We are proud to announce the addition of Tian Dayton, MA, Ph.D., T.E.P to our team of Senior Fellows. A nationally renowned speaker, expert, and consultant in psychodrama, trauma, and addiction, Dr. Dayton will work closely with the staff at The Meadows to bring her unique skills and insights to the Meadows programs helping clients who struggle with addiction, emotional trauma, and related disorders.
Dr. Dayton has a Master’s degree in educational psychology and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology is a board-certified trainer in psychodrama and is a Licensed Creative Arts Therapist. Sean Walsh, CEO of The Meadows, says he’s looking forward to the ways in which Dr. Dayton will help to expand upon The Meadows already outstanding experiential treatment modalities. “Dr. Tian Dayton is well-known for her expertise in psychodrama and the knowledge and creativity to help people recover from trauma through better self-expression. We are so fortunate to have Dr. Dayton as part of our team of highly-respected and compassionate experts.”
About Tian Dayton
Dr. Dayton is the director of The New York Psychodrama Training Institute where she runs training groups in psychodrama, sociometry, and experiential group therapy. She served as Caron’s director of program development for eight years and Breathe’s for four. She was also a professor at NYU for eight years teaching psychodrama and currently sits on the Scientific Advisory Board for the National Association for Children of Alcoholics (NACoA).
Dr. Dayton is a fellow of the American Society of Psychodrama, Sociometry, and Group Psychotherapy (ASGPP), and is the winner of their scholar’s award and the President’s award. She has served as Editor in Chief of the Journal of Psychodrama, Sociometry and Group Psychotherapy for ten years and as an executive editor for eight, she sits on the professional standards committee. She is also the winner of The Mona Mansell Award and The Ackermann Black Award for her contributions to the field of addiction.
In a recent interview, Dr. Dayton said, “The Senior Fellows at the Meadows are some of the most influential thought leaders in the areas of trauma and addiction. I have followed the work of several of them throughout my career and integrated their thinking into my work as a psychodramatist who adapts the theory and method of psychodrama and sociometry into current experiential practices in the treatment of trauma and addiction. This has been my life’s work and I feel that it fits perfectly into what is being done at The Meadows. I am hoping that we will have the equivalent of a think tank for our field that can consolidate and set in motion some of the most healing, nourishing, and responsible practices available. I have long devoted myself to an orderly and theoretically sound approach to working experientially, drawing on the seminal work of psychodrama and sociometry developed by JL Moreno.”
She continued, “All too often there has been a kind of buckshot approach to the application of experiential methods in which clinicians have taken a lot of creative license in applying techniques rather than an integrated, considered approach. Even psychodrama itself needs to adapt to the specific needs of our population of addicts of all kinds and those who have been traumatized by living with addiction or mental illness. I would like to be part of a team that brings together its best thinking in treating these issues that are so very life draining so that we can really improve people’s lives and their confidence in themselves and their ability not only to live but to thrive.”
Dr. Dayton has been a guest expert on NBC, CNN, MSNBC, Montel, Rikki Lake, John Walsh, and Geraldo. She is the author of fifteen books including, Neuropsychodrama in the Treatment of Relational Trauma, The ACoA Trauma Syndrome: How Childhood Trauma Impacts Adult Relationships, Emotional Sobriety: From Relationship Trauma to Resilience and Balance, Trauma and Addiction: Ending the Cycle of Pain Through Emotional Literacy, Heartwounds : The Impact of Unresolved Trauma and Grief on Relationships, Forgiving and Moving On , The Living Stage: A Step by Step Guide to Psychodrama and Experiential Therapy, The Magic of Forgiveness. She is also a Huffington Post blogger and a Thrive Global blogger.
Her films and videos include The Process, A 73 Minute award-winning docudrama that uses Psychodrama to tell stories of addicts; Adult Children of Alcoholics, Trauma and The Body: A Psychodramatic Approach and Healing Childhood Abuse through Psychodrama. She is also a certified Montessori teacher.
For more information about Dr. Dayton, visit www.tiandayton.com.