This event is a creative output from a long form conversation between a therapist Brigid and therapee Ernst... a (DvT) Developmental Transformations facilitator and a Relateful facilitator, two people nerding out in developmental play, meeting in the wild fields beyond the fences of definitions and the categorisation of what human-ing is, we are an ish-ness, queerer than the sum ourselves and different than the thing we are told we are... human-ish,... So, together this juicy collaboration is brewing, and infiltrating our Relateful world here in Gothenburg... an opportunity to expand this long form conversation on a community level so we all might taking part. 

And she's coming to our our Northern lands to go see Sigur Ros... why not stop by and play with us?

When do we play?
Thursday 27th November
1830-2130

and where....?
We have booked a small hall near Ostra Sjukhuset. 
Hagforsgatan 4, 416 75 Göteborg.  
I think you walk around the back of a thai restaurant and there we will be.
If there is any more info needed I'll reach out to those who have booked. 
If any trouble, take my number +46729404639

How much?
300kr Swished to Andrew Ernst Beyerle on the above number
it says free, but it just helps me avoid taxes and you to pay VAT right now. wink ;)

What the hell are we doing and why?
Blending DvT (Developmental Transformations) and Relatefulness, because it seems not only a cool match, but perhaps might give birth to new ideas, identities and ideals as we play on the edges. We all might learn some cool stuff too. 

Some long creative and possibility idea bending text from Lordess smarty-pants and therapist-facilitator-ish of DvT play Brigid Wells

TL;DR: Remember the joy of playing pretend as a kid, battling space aliens or saving the day? Developmental Transformations (DvT) brings that playful spirit back—this time, to help you tackle real-life messiness. It’s a practice where we face life’s chaos by goofing around in a safe, supportive space. You’ll laugh, push boundaries, and maybe even use a cat-poo-flamethrower (seriously) as you explore emotions and shake off old, stuck patterns. DvT helps you find freedom, resilience, and a new kind of grown-up play that’s way more fun than just “adulting.”

Do you remember being a kid and playing in an imagined environment, where you might have occupied the role of 'teacher' or 'good / bad parent'; 'safari guide'; or space adventurer?... playing within a fantasy, for HOURS!?... totally engaged and taking any contextual problems in your stride - sick monkeys / alien attacks / failing jet engines / plane crashes / vengeful ninja robots...?

What happens to that capacity to play with difficulty; with an other? Accepting and rejecting their suggestions through the unspoken laws of pretend?

Do we 'grow up'? If we're lucky, perhaps we have places where we can express our creativity, 'riff' off other's humour; perhaps we engage with children in their playfulness; perhaps there is 'permission' in different adult environments, to be at Play, still; and perhaps we might be lucky enough to have some people in our lives, who are playful; making fun; play on words; silly voices / enrolling as characters in fleeting moments; messing about; 'shit-talking' (Jamaican); having a craic (Irish); taking the piss (British)... we might get to playfully express our healthy protest / life force / aggression (not violence), so it doesn't 'explode' recklessly; and we don't have to suppress it and be passive-aggressive, or 'depress' it, and become depressed / flattened / fatigued... or worse... disengaged and dissociated.

(DvT) Developmental Transformations is a practice; it allows us to play (again), and expand our tolerance for - and even acceptance of - the ugly, painful, messy, disappointing, poopy pants, that the instability, and uncontrollable elements that life throws up. It is defined as 'continuously transforming, embodied encounters, in the PlaySpace'...

The 'PlaySpace' is formed through a mutual agreement between Playor and Player; we agree that there will be 'restraint against harm', that everything is Pretend; that no bodily fluids, will be exchanged; and that power is reversible - i.e. the Player can bring as much energy, direction, autonomy, leadership, as they feel the urge to bring... Real feelings will arise, and that's learning / information, for us. The facilitator's role is to be the 'Play object' and enact elements that offer the Players' opportunities to engage more fully. They offer cues that we are 'at play' - showing discrepant signs that this is a representation, and pretend; which paradoxically creates more space to connect more fully with our realities, and have more distance from them... paradoxically, playing with powerlessness, we can discover a greater sense of agency, in our lives, replacing avoidance and denial.

Through having no agenda - other than to be at play - we open ourselves up to freely associate in mind, body and interpersonal interplay... which often gives rise to encountering ourselves, patterns, freedom, intimacy, delight, awe, wonder. We are bodies in space and the positions, expressions, suppressions, proximity of one another evokes information and preference, that is encoded in our bodies, that has yet to find a form. Once a form is given - through embodying the impulse - it can be related with; and our knowing of this 'element' moves to more consciousness... Frozen energies can be thawed out; racing energies can be slowed down... creating the possibility for more 'range' of expression... less reliance on our repetitions to create the illusion of stability.

The spontaneous quality of allowing impulses to 'move' us, can be speedy; sometimes the delight of (representing) the destruction of 'mother' or (representing) swimming in slime / pain / chocolate / money... takes us to an image that we realise, a little too late, is repulsive or terrifying to us... and we meet our 'unplayable' stuff... luckily, we have some tools: run away! pretend it's not really there! hide! kick it in the shins, and then run away! Transform it into something that feels less threatening... Somehow, we discover that the more we avoid, the more power this thing has, and that encountering it more playfully becomes kind of delightful - especially with the serious and disciplined application of a cat-poo-flame-thrower (invented by my 63 year old client, who 'torched' her 'neighbour's washing line and clean laundry').

DvT is an attitude and a practice regarding experience, based on playing with the discrepancy between experience and the representation of experience, which aims to lower one’s fear of the instability that this discrepancy generates. DvT is applied in therapy, personal growth, education, performance, advocacy, and recreation, or it can be practiced outside of any of these social frames.

If we are really fortunate, we find others who are ready and willing to meet us there...

Theory from many frameworks have been integrated into DvT; psychodynamic, attachment theory, IFS, Buddhism, developmental trauma healing / NARM etc... if psychoanalysis is located more in the tragedy of life, DvT is more in the realm of comedy... It does not prescribe touch, but touch can be, and very often is, (very) present.  This is because in life, we are physical beings, and we touch; and developing our capacity for physical connection, boundaries and consent creates more flow and aliveness... .  These can provide opportunities to embody more self-trust and trust of others; hyper-vigilance can ease; vitality and exuberance can be released. Moments of deep connection and intimacy can emerge; and rigid narratives can be disrupted, allowing for more oxygen to some of our woundings.

Playing with topics that are unassimilated into our experience is quite another matter. Instead, these issues are suppressed, ignored, or pathologized. Yet, play is an act that includes accommodation, assimilation, internalization and transformation. Playing with initially unplayable ideas, wishes, and actions helps us feel they have become less of a threat to our integrity and existence. Playing with unplayable issues helps us to understand them more fully, control them more flexibly, and feel less overwhelmed by them. Play confronts the ramifications of our behaviors without danger. Through play we learn restraint.

I'm aware I've made many references to the delight and freedom of children's play and child-like images... this might be because play, in my childhood was a place, where I felt like power was reclaimed and connection was 'safe-enough'... and because immersive engagement feels spacious with even the most wounded parts within myself and my clients... Playing with my therapist, my clients, group members, has helped to deconstruct restrictive patterns of self-protection, and limitations to aliveness... encountering with others has a subtle sophistication that takes a great deal of practice and commitment to exploring one's own PlaySpace, so that we don't contaminate our client's process with our own stuff. Supervision is required, as is personal therapy, when we train to become facilitators.

We treat all transference and counter-transference with great compassion... these are welcomed as information for us, rather than 'forms of resistance'.

There is a juicy, generous world wide community of DvT'ers... conferences happen once every 2 years; intensive retreats / 'Summer schools' happen somewhere in Europe and in the USA, every year. 2025 Europe intensive is in the UK, in the Summer.

We do not 'ascend' into greatness... we descend into an appreciative acceptance of all that we are and all that we are not... we are all pretty fucked up some times / we have been pretty fucked up... this practice is perhaps about un-fucking ourselves... with a lot of love.

ahhh.... I love DvT so much.

Brigid Wells

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