The Social Atom as a Sentence Mitigation Tool

Join esteemed Michigan criminal defense attorney Patrick Barone and renowned Arizona sentence mitigation expert Doug Passon for an immersive two-day workshop exploring innovative approaches to sentence mitigation in criminal law cases.

In this dynamic workshop, participants will learn to leverage the powerful combination of the social atom model from psychodrama and the ABT (And, But, Therefore) narrative template, as outlined in Doug Passon's groundbreaking book "."

The social atom model provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the social dynamics surrounding an individual, while the ABT narrative template offers a structured approach to crafting compelling and persuasive sentencing narratives.

Through interactive exercises, case studies, and discussions, attendees will gain hands-on experience and actionable strategies to enhance their advocacy skills and achieve better outcomes for their clients.

1. Integrated Approach to Advocacy: Learn how to seamlessly integrate the social atom model and the ABT narrative template into your advocacy toolkit, enabling you to develop comprehensive and persuasive sentencing narratives.
2. Narrative Crafting Mastery: Explore the principles of narrative structure and storytelling techniques, and discover how to apply the ABT template to construct compelling narratives that resonate with judges, juries, and other stakeholders.
3. Targeted Mitigation Strategies: Utilize the insights gained from the social atom model to identify and highlight relevant mitigating factors, and learn how to strategically incorporate them into your sentencing narratives for maximum impact.
4. Effective Communication Skills: Develop communication strategies for effectively conveying the complexities of your clients' lives within the framework of the ABT narrative template, fostering greater understanding and empathy among decision-makers.
5. Ethical Considerations and Professional Growth: Examine the ethical implications of narrative advocacy and gain insights into professional development opportunities for honing your skills in crafting persuasive sentencing narratives.

Psychodrama is an action method of psychotherapy that has long been viewed as a highly effective tool for trial preparation and presentation. But did you know that psychodrama is also an incredible tool for preparing lawyers, clients, and witnesses for SENTENCING? Therefore, come learn with us how to use this incredible tool to create more compelling plea negotiation and sentence mitigation narratives for your clients.

Hosted by Patrick Barone of the Michigan Psychodrama Center, in conjunction with ’s Doug Passon, participants in this highly interactive workshop, will be introduced to the various building blocks of psychodrama, which may include scene setting, doubling, role reversal, concretization, and encounter.

In this "learn by doing" 12-hour CLE program, Patrick imparts the basics of psychodrama and the social atom. Doug assimilates this information, explains and demonstrates how we use the social atom to develop compelling sentence mitigation narratives that allow the decision makers (prosecutors and judges) to reach a deeper understanding of how our clients got in trouble and what they have done or will do to achieve redemption. This workshop designed to help you make sure your client's story is well told, and to thereby empower decision makers to arrive at more favorable and just results.

The social atom will be utilized as a tool for exploring your client’s story and bringing it to life using the modalities of psychodrama. The social atom is an innovative tool originally developed by Dr. J. L. Moreno, the inventor of psychodrama. It is a simple to use diagnostic map of a person's social connections. The social atom can be creatively explored to delve into your client's emotional life and biographical history.

As a workshop participant you will take with you a good basic understanding of theories and modalities of psychodrama and the social atom, which is an easy-to-use sociometric tool that you can immediately utilize to achieve better results for your clients.

While most legal workshops emphasize how psychodrama can be used for improved trial preparation and presentation, this workshop will emphasize how to use these tools in plea negotiations and sentencing.

Objective One – Workshop participants will gain a basic understanding of how the tools and interventions of psychodrama can be creatively utilized in the practice of law.

Objective Two – Workshop participants will leave the workshop with an easy-to-use tool that will allow them to immediately produce better sentencing results for their clients.

Objective Three – Workshops participants will personally experience the transformative power of psychodrama.

Starting Friday, October 19th, the workshop will begin with 3 hours of sociometry, which is an essential trial skill for lawyer. As a homework assignment each student will prepare their own social atom. The following day seminar participants will learn how to utilize the social atom as a tool to deeply discovery their client's life stories, and then how to use this information to develop a plea and sentence mitigation narrative.

The seminar will take place in Birmingham, Michigan. There will be a lunch break on day two allowing participants to dine at one of the many nearby excellent restaurants. Snacks and light refreshments will be served.

Friday, October 18th, 2024: 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Saturday, October 19th, 2024: 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

$199.00 plus a small processing fee (collected by and for Eventbrite).

Arizona CLE as well as ABE psychodrama training hours will be available for participants upon request.

Don't miss this opportunity to revolutionize your approach to sentence mitigation and elevate your advocacy skills with the innovative techniques explored in this engaging workshop. Join us for two days of immersive learning and practical skill-building, and take the next step towards achieving justice for your clients.

Contact the Michigan Psychodrama Center, Patrick Barone or Doug Passon for more information.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Barone Defense Firm, 280 N. Old Woodward Ave., Birmingham, United States