Dramatherapy Workshop -The Hero's Journey, CMTAI Conference Bangalore, India

On the 25th and 26th of Novemeber 2017, I was privileged to have been invited to facilitate a Dramatherapy Workshop for the CMTAI (Creative Movement Therapy Association of India) 4th International Conference, held  at the Christ University, Bangalore, India

It was wonderful to connect with fellow dramatherapists a few of them whom I have met years ago in other international conferences, and also new colleagues in the fields  Dance and Movement Therapy,  Dramatherapy, Art therapy and .Music Therapy.

I have to admit that I LOVE working with creative arts therapists and artists!  They always take the workshops which I facilitate to different heights. Mainly because most of them  are already familiar with the format, process and mostly, are very comfortable in expressing themselves in a creative manner, without much resistance in going with the flow of where creativity takes them.. Not to mention, my own accelerated  learning in in facilitating the workshop for  such creative and enthusiastic participant!

My workshop was titled "The Hero's Journey".

These are some of the pictures from the workshop which I had facilitated.

These are some of the feedback from the participants:

"The takeaways from this workshop are a boon"

"It was a great session overall"

"The breakdown of the journey was great and we can relate to it"

"I enjoyed the flow and the variety of activities"

"I liked finding the hero within"

"I loved the experiential activities"

"The facilitator was very approachable and friendly"

"I enjoyed the facilitator's presence and holding of space"


I would like to thank Tripura Kashyap, who had invited me to present the workshop for the CMTAI conference and those who have assisted me during the workshop.

Dramatherapy Workshops in Hassan, Karnataka

During the month of November, I had the privilege to have facilitated several Dramatherapy workshop in Hassan, Karnataka.

Two of the workshops were with dance students of Unnath Rathnaraju, of Natyakala Nivas,

The first workshop consisted of 50 participant of mainly dance students and also their family members. The participants varied from ages 4 onwards.
The students and their family members who had joined it, were very energetic, and was very participative.

These are some of the pictures taken from the first workshop:

The second workshop in Hassan was at a primary school, called The Scholars.  There were 44 participants between ages 8 to 10 years. They were extremely enthusiastic and very creative.   TThese are a few of the pictures taken during the workshop:

The third workshop was on the evening of  same day as the day as the workshop which I had facilitated at The Scholars at the dance studio of Natyakala Nivas with the students of Unnath Ratnaraju.

 It wasn't planned... I was all ready to play my flute in the beautiful ambiance of the water feature ornamented with beautiful statues from Orissa on the ground floor of the studio, while celebrating the fact that it was a joyful day of doing what I love.. and  wanting to chill out, playing my flute, knowing that I will be leaving for Bangalore the next day, to present another workshop for a Dance and Movement Therapy conference.And just  at the moment I was about to play my second note... a few of the dance students comes running from the studio upstairs and excitedly plead with me to have another dramatherapy workshop for them at that time... To which I asked "Don't you have dance class now?" To which they answered that their teacher said to them that if I agreed to do the workshop, he is willing to forego the class for the workshop. I simply couldn't say no to such excitement and enthusiasm.. And I'm glad I didn't!

There were about 35 students in this group raging from ages 6 to 18.

These are some of the feedback from the participants of all the  above three  Dramatherapy workshops in Hassan. The first two workshops was on Story making and Story Telling and the last one was on The Hero's Journey.

"I really enjoyed the Dramatherapy workshop and I hope that when  'teacher' Vanitha visits the next time we will have more of it!"

"I loved the acting part of it! It made me realize that I can act!"

"I learned a lot of new things today! Thank you!"

" I loved all the games and activities we did today!"

It was amazing how all of these workshops were unplanned... 

My trip to India this time was just to present a workshop at the CMTAI conference, which I had committed to at the beginning of the year, and I thought I would just visit my friend Unnath Rathnaraju and his family in Hassan (which I consider to be my family in India) for a few days and chill out, since I was going to be in Bangalore anyway. Then magic happened! Love the synchronicity of it all!

I would like to thank Unnath Rathnaraju for organizing all of these workshops and for helping me facilitate the workshop  in the school. I would also like to thank Mr. Chandran and his wife from The Scholars school for inviting me to facilitate a Dramatherapy workshop for the students. All in all, it was s delightful experience! Thank you! :) 

A Unique Children's Self-Exploratory Workshop - Exploring the Magic Box using Dramatherapy & Sound Therapy

I will be collaborating with Elizabeth Anne Huxtable in facilitating a very unique half a day workshop for children (8-12 years) on the 27th of December 2017, at 10am to 1pm, at The Violet Flame in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur.
This workshop is one of it's kind as both Elizabeth who is a Sound Therapist and I, a Dramatherapist are unique in our respective professions in Malaysia.
As a Dramatherapist, I use various creative tools, such as movements, dance, art, story making and acting in combination with the practice of psychology in connecting the link between the physical, mental, emotional and the 'deeper knowing' of the self. 
Whereas Elizabeth uses sound and vibration from special musical instruments and  sound therapy tools from musical instruments such as the crystal harp, harmonic  whirlies and other musical instruments  with special sound vibratory properties which  resonates with the body,  helps in freeing energy blocks and contributes to improved health.
Both of us have very positive outcomes and feedback of positive transformation, from the participants who have attended our individual workshops and sessions.
We are both excited to have created this workshop , which  is experiential in nature, with various fun and interesting activities based on  both our unique knowledge and skills put together. We expect the participants of the workshop to have a fun time during the workshop and come away feeling that they have a greater awareness of themselves, their expanded capabilities. which will help them to progress in a positive direction in their daily lives, both in school and at home.We intend to have a follow up session for this workshop to monitor the progress of the participants.


See the flyer below for more information. Contact the Violet flame Tel: 03-22829868; Whatsapp : 012 9868 346 or email: info@thevioletflamekl.com  to book a space, as space is limited! Please share the information. Thank you.

The Hero's Journey at the 4th International Conference: Dance Movement Therapy, India

I will be presenting a workshop at the  4th International Conference : Dance Movement Therapy, in Bangalore, India,  organised by Creative Movement Therapy Association of India.
Below is the Facebook promotional information from the organizer about the workshop. Please click on to the links for more information and please share the information.
















 

Update! CMTAI-Christ University (Psychology Dept), Bengaluru. 4th Intl conference: Dance Movement Therapy - Session:‘Drama Therapy: The Hero’s Journey’ By VANITHA CHANDRASEGARAM, Drama Therapist, UK / Malaysia. This session will explore the process of the Hero’s Journey through Drama therapy with the aim of being inspired to begin or continue the process of being the ‘Hero’ in our own lives. To select sessions of your choice on a 1st come 1st served basis do register online: http://www.cmtai.org/international-annual.aspx - visit www.cmtai.org for details about presenters / sessions @ the conference. Do share this post!

Healing Though Arts Sept 2017

On the 23rd of September I had the pleasure to be one of the panel of speakers at a forum titled "Healing through Arts" organized by Causeway Exchange, based in Singapore. The forum was held in Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL), Malaysia.

We had three Malaysians - Me (Vanitha Chandrasegaram) - Dramatherapist; Lim Kar Gee - Music Therapist; Preet Kalsi (based in Kota Kinabalu) - Music Therapist;  and three Singaporeans- Deborah - Art Therapist; Alex - Art Therapist, Music Therapist - Music Therapist and Ronald Lay - the moderator of the forum and also the Programme Leader for the MA in Art Therapy at La Salle College, Singapore.
The Deputy Director of Medicine of the Ministry of Health Malaysia, Datuk Dr. Jeyandran Sinnadurai was among the VIPs present at the event. Many of the audience included medical professionals as well as patients and guardians/parents of patients.

It was such a pleasure to connect with other Creative Arts Therapists and to have met and participated at the forum with my fellow Creative Arts therapists.

From the question and answer sessions during the forum, there seem to be an awareness among the audience of the healing effects of the arts.
However there is still a need to educate the general majority of the difference between an Artist/Musician/Dramatist/Dancer and a  Creative Arts Therapist (Art therapist/Music Therapist/ Drama Therapist/ Dance Therapist in conducting the sessions.

An artist may come to realize that the art has a healing effect.  This seem to have caused many to wrongly identify their work as therapy. A Creative Arts Therapist  is also professionally trained to use the arts which they specialize in (they are also artists themselves) in psychotherapy. The work they do has an objectives,   expected outcome, structure and psychotherapeutic theories to support the work,  which is backed  by research.
A person calling themselves a  Creative Arts Therapist/Arts Therapist, has to have that particular qualification. Often it is a Master's level qualification in that particular field of specialization, ie. Dramatherapy, Art Therapy, Music Therapy, Dance &a Movement Therapy. An arts therapist would have to have gone through working with mental health or learning disabilities, in places such as an mental health institution, hospital, prison or patients day centre as part of their placement during their training.

I have been working as a Dramatherapist in Malaysia for the past 13 years. As much as it is encouranging to see that there is positive response to the role of the arts in healing. It is my hope that Malaysian will be more aware of the difference between (Creative)Arts Therapists and Artists.

By engaging in creating art, one is able to express themselves. In some cases that's all a person needs. But a person who is dealing with a life crisis, often will need to seek a solution to their problems where they need a professional to help them. That's the job of a Creative Arts Therapist.

It seems like it will probably take another 10 years, hopefully less, for the general public in Malaysia to know of the existence of the Creative Arts Therapies. Probably a lesser time , if there is more support in the health care system (including insurance claims for health care) and government jobs for  Creative Arts Therapy professionals. It will be a real shame if it does not happen soon as these forms of therapies have the potential to transform lives in a positive manner in lesser time(number of sessions) than many conventional forms of psychotherapy, as the method and process used in the Creative Arts Therapies have the ability to access the unconscious, which means it reveals the heart of the matter almost immediately.

After the forum, we had several break out sessions. There was a art therapy workshop, a group music session and a Dramatherapy workshop, which I had facilitated.

These are some of the pictures taken during the Dramatherapy breakout session.

The breakout session was only about one hour. There was a question and answer session allocated after the session. It was good to have many questions about how Dramatherapy works. 

 Some of the feedback includes how it was fun and that it was easy to get into the the creativity. Another feedback from a participant who is already involved in using drama in her work with patients, is about how she felt that she had learn a lot from participating in the workshop.  

I would like to thank  Shawn Loudsamy and Phan Ming Yen who are the Project Directors of Causway Exchange, Singapore for the opportunity in participating in this event.