BUDDHIST PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHODRAMA CERTIFICATION PROGRAM
©TELE'DRAMA
Directed be Jaye Moyer, LCSW, TEP, CTP-2 & Daniela Simmons, PhD, TEP

An advanced professional certification program designed for individuals with prior training or experience in psychodrama, sociodrama, sociometry, or other action methods. This program supports practitioners in deepening and expanding their competency by integrating mindfulness practices and core teachings of Buddhist psychology into their work with individuals, groups, and communities.This 10-session experiential training equips professionals with practical tools for applying mindful role exploration, relational mapping, and action-based interventions with clients, while also supporting their own personal insight and professional embodiment of these methods.

Buddhist Psychology as a Resource for Experiential Therapists and Psychodramatists

Buddhist psychology offers a rich and complementary resource for experiential practitioners. Rooted in direct experience, embodied presence, and the fluidity of identity, its teachings align naturally with action methods that explore roles, relational dynamics, and the here-and-now. Core practices such as mindfulness support a moment-to-moment, non-judgmental, and non-self-referential posture of caring attention—encouraging therapists to relate to each moment with as much clarity, compassion, and equanimity as is available. Whether in warm-up, enactment, or integration, these principles foster emotional steadiness, relational attunement, and ethical awareness. This program invites practitioners to explore Buddhist psychology not as a doctrine, but as a living, experiential framework that gently deepens presence and enriches the therapeutic encounter.  

Who Should Attend: This training is intended for professionals with foundational experience in action methods, including:

• Certified or trainee psychodramatists, sociodramatists, and sociometrists
• Mental health professionals (therapists, social workers, counselors, psychologists)
• Coaches, educators, group facilitators, and spiritual care providers using experiential techniques
• Mindfulness teachers seeking to integrate action methods into therapeutic or educational settings

Module 1: Orientation & Intention – Setting the Path
Themes: Suffering (dukkha), Intention, Group Safety
Experiential: Sociometric introductions, group agreements, warm-up on roles we bring to spiritual/therapeutic space

• Establish psychological safety within the group, creating a space for mutual trust and respect through clear group agreements.
• Explore the power of intention-setting as a foundational ethical compass, emphasizing its role in individual and collective healing.

Educational Goals:

• Understand the core philosophical concepts of Buddhist psychology, especially in relation to suffering (dukkha)

Module 2: The Four Noble Truths in Action
Themes: Understanding and enacting suffering, craving, release, and path
Experiential: Psychodramatic enactments of personal suffering and transformation; sociometric mapping of where participants stand in relation to each Noble Truth
Educational Goals:

• Describe the Four Noble Truths and their relevance to mental and relational health
• Enact personal narratives that reflect clinging and release
• Identify key elements of the Eightfold Path as guides for action

Module 3: The Worldly Winds – What Moves Us?
Themes: The 8 worldly winds (Gain/Loss, Praise/Blame, Pleasure and Pain, Fame and Disrepute)
Experiential: Role reversal and action scenes with the "winds"; sociometry on which winds destabilize the group most
Educational Goals:

• Identify the 8 worldly winds and their psychological impact on both individual and group dynamics.
• Experience how we are pushed/pulled by external feedback, and learn to recognize the impact of external validation (or its lack) on our sense of self-worth and stability.
• Strengthen inner stability through role training, including exercises like the "Inner Anchor," helping develop resilience and equanimity.

Module 4: Ethical Foundations – Living the Precepts
Themes: The Five Precepts, embodied ethics orienting in the direction of well-being and non-harm
Experiential: Sociodramatic vignettes of ethical tension; role work with the Ethical Self
Educational Goals:

• Define and interpret the Five Precepts in contemporary contexts
• Recognize internal and interpersonal conflicts rooted in ethics
• Practice moral reflection through action and dialogue

Module 5: Inner Roles – Exploring Identity and Voice
Themes: Role theory, internalized roles (Inner Critic, Compassionate Witness)
Experiential: Psychodramatic interviews and role work
Educational Goals:

• Identify common inner roles that shape self-perception
• Deepen the Double
• Practice role reversal and integration with mindfulness
• Understand role theory within psychodrama through the lens of Buddhist psychology

Module 6: Sociometry & the Relational Field
Themes: Attachment, belonging, and sangha dynamics
Experiential: Working with a Benefactor Practice
Educational Goals:

• Use sociometry to map emotional and relational dynamics
• Reflect on attachment patterns in group participation
• Foster connection utilizing benefactor meditation and action exploration

Module 7: Cultivating the Heart – Introduction to the Brahma Viharas
The Brahma Viharas are four qualities of heart that promote emotional well-being and compassionate living:

1. Loving-Kindness (Metta)
2. Compassion (Karuna)
3. Sympathetic Joy (Mudita)
4. Equanimity (Upekkha)

Educational Goals:

• Cultivate Loving-Kindness and Compassion (Metta and Karuna) using psychodramatic techniques as tools for emotional stability and group cohesion

Module 8: Joy & Mudita – Cultivating Inner Resource
Themes: Joy as an Inner Strength
Experiential: What is our relationship with joy? How do we nurture and cultivate joy? Enactment of joyful memory/resource; group witnessing and resonance
Educational Goals:

• Distinguish different kinds of joy in Buddhist psychology
• Use psychodramatic action to access internal joy states
• Strengthen the capacity to celebrate others' success (mudita)

Module 9: Release & Ritual – Letting Go, Letting Be
Themes: Impermanence (anicca), grief, forgiveness, symbolic release
Experiential: Creative ritual, symbolic enactment, shared letting-go ceremony
Educational Goals:

• Recognize impermanence in both inner and outer life
• Practice emotional integration through symbolic and dramatic ritual
• Reflect on the healing power of embodied forgiveness

Module 10: The Future Self & Closing Circle
Themes: Intention, embodiment of change, closure
Experiential: Psychodramatic future projection, role expansion, group sharing
Educational Goals:

• Identify and embody a "Future Self" aligned with internal wisdom
• Reflect on personal and relational transformation across the series
• Participate in closing ritual to honor group process and shared growth

The course offers 20 hours of online psychodrama training that count toward certification through the American Board of Examiners (ABE) and the International Society for Experiential Professionals (ISEP).