DRAMATHERAPY SKILLS TRAINING WORKSHOP: MODULE 1
by Vanitha
Chandrasegaram
What is Dramatherapy?
Dramatherapy comes
under the umbrella of Creative Arts Therapies. It utilizes various creative
activities to get clients/participants to express and work through their
problems/issues.
Creative Arts
Therapies is a projective method, which uses artistic expressions and play as mediums which
reflects the events, emotions or state of the mind of the client/participant.
The act of doing anything artistic and creative can be in itself therapeutic. Therefore
it makes sense to use these tools, giving it a clear structure and boundaries
to use it as a form of therapy.
Dramatherapy allows
the client/participants to express and work on difficult concerns at a safe
distance via the use of the space and the idea of fiction and pretense, which
is in theater and drama.
The activities in this
workshop will include drama games, movements, role play, story making and acting
** Dramatherapy is
different than Psychodrama.
Objective:
The aim of this workshop is
- To teach participants the tools and
methods used in Dramatherapy which may be incorporated in the practice/work situations.
- To provide awareness of how creative
arts is used in therapy.
- To provide skills and tools which can be
incorporated in Personal Development Programs and workshops.
- To provide insights on how creative expressions
allow the unconscious/subconscious to express itself.
- To help understand the creative
expression and use the information and work using the creative tools to
help clients/individuals to create solutions to the challenges they
encounter.
- To have fun in the process J
Who Should Attend?
· Mental health practitioners
such as Counselors, Psychologists, Psychiatrists, Social Workers to add on to
their tools used in their existing practice.
·
Artists(Actors, Dancers, Visual
Artists, Musicians) who would like to
experience and gain some understanding on how the arts is being utilized in the field of psychotherapy to help
understand oneself and others better. It provides an insight of what else artistic expressions can do,
besides being a medium of expression and/or performance.
·
Teachers and those who work
with children, adolescents, adults, elderly and in the personal development
fields will also benefit by being able to utilize these fun yet profoundly
impactful and insightful skills and techniques in their work.
·
Parents who would like to
understand and utilize some of the activities in interacting and to have a
deeper connection with their children.
·
University /College students,
especially those in the field of psychology and performing arts and other
adults who are curious
What Would Participants Gain from the Workshop?
- Skills and knowledge to incorporate
tools and methods used in Dramatherapy in their practice/work.
- Awareness of how creative arts is used
in therapy and how it works
- A certificate of participation.
- Become more in touch with their creative
self
- Lots of fun!
Outline of Module:
- Introduction to Creative Arts Therapies(CAT)
and Dramatherapy – concepts, theories and ideas of CAT & Dramatherapy
- Getting to know yourself and others –
Creating a Safe Space and Group Dynamics
- The Stories of Life – Various tools of
story making and ways of exploration
- Reminiscing, being in the Present and
the Dreams of the Future – understanding the thread that connects our life
story and the possibility of positive transformation.
** Activities
such as movements, dance, voice projections, role play, acting and story making
will be used in this workshop.
Facilitator: Vanitha Chandrasegaram (MA Dramatherapy,UK; MSc Psychology,
USA; Member of NADTA,USA;) Pioneer and one of the only two
qualified and practicing Dramatherapist in Malaysia. Nine years
of experience practicing Dramatherapy in the UK and Malaysia in settings such
as Mental Hospitals and wads, NGOs, Universities. She has conducted
Dramatherapy Awareness and Skills Training workshops in India and in Malaysia.
Her experience includes working with individuals and groups who has experienced
abuse, learning disabilities, mental health, emotional, relationship challenges
and various other life challenges. She has worked with individuals and groups
ranging from 3 to 90 years old. She has also headed a home for over 70 underprivileged children
from ages 4 to 16. She has presented in
Dramatherapy Conferences in UK and the USA.
Her work has been published in professional journals in the UK, and in a
book titled “Drama as Therapy” 2nd ed., by Phil Jones. She had also
lectured in various colleges and universities and taught Theatre for Seniors at
for the U3A (University for the 3rd Age) at UPM. Her passions also include dancing and playing
the flute.
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