mike Pickering, Bashiru Lasisi, Guillermo Terisotto, Francisco Estefogo, Laura Sonnino, Martha McCoy, Eva Brenner. Front:  Andre Liberali, Mieke Lippstreu, Oscar Lozoya, Drazen Horvatic, Annie Rose Stathes.  This past Saturday (June 15, 2019) the happy group pictured above graduated as the 15th International Class of the East Side Institute (joining 130...

I spent last week with 16 Japanese professors and graduate students who traveled to NYC for an immersion in social therapeutics, the psychology of becoming, and a first-hand experience with how these "tools-and-results" help people grow by performing our sociality and building community. We had a wonderful time together. By...

With deepening social and political crises worldwide, many who want to make a difference find that they need more. They search for new tools, methods, conceptions and approaches to move forward. Since 2004, the Institute’s flagship program, The International Class, has attracted over 100 passionate and creative scholars, researchers, clinicians and...

The International Class is the signature program of the East Side Institute. I'm so proud to have taught and coached over 100 activists, educators, counselors, theatre artists and scholars over the years, and played a part in their development as leaders in a new kind of social activism. Read what one...

I want to introduce you to a unique activist-scholar community that played an especially important role in my development. It's the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition (also known as LCHC or, simply, the Lab). Housed at the University of California San Diego since 1979, the Lab is a community of...

My Facebook feed this morning made me happy. Here’s why— That’s Marian Rich—long-time friend, colleague and member of the current  International Class of the East Side Institute—holding a copy of the new Second Edition of my book, Vygotsky at Work and Play. I’m excited for Marian and others to read it! Here’s...

THE 2017 SOCIAL THERAPEUTICS ONLINE PROGRAM SOCIAL THERAPEUTICS: A Performatory, Practical-Critical Approach to Human and Community Development and Learning with Lois Holzman and Special Guests February-May 2017 The Institute’s 14-week in-depth study of Fred Newman's and my approach to developing people and communities will focus, in 2017, on its core concepts and their points of intersection and...

I'm happy to report that the expanded second edition of my book, Vygotsky at Work and Play is just three weeks away from publication (11/17/16). To give you a preview, here's an excerpt from my Introduction to the second edition. In his thoughtful and very generous Foreword to the first edition...

Eric Maisel is conducting 100+ interviews on the future of mental health and posting them on his Psychology Today blog. Each week, he's summarizing them at Mad in America. Here's week 1's summary of The Future of Mental Health Interview Series And here's links to each interview Day 1: Bonnie Burstow on feminist psychotherapy and...