The Leelah Play
Leelah Training and Deepening Program
A year of group process, character work and play — with professional learning in the way of Leelah
The Leelah Training and Deepening Program is a nine-month program in Pardes Hanna, created for those who wish to enter the language of Leelah from within:
through play, an ongoing group process, experiential practice, immersive days, a retreat, and professional learning that grows in dialogue with the experience itself.
Some years stay with you.
Because of the people you met.
Because of the character you inhabited.
Because of the world that slowly came into being,
and because of something that began to open in you along the way.
Alongside the deep personal process, a professional capacity also develops throughout the year:
to read group process, work with character and avatar, hold a play-based developmental space, acquire facilitation skills, and begin to carry the language of Leelah into one’s own work.
To encounter Leelah from both directions:
This is a year-long program that allows participants to meet Leelah from two directions at once.
On one hand, as participants inside an active group that develops over time — through characters, relationships and a shared world.
On the other, as people who wish to understand how this work is held: how to create a play-based developmental space, how to read group process, and how to pass on a language that carries depth, play, imagination and structure.
Throughout the year, participants meet both the theoretical layer of Leelah — The Play Paradigm — and its living model within the group: Play as Itself.
In simple words:
it is a year in which something is lived,
and also a year in which one learns how that something happens.
Who Is It For?
The program is for people who already work with people, groups and processes — or who wish to develop that capacity: group and workshop facilitators, therapists, drama therapists, psychodramatists, educators, theatre practitioners, artists, consultants, coaches and professionals from related fields.
It is for those who feel that their work is asking for more depth, more playfulness, and another way of understanding what happens inside a group.
It is also for those looking for a living language that connects process, character, imagination, relationship and structure.
The program may also suit people drawn to Leelah from a deep personal search, but it is important to know: this is a Training & Deepening Program. Alongside the experiential participation, it also includes a professional, theoretical and facilitation-oriented layer.
For those who wish to take part in Leelah mainly as a personal process, without professional training, it is worth reading about the Annual Leelah Group as well.
How the Year Is Structured
The program lasts 9 months and takes place in Pardes Hanna.
It is divided into three trimesters, each forming a distinct pedagogical unit. In-person core meetings take place once every two weeks, while an ongoing group develops and carries the process throughout the year.
The year includes:
In-person core meetings — once every two weeks, 18 meetings in total. This is the heart of the program.
Monthly Zoom meetings — for support and deepening, 9 meetings in total.
Monthly immersive days — held on Fridays, 9 days in total.
A closing experiential event — a Friday–Saturday retreat towards the end of the year.
Personal developmental guidance — including 3 individual conversations throughout the year.
Guest sessions and special immersive days.
In terms of scope, this is a broad and substantial program:
108 academic hours of core meetings
18 academic hours of Zoom meetings
around 27 academic hours of monthly immersive days
Together, even before the Friday–Saturday retreat, this amounts to around 168 academic hours of learning, group work, process and lived participation.
This is more than a sequence of meetings.
It is a year of learning, personal and group inquiry, practice and encounter.
A year of experience, depth and variety.
A year that brings movement, growth and new possibilities.
Program Cost
Full price: 11,800 NIS
Early registration price: 10,000 NIS
until July 15, 2026
Payment Plan
Registration fee: 1,900 NIS + 9 monthly payments of 900 NIS (for the early registration price)
or 1,900 NIS + 9 monthly payments of 1,100 NIS (for the full price)
The cost includes all core sessions throughout the year, Zoom meetings, enrichment days, personal-developmental guidance, the closing retreat, theoretical study, a workbook, the book Leelah – The Paradigm of Play, and live participation in the Leelah process
Three Parts in Each Meeting
The central meetings take place once every two weeks, and each meeting is built from three parts that work together: a live Leelah session, professional reflection through case studies, and theoretical learning that deepens what has been experienced in the space.
Live Leelah Session
The first part is dedicated to a live Leelah session, with the group, the characters and the world that develops throughout the year.
This is where participants enter the method from within: through play, imagination, presence, relationship and movement inside the space.
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Case Studies and Professional Reflection
From the experience, the work turns toward professional reflection: case studies, processing, discussion and supervision. Here participants learn to read processes, identify what is being built within a group, understand the movement of a character, and gradually develop the eye of a Leelah facilitator.
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Theory and Deepening
The third part introduces and deepens the conceptual language of Leelah: the play paradigm, work with character and avatar, the story frame, the group as a living space, and the facilitator’s stance. Theory gives words, structures and context to what participants encounter through experience.
The connection between these three parts is at the heart of the program: first Leelah is lived, then what happened is observed, and then the professional and theoretical understanding of the method is deepened.
What Develops Over the Year?
Throughout the year, participants gradually develop a new language for working with people and groups: the ability to listen to what is emerging in the space, recognise the movement of a character, read group process, and understand how play can become a space of development.
At the same time, a personal process also takes place. Through the character, the group and the world created together, new qualities may begin to appear: creativity, confidence, boundary, freedom, connection, presence, and a different way of moving through life.
This is learning that takes place in the mind, the body, the character and the group — and for that reason, it stays.
What Does This Year Ask of Participants?
The program asks for curiosity, openness to group process, and a willingness to enter the work through character and play.
No acting skills are needed — but presence is.
There is no need to know in advance where the process will lead. What matters is the willingness to participate, observe, learn, and give the group real time to take shape.
This is a year that asks for commitment — to oneself, to the group, to the learning and to the way.
What Participants Take With Them
At the end of the year, participants leave with a deep familiarity with Leelah — as a theoretical paradigm, as a living model for working with group, character and play, and as a professional foundation for facilitation.
The program offers practical tools for reading group process, working with character and avatar, building a story frame, holding a play-based developmental space, and professionally reading the dynamics that form between people over time.
Alongside the personal and group process, participants receive a certificate of completion for the Leelah training, issued by Leelah and Dr. Dov Bloom-Yazdi. Those who wish to continue into therapeutic or clinical deepening will be able to explore further possibilities, according to their professional background.
A meaningful experience that gradually becomes a professional language for working with people and groups within a play-based developmental space.
Annual Leelah Group at the end of a year of play, characters and process
How Do I Know If This Is for Me?
The best way to come closer to the program is to first meet Leelah from within — through an open session.
From there, an introductory conversation with Dov helps clarify whether this is the right fit: what brings you to Leelah, what experience you have with people or groups, and what you would like to meet throughout the year.
If the program already feels relevant, you are welcome to reach out directly to speak with Dov.
You do not need to arrive with a fixed answer — only with curiosity, openness to group process, and a wish to enter a year of personal experience and professional learning.
Participants Share About Leelah
While studying Winnicott, I was reminded of the town and of my experience in Leelah. Play as an expression of the true self, the possibility of coming closer to creativity and spontaneity, and the release from the constraints of the false self — all of this connected deeply with what I experienced.
There is so much healing potential in playfulness and in our ability to use imagination. I had the chance to experience part of the retreat, and it felt like a very powerful and meaningful tool.
Amalia, Leelah retreat participant
A year-long Leelah course asks for a different kind of commitment and surrender. Those who agree to enter this adventure may not only rediscover themselves, but also gain understanding and practical tools for process-oriented work in education, therapy, and beyond.
You have developed a wonderful and valuable model.
Name, Leelah program participant
I first encountered the Leelah model in a training several years ago, and the impressions from that experience have stayed with me ever since. Although I was initially somewhat cautious and reserved, I quickly became immersed in the play, surrendered to the process, became attached to the representation I had chosen, and connected with the other members of the guild.
As a bibliotherapist, I was fascinated by the story of the town as it was built and developed from one meeting to the next, and by the healing qualities of play, projective play, and distancing.
Although my original training is in dynamic therapy, today I define myself as an integrative therapist, and I also use cognitive-behavioral and other tools. My encounter with Leelah brought me back to a deep understanding: even within the education system, dynamic processes can be supported. It is possible — and necessary — to trust the process and allow the patient to find their own way.