About AANZPA Victoria
Our Committee
The purpose of the AANZPA Committee is to promote spontaneity in the Members of the Association and through them the spontaneity, creativity and co-creation of progressive relationships that strengthen the health and well-being of society in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand and in our relationships with those in other countries.
Members
First established in 1980, AANZPA now has about 90 Ordinary and Distinguished members who are Certificated Psychodramatist, Sociodramatists, Sociometrists or Role-Trainers. 25 of these members are further certificated as Trainer, Educator and Practitioners (TEPs) or Educator Practitioners. A further 200 members are Associate Members. Members are mainly from Australia or Aotearoa New Zealand, with some in Japan, USA, UK or Europe
AANZPA is as an incorporated not-for-profit association in South Australia and in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Kate Cooke
President
Kate is a psychodramatist, and works in their private practice with individuals and groups, many from the LGBTIQA+ community, and from the broader community. As a circus performer, they like to climb the tissu, and rope, and be a clown from time to time.
Elspeth Lamb
Secretary
Manuela Salz
Treasurer
Manuela is a Psychodrama Trainee and Mental Health Support Worker currently living and working in Melbourne, Australia. She enjoys working with individuals experiencing significant mental health concerns. Manuela has a passion to listen and be a companion in peoples lives, and finds pleasure in traveling, the mountains in NZ and the beach, sharing life with her closest loved ones, friends and her cat.
Jean Mehrtens
Member
Jean is a psychodramatist and psychiatric nurse, particularly interested in clinical supervision. She is passionate about acting on climate change in collaboration with First Nations, and sees the two “projects” as vitally linked. Jean enjoys making things with her hands – gardens, socks, food … As a dual citizen Jean values the ways AANZPA lives in Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia.
The Vision
Our vision is of people all over the world expressing themselves relevantly in the ordinary here and now situations in which they live and work. This expression may be in silence, in learning, in building, in negotiating, in teaching, or in play. It is a responsive and creative expression that brings joy to the human spirit that uplifts the soul that makes us feel part of the universe again.