“Psychotherapy and Live Action Role-playing” by Elektra Diakolambrianou
Join us for our next lecture in the Transformative Play Initiative Event Series: “Beyond the Couch: Psychotherapy and Live Action Role-playing” by Elektra Diakolambrianou!
When: Feb 22, 2022, 7 – 8:30 PM Central European Time (CET)
Where: Online on Zoom
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Description:
The transformative potential of live action role-playing allows players to develop holistically (on a physical, mental, emotional, creative, and social level), even when participating in games just for fun. Are the processes and elements at play different, however, when personal development happens informally in a recreational larp, as to when a larp is formally designed for psychotherapeutic purposes? What makes larp a valid and effective methodological tool in the hands of a mental health professional? In this lecture we will attempt to answer these questions by exploring characters and stories in larp as psychotherapeutic material, identifying the connections between larp and some of its most adjacent psychotherapeutic methodologies, and finally discussing how psychotherapy techniques can be used to design and use larps as tools in psychotherapy.
Presenter bio:
Elektra Diakolambrianou is a Greek psychologist and researcher with post-graduate studies in person-centred psychotherapy, art therapy, and social psychology. She works as a psychotherapist; a lecturer at the Institution for Counseling and Psychological Studies in Athens; as well as an associate counselor and researcher at NGOs that work with refugees, migrants, and ex-convicts. Her journey in larp began in 2017, soon leading her to explore the psychotherapeutic, educational, and political dimensions of larp. Since 2019, she has been a member and co-founder of LARPifiers, a Greek-based larp designer non-profit company, where she works as a larp designer, organizer, and project manager.
This series is hosted by the Games & Society Lab at the Department of Game Design, Uppsala University Campus Gotland. The series explores the use of analog role-playing games as vehicles for lasting personal and social change.
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Graphic design by Liliia Chorna.