Courageous Actions Online Benefit Workshop

Exploring Allyship Where We Have Agency: Skills for Building Sociatry

Open to All

Co-Facilitators:  

Anna Schaum, LPC, TEP (she/her)

Bryn Ruggiero, CES, CADC (he/him)

Alex Kissilenko, LMSW (she/they/he)

Date: 

Wednesday, August 19, 2026

Time: 

6:30pm EST to 8:30pm EST

Price: 

Payment Based on Green Bottle Initiative*

Description:

According to J.L. Moreno, “The discovery that human society has an actual, dynamic, central structure underlying and determining all its peripheral and formal groupings may one day be considered as the cornerstone of all social science. This central structure – once it has been identified – is either found or discernible in every form of human society, from the most primitive to the most civilized: is in the genesis of every type of society. In addition, it exerts similar spheres of social action.” Moreover, “[t]he present human society is a preference system produced, to a considerable extent, by the sociodynamic effect.”

This online workshop aims to promote skill building through sociodrama action tools by providing mutual aid in the skill building of allyship where we have agency. Participants will use sociometric tools and techniques in small groups to leverage the healing power of connection. The focus of this workshop is on allyship as skill building against oppression, which requires expanding one’s awareness of the lived experiences of others in order to make conscious role shifts to reverse the “sociodynamic effect”.

Learning Objectives:

1. Define and understand the concept of the “sociodynamic effect” and how addressing this in small groups can have big societal impacts.

2. Identify and explore an allyship skill where we have agency and understand its impact on the sociodynamic effect.

3. Practice allyship through sociodrama action and group sociometry.

Alex Kissilenko, LCSW (she/they/he) is a psychotherapist and clinical supervisor at The Gender and Sexuality Therapy Center of New York, where they provide outpatient therapy to individuals and couples in the queer community. They have been training in psychodrama since 2022 and are pursuing CP credentialing this year (2026). Alex has been a member of the ASGPP since 2024 and briefly served on the ASGPP Membership Committee before transitioning to the ASGPP Sociatry and Social Justice Committee, where they now collaborate on initiatives to improve equity and inclusion in the community and beyond.

Alex is a Certified Yoga Teacher and Certified Health Coach, bringing these elements into her approach as an experiential practitioner overall. They also identify as a multidisciplinary artist whose work lives at the intersection of holistic healing/wellness, writing, film, and media. Currently, Alex is building The ATLAS Project (Atlas Therapy Live Action Studio), an extension of their private practice- The Atlas Center for Experiential Methods.

Her hope is to bring wider visibility and access to psychodrama and is committed to the ASGPP’s mission of developing creativity, spontaneity and encounter to enhance human relationships and transform society through psychodrama, sociometry, and group psychotherapy.

Anna Schaum is a licensed therapist, group facilitator, executive coach, and organizational consultant. She assists leaders and their teams through a systems lens on change, demonstrating actionable skills that leverage individual and group potential. Known to her clients as a “Team Whisperer,” Anna facilitates opposition into aligned direction, confusion into clarity, and isolation into belonging and community.

A former professional violist who achieved tremendous career success, Anna has honed uniquely perceptive listening skills alongside fluency in collaboration, gesture, and systems-based learning, all of which translate to the multidimensionality of her work.

Bryn Ruggiero, CES, CADC is a counselor, clinical supervisor, social work student, and co-founder of Avise Wellness Collective, an outpatient dual-diagnosis treatment center outside of Philadelphia, PA. Bryn’s diverse background of professional work spanning several industries including theatre, music, film production and advertising informs his unique clinical style.

His career as a counselor began in 2017 working within the inpatient addictions treatment field in south Florida, where his acute interest in the practice of group psychotherapy first took hold. Since then, he has worked as a counselor, public speaker, group facilitator, and clinical supervisor with a specialty in dual-diagnosis trauma-informed care. Bryn has been a member of the ASGPP since 2024, when he began psychodrama training towards the CP credential. Bryn continues to train and has recently joined the ASGPP’s Research Committee in the process of developing a psychodrama research initiative at his treatment center.

Bryn has also developed psychodrama workshops for the ASGPP’s Sociatry and Social Justice Committee and National Conference.

T U I T I O N  A N D  R E G I S T R A T I O N

Tuition is based on the Green Bottle Initiative, a social justice tool that acknowledges economic inequality. To identify your payment, notice where you fall on the sliding scale:

• Plan A. Overflowing bottle: I have more than sufficient resources for my life.
  • $100 with an additional donation of your choice*

• Plan B. Full bottle: I have sufficient resources for my life.
  • $100

• Plan C. Half bottle: I have limited resources at this time.
  • $50

• Plan D. Almost empty bottle: I do not have sufficient resources.
  • $10

Registration Opening Soon

*Donations above the $100 level are appreciated and will help us meet our funding goals. If you would like to make a donation of more than $100, please contact asgpp@asgpp.org.

*If cost is a barrier, we encourage you to discuss your current financial situation with Daisy Martinez-DiCarlo (Co-chair, ASGPP Sociatry and Social Justice Committee) so that we can create options to ensure that you have access to this workshop. Daisy’s email address is daisymartinezdicarlo@gmail.com