THE COVID MONTHS| SIMULTANEOUs translation by Peter levine C.t.a.

Peter Levine (in Fairisle Jumper) with Jennie McNamra and Russian Colleagues

More than twenty years ago, as a Trainee CTA at The Northern Guild,  I was invited by Jennie McNamara to join a small volunteer team to go to Russia twice a year for five years, to provide group therapy to psychotherapy trainees in the TA training programme that Jennie was sponsoring and organising. This was the first such programme to be established, and  therefore there were  no  qualified practitioners to provide trainees with the therapy element they needed. We were to provide it via running groups for four days every six months.

I was drawn to this, not only by the opportunity to be involved on the ground floor in getting TA psychotherapy into a country that desperately needed it, but also because of a strong family connection to Russia. 

My father was a Russian Jew, and his parents came originally from St.Petersburg. His father Eugen Leviné was a Communist revolutionary, closely involved in the Russian Revolution and the establishment of the USSR, who was then sent to Germany to organise the spread of Communism there. He was one of the Spartacists  along with Rosa Luxemberg, and then became involved with the setting up of the first Soviet Republic in Munich, which he led for a few heady months. The German Government called in mercenary troops to overthrow the Communists, and my grandfather was arrested, tried and shot. Eugen became a hero of the revolution, and his wife and son, (my father who was only three when his father was executed) were feted in Moscow for a number of years, before eventually  moving back to Germany.

I was excited to have the opportunity to visit Russia for the first time and make some connections to my own family history that had lain dormant until now, as well as assisting in the development of psychotherapy in Russia. I had no real idea of what to expect and was open to actual experience however it was to unfold!

When we arrived in Moscow for the first time, my first strong impression was of being in a very familiar place which echoed my half-forgotten memories of London in the postwar years : grey monolithic buildings, heavy traffic and pollution, noise, and a sense of hugeness with streets seeming to stretch out for ever. Not surprising really, as it was city of twelve million people and over one hundred miles across - in fact twice as big as London! When we went to our accommodation, we found ourselves in flats vacated for us to use by supporters of the training initiative; this was characteristic of the generosity and hospitality which defined our Russian hosts. We were struck by how everything was clean and tidy, and utilitarian. Nothing was thrown away, and piled up boxes full personal and practical items were stacked up the walls everywhere, in case the contents were needed again at some time, when something broke/wore out and had to be fixed. Here was a culture of make do and mend, with a strong sense of self-reliance.. Following perestroika, the shops had begun to have more food and goods, but of limited range and quantity from which we were able to make a good breakfast each morning!

There was clearly still a lot of poverty and basic living standards, within the growing capitalist economy, evidenced by people standing in the main shopping streets with trays of personal valuables, crockery, metalware etc, which they were trying to sell to passers by ( particularly foreign tourists ). Some of them were doctors/teachers/ scientists who had not been paid for many months in the collapse of the centralised state - quite shocking.

At the interpersonal level people were mostly very warm, direct  and contactful, with no fear of voicing their thoughts, questions and concerns - engaging with us without preamble or British politeness, but respectfully nonetheless. This reminded me of my Russian grandmother who would take no prisoners in her quest for information, power and influence, and expected me to stand up to her, which I learnt to do by the age of six years. I felt largely at home with Muscovites, and ready and able to engage. They were in my face but because of my background it felt normal, so I could interact without prevarication and anxiety, which was very useful when it came to the group therapy…………!!

The Russian trainees were divided into two groups of about ten people, and two therapists were assigned to each, so one could transact with group members whilst the other watched over the process. The therapists swapped roles as appropriate,  allowing each to undertake  both roles, and be experienced as offering therapy by all group members. Jennie gave supervision to both sets of therapists between sessions and at the end of the day, where we were able to reflect on our process, thus learning from our successes and failures/mistakes and to plan interventions, including agreeing on which TA models might be helpful to the group.

I was partnered by fellow therapist Pat Garrett, and we were expecting that the beginning would be slow and difficult from our experience of group work in the UK, where often people do not want to expose themselves in the beginning and getting someone to begin could be like drawing teeth………….well, not here!  After introductions and confidentiality contracting, we tentatively asked if anyone wanted to work, and EVERYONE put their hands up and shouted “ Da” - we never had a passive or ‘sleepy’ group session thereafter, as the trainee therapists were so keen to get their therapy while they could. We were able to agree an order of play from the outset of each session.

We were assigned two translators who worked together alternately for fifteen minutes at a time so as not to get too fatigued, so every transaction/intervention/ question/ comment had to be translated, either into English or Russian as appropriate, and this gave us therapists time to think and also the group members similarly. This meant we all learnt not to waste words and to stay focussed in our interactions. The translators were English students from Moscow University, and struggled valiantly to understand the jargon of TA therapy - they were often assisted by other group members, some of whom spoke more colloquial English!! The group members were not afraid of their feelings, and were very ready to express emotional congruence with the content of what they presented or explored.  This made the atmosphere in the group very alive and labile at times.

Pat and I were impacted by many of the themes emerging from the work  as there was so much historical family trauma being held by most of the group members, and the consequent Script issues interwoven with multiple PTSDs, revealing such a huge previously unmet need for therapy and support. The group setting proved to be a great benefit in that members could witness and respond to each individual piece of work, and of course, form strong bonds as they all learned from each other.

Our supervision with Jennie often focussed on how we could stay authentic and at the same time safely contain the maelstrom of needs, feelings, and memories that were being unleashed. We were very aware that two groups twice a year while clearly better than no therapy, was not enough to open up issues that would need much more input than could be provided within our structure - being open with the group about the limitations of what we could offer, became the way forward.

Another thing I remember vividly is that many of them were professional people: doctors, lawyers, architects, nurses, teachers etc, and as such they were avid students of theory in their training, which led to them asking highly sophisticated questions about some abstruse aspect of TA which Pat and I could not answer! This was humbling and useful; we could truthfully display the limits to our own learning, whilst encouraging the questioner to explore the personal issue behind their enquiry, and gain some insight through this. I am sure I learnt as much as the group did about my process and needs! I was reminded of a joke my father used to tell me about the rabbi who announced “if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans”.

Outside of the groupwork, we were able to explore parts of Moscow, and use the Metro, which was extraordinary, as the stations had been built as underground art museums to demonstrate the power of the Soviet Union, and were full of elaborate and ornate pictures, sculptures and architecture in the social realism style so popular after the revolution. It was breathtaking to go into any station and see so much culture around rail tracks, really quite inspiring!

Another of many memories is going to the Arbat - a very old street market in the centre of Moscow, and being recognised as a tourist immediately so the prices were tripled - we had to be very firm and haggle the price down for anything we wanted eg a Matroishka doll, amber necklace, etc - it was a power struggle that I could only manage by  remembering my grandmother and becoming her!

We also went on trips to palaces, churches and monasteries that were all stunning in one way or another, and I recall being in one very old church during the service where the Russian Orthodox singing tore at my heart with its’ intensity and passion. Congregants would come into the church and some would  fall to their knees with tears streaming down their faces;  the open access to feelings reminding me of what I was experiencing in the group therapy sessions, the power of transformational experiences, both within and without the religious paradigm.

Another memory is of being there in the winter when temperatures could be as low as minus 25 degrees, so your breath would freeze as you expelled it, and fall to the ground as ice. Russians are very used to this, but we were not, and could not put on enough clothes to keep warm outside, especially as the buildings we were in were very warm - very exciting nonetheless.

Taxis - there were two kinds: official and far too expensive, and ordinary Ladas driving around looking for people like us, so you would hail one, say where you wanted to go, haggle the price down to half that asked, and then get taken to your destination. Best not to look out as there are eight lane highways right through Moscow, with no rules that I ever observed …..! A traffic jam could be so big that you could sit in it for hours, and it was quicker to walk even if that entailed a walk of several miles.

As you can hear, I loved being in Moscow, with all the chaos and discomfort.  It was so enriching being with the people, who are my ancestors and fellow inhabitants of our beloved planet, with so much love and intelligence.

I was delighted to get the chance to work with the trainee therapists and be part of creating the first tranche of TA Therapists in Moscow, which was so needed. My heart and soul were deeply affected by the experience, and much nourished by this reconnection with such big part of my origins.