Drama Therapy Toolbox

Instructor

Bobbi Kidder

Hours: 9 am – 4 pm

Location:  Phinney Ridge Neighborhood Center
6532 Phinney Av. N., Seattle, WA. 98103

CEU: 6

Description

Drama Therapy is a movement-based experiential therapy that calls on its participants and practitioners to use their body! This workshop teaches you the founding principles of Drama Therapy and provides a framework for incorporating improvisation skills into developing a client’s personal narrative. Using Drama Therapy, we can approach serious questions like, “What shapes us?” and “What guides our beliefs?” with a playful approach that allows participants to tap into what is deeply stored in their bodies and minds. 

This workshop will show participants how an atmosphere of trust and acceptance can be created using Drama Therapy and allow for therapeutic action. Participants will gain a firsthand understanding of how these creative and experiential tools can support change and attunement with groups and individuals in their clinical, educational and community settings. 

Perfect for the therapist who is interested in: Virginia Satir, experiential therapy, somatic-based interventions, Narrative Therapy, improvisational skills, therapeutic play. 

These skills can be used with: Group therapy, individuals who need physical based interventions, creative approaches, non-verbal interventions, or those who experience feeling “stuck” in therapy. 

This workshop offers 6 WMHCA Approved continuing education units for Mental Health Counselors, Marriage and Family Therapists , Licensed Social Workers.

Course Learning Objectives:

1. Increase ways to utilize the integrative the potential of expressive arts and particularly “story” in education and/or the healing professions.
2. Understanding the potential for expressive arts in their current or future work.
3. Understanding issues from multiple perspectives
4. Increase capacity for “re-storying” in the service of integration.

Readings  – Provided to Students

• Emunah, Renee. Acting for Real: Drama Therapy Process, Technique, and Performance. New York: Routledge Press, 1994.
• Goodman, Katie. Improvisation for the Spirit. Sourcebooks: Naperville, Ill. 2008.
  • Chapter 4- “Take Risks”
  • Chapter 8 “Get Creative”

Overview of Workshop Schedule:

Phase 1

• Warm up exercises
• Intro to the workshop (structure, methodology) and assignments
• Drama therapy Ethical guidelines, including touch and safety in a therapeutic context
• Your goals for the workshop and your background/experience
• Embodiment, with special focus on sculpture methods

Phase 2

• Scenework
• SPA (Spontaneity, Play, and Attunement)

Phase 3

• Roleplay

Phase 4

• Culminating event
• The Great Umbrella – How Drama Therapy action methods host integrative creative arts therapies
• Drama Therapy Story circle

Phase 5

• “As We Go Forward”
• Workshop evaluation and closing circle