About Psychodrama in India

Psychodrama in India was started with a vision of developing robust psychodramatists across India who are skilled at various psychodrama production techniques and have the well-developed role cluster of a Psychodrama Director. The overarching aim of the Institute is to be a medium that helps the healing and transformational capabilities of the approach to reach people at different socio-economic strata of Indian society by developing a network of well-trained psychodramatists across different professions/applications.

Along with its sister institutes, PIM and PiA, PiI is affiliated with the Australian and Aotearoa (New Zealand) Board of Psychodrama for the assessment and certification of its trainees. Certified Psychodramatists from PiI are expected to maintain their registration as accredited practitioners of the Moreno Psychodrama Society (MPS) in Melbourne (For details visit www.moreno-psychodrama-society.com) through their membership with its Indian Chapter known as MPS (India).

The Birth of Psychodrama in India (PiI) Institute and the Moreno Psychodrama Society (India) Chapter

First Meeting with the Board in October 2018

The PiI and MPS (India) journey began when some of us from the Maanas Team visited Melbourne in October 2018 and shared with the AABP our desire to grow psychodrama within India. This desire had been ignited through attending annual workshops in India, conducted by Sue Daniel (Founder of AABP), and through these experiences we not only fell in love with psychodrama, but saw its endless possibilities for healing and the development of mutual positive relationships that have benefit across our society. Meetings and discussions happened over 2 days and many hours with the Board members hearing out the vision we had for Psychodrama, and then inviting us to set it out in action. They generously agreed to support this social enterprise and provide all kinds of training, guidance, and the necessary supervision for developing this great approach within India in a systematic manner. Through these discussions two bodies emerged. The first one was the MPS (India) which would be under the umbrella organisation MPS (see diagram 1 below) to carry out the larger goals of MPS within India. It also ensured that the Psychodramatists getting accredited from PiI would maintain their membership and to keep developing themselves both personally and professionally.

The second inception was PiI. This training organisation comesunder the supervision of PIM and Sue Daniel and is auspiced by the AABP. Sue is the primary consultant and trainer involved in building the training capabilities, ethics and standards of PiI following Morenian principals. PIM has also been guiding PiI in formulating its curriculum and is intimately involved with its design and delivery. Meenakshi Kirtane is the Director of PiI.

Diagram 1 : The Tripartite System made up of the Board, the Moreno Psychodrama Society and the Psychodrama Training Institutes, and showing the Indian Training Institute and its Mutual Relationship with all other entities within this structure.

As a result of the meeting with the Board, the Psychodrama in India (PiI) Institute and MPS (India) were invited to join the above tripartite structure and this alliance was formalised in October 2018.

The Journey of PiI so Far

In order that the wider population knows about Psychodrama and PiI’s vision of developing well trained psychodramatists, a formal launch was organised on January 22, 2019 in Ahmedabad. The launch was widely covered by the local and national press and well as media channels.

The Launch of PiI

The PiI Training Journey Since Inception

The first group of trainees in PiI started training from April 2019. It is a committed group of 10 trainees that met every month for full day sessions. This group consists of practising therapists. They started applying their understanding of psychodrama with their clients within the first few months of starting training under regular individual supervision in Ahmedabad. The entire group is also in a monthly group supervision relationship with Sue Daniel.

The first group of PiI that started training from April 2019

Pictures of our Group Training Sessions

All of the trainees significantly developed the roles required for the Psychodrama Auxiliary-Ego Level writing very touching and deep reflection pieces as a part of their Auxiliary-Ego Certification. All of them were awarded their Auxiliary Ego Level Certificates through PiI, by Sue Daniel on behalf of the AABP in January 2020. She personally awarded these certificates to them on January 16, 2020 and all of them are continuing their training for the Psychodrama Assistant-Directorship with the same amount of commitment and dedication.

The Psychodrama Auxiliary-Ego Certification Ceremony

PiI Training Program 2024

In order to further our work, we are now launching admissions for a 2nd group in Ahmedabad and a new group in Bangalore. In case you want to know more about our course, please download the brochure attached here. All applicants are invited to meet with a member of PiI for an interview, which may lead to enrolment in the course. PiI 2024 Training Brochure.

Please connect the following people for information:

  1. Meenakshi Kirtane E-mail:meenakshi.kirtane@maanastis.com Phone:+91 9686453818
  2. Mr. Mitul Kajaria E-mail:trainingatpii@gmail.com Phone:+91 8141919481