Social therapeutic role-playing according to Adelheid Stein as a resource and awareness centered group method
Promoting self-reflection, personality development, and social learning
Abstract
Social therapeutic role-playing (STR) according to Adelheid Stein is presented as a resource and awareness centered group method that initiates developmental processes through experience, action, and social resonance rather than instruction or analysis. The approach addresses the limitations of purely cognitive methods in dealing with issues of self-awareness, identity development, and social orientation. STR creates a safe space that allows participants to actively experience inner attitudes, emotions, and relationship patterns through roles, images, and enacted scenes. Feeling, thinking, and acting are equally involved in the process. Core characteristics of the method include a consistent focus on individual resources, the group process as a space for resonance, and a deliberately restrained, non-interpreting stance on the part of the group facilitator. A real-life example from school-based career guidance illustrates that STR can promote self-awareness, self-efficacy, social competence, and intrinsic motivation. In this context, career guidance is understood as an awareness-raising developmental process rather than a task focused solely on decision-making. Overall, STR emerges as a versatile group method at the intersection of social work, education, and awareness-centered developmental approaches.
