A group of nine men and women from all walks of life gathered in an isolated farm house amid the rolling hills of eastern Maryland to do, what was for them, the unthinkable. Under the care of three seasoned therapists, they came to re-enact and re-experience the heartrending pain and anguish of profoundly damaging events in their lives – serious family dysfunction, that over the course of many years has driven each them to the problems of addiction, promiscuity, co-dependency, isolation and fear, and the struggle to find, give and accept love. Through the remarkable use of a therapeutic technique called psychodrama or sculpting, a powerful, improvised, experiential process that moves the participant to confront the perpetrators and abusers of the past, we watch as each group member, in his or her own way, re-lives the most terrible moments of their past. By confronting their own personal demons, each individual participant begins to breakthrough their personal suffering and take their first steps down the long, hard road to healing.Our 6-part documentary series, BREAKTHROUGH, is the first cinema verite project to be afforded access to this unique 6-day psycho-dramatic workshop, filming it in its entirety, as it happens. The workshop, which itself is called Breakthrough at Harmony Farm, was chosen by the filmmakers for its unique approach to healing from family trauma: dramatic, powerful, brutally honest and, ultimately, profoundly inspiring.
What exactly is the definition of “family trauma?” How extreme does dysfunction have to be to have a lasting and crippling effect? Are there really any of us who live within well-adjusted families and, if so, can we be truly free of relationship damage in our lives? Do the consequences of familial abuse, neglect or simple indifference ever disappear? If we can never hope to change the past, how can we expect to change the future? These questions and more are raised by the documentary, and answered, but only in part, by the emotionally charged work of the Breakthrough participants.
Description of the Film
In shooting BREAKTHROUGH, the filmmakers gained unprecedented access to everything that occurred during the 6-day Breakthrough retreat – grief groups, gender specific groups, family sculpture psycho-dramas, peer groups, etc. in addition to mealtime, playtime, leisure time and even bedtime. In a successful attempt to record not just the drama of therapy, but to afford us deeper insight into the personalities of the participants, the changes that developed for them over the week and the relationships they form with each other, the filmmakers had camera’s rolling virtually 16 hours a day. In addition, a number of one-on-one interviews were conducted with each participant and with each therapist during the week. This allowed us to fill in the gaps and help get inside the heads of both participants and therapists as they work with each other and begin the process of change.
The three therapists involved in Breakthrough (led by the program’s originator, Ann Smith) create an environment of trust and support that allows remarkable therapeutic work to take place. Only by rapidly developing a safe and cohesive family, made up of people who have never met before, are the therapists able to encourage each member to publicly face the trauma of past events. Each is experienced as a personal therapist and psychodrama leader. And each has personally (and frequently) undergone the emotional and often gut-wrenching experience of dealing with her or his own personal family dysfunction in experiential therapy.
Ann Smith, MS, LPC, LMFT, NCC: Since 1974, Ann Smith has dedicated her career to helping individuals and families seeking a healthier way of life. Her early years of work with chemical dependency led her to the Caron Foundation where she developed the first inpatient program for adult children from dysfunctional families in 1984. In her 8 years with Caron and subsequent work at Harmony Farm, 17,000 people have benefited from her groundbreaking work with experiential therapy. Her knowledge of individual and family dynamics is documented in her two published books: Grandchildren of Alcoholics; Another Generation of Codependency and Overcoming Perfectionism: the Key to a Balanced Recovery. Ann is a frequent lecturer to national audiences on a variety of professional and personal growth topics.