Kostas Mavrakakis

Country: Greece

Organization: Private practice

Short CV

Kostas Mavrakakis is a mental health counsellor following the person-centred approach and an EMDR practitioner. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from The Open University and a Master’s degree in Person-Centred Counselling from the University of Strathclyde. He also holds a Master’s degree in Cultural and Media Studies from The Open University. He has also trained in Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples (EFT) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) – EMDR Hellas.

He has been working as a counsellor for over 10 years with adults individually and in groups either as a facilitator (Support groups for adults with ADHD) or as an instructor in the four-level seminar of Creative Writing and Self-Knowledge he has run with his colleague Katerina Powell since 2018. He is an active member of the Hellenic Association for Person-Centred & Experiential Approach (HAPCEA) and serves as a member of its Continuing Education Committee.

Workshop

(together with: Agapitos Chrysochoos & Katerina Powell)

Title: The synthesis of polyphony through creative writing

The aim of the workshop is for participants to experience polyphony from different perspectives:

First, from the perspective of their own ‘inner’ world of thoughts and feelings or different configurations, by coming into contact with the ‘voice’ that seeks expression at that moment within themselves. Then from the perspective of the ‘outer’ world by experiencing the voice that arises from each individual participant of the workshop at that given moment creating the unique dynamic of that particular group. We will begin the workshop with a creative writing exercise that will be completed by each participant individually and will focus on the ‘here and now’ of each person. This will give the space to each participant to come into contact, express and give a ‘voice’ to an aspect of themselves through a creative means.

For the second part of the workshop, we will carry out a creative writing exercise involving the whole group. This exercise will be based on what the participants have written in the first part of the workshop. This is an interactive exercise whereby the individual ‘voice’ of each participant will become a part of a collective ‘voice’. This will enable the participants to experience both the polyphony of the group’s different ‘voices’ and expressions, whilst at the same time experiencing the outcome that arises when their individual ‘voices’ are synthesized and combined with all the ‘voices’ of the group. The final part of the workshop will give space for group discussion so that the participants can share their experience and thoughts about the synthesis of polyphony that emerged from the two different creative writing exercises.