In my personal journey along the path of Dramatherapy I discovered that language is not always successful as a means to adequately express the client’s emotions: Many people are unable to verbalize what they feel, and dramatherapy’s power stems from its capacity to reawaken the feelings and give them visible expression. Creative tools such as drama, movement, voice, improvisation of a story and play enable the client to explore his emotional world in a safe and non-judgmental setting.
Every client possesses creative potential, and my role as a dramatherapist is to provide the right space and time for its full realization. As a dramatherapist I have to tailor the choice of the creative tool, best suited to the client’s natural tendency: In the course of such treatment, people are surprised to discover how creative they are; this gives them confidence and hope, helping them overcome the obstacles they encounter in their daily lives. I believe that revealing the healthy, intuitive and creative aspect of our personality serves as a basis for self-development and change.
What is Dramatherapy?
According to the ‘Sesame’ approach, dramatherapy is a creative method of treatment, combining drama, play, myth, movement and voice, enabling clients to explore repressed emotions and the difficulties they encountered in their lives in a safe and supportive setting. The variety of tools is intended to enable every participant to find a creative way best suited to the fulfilment of his/her potential.
It is a non-confrontational therapy, based on the knowledge that difficulties are revealed indirectly or obliquely, through metaphor and the use of an inner language that is initially non-verbal. This symbolic language is expressed through the use of movement, drama, touch, story enactment, improvisation and the voice, explored in a safe and playful environment.
Experiencing and embodying an inner image through movement, taking on a role in a story or enacting a character which is new or in contrast to the everyday way the person deals with life - all these are means that the ‘Sesame’ approach to dramatherapy uses to help clients express repressed emotions and find relief.
The approach is based on the theories of Carl Jung's psychology of the unconscious, Rudolph Laban's Art of Movement, Peter Slade's play with children and Marian Lindkvist's non-verbal language of Movement-with-touch.
Clients
I provide treatment via dramatherapy to clients both in the private and the public sector, individually and in groups. Groups may differ in size according to the clients’ special needs, but they are generally small. Individual work is usually based on the Client-Centred Approach. In both individual and group work, I choose the approach best able to meet the clients’ needs.
Dramatherapy treatment in the private sector:
Such intervention mostly takes place one-to-one once a week in a setting chosen ahead. This type of treatment may be best suited, for instance, to children or adolescents with special needs, whose parents wish to provide them with emotional support through drama and creative play. Other clients likely to benefit from dramatherapy are children and adults:
With learning disabilities.
On the autistic spectrum.
With emotional/behavioural/social difficulties.
Withlow self-image/low self confidence.
With various physical disabilities.
Who experienced a trauma.
Dramatherapy treatment in the public sector:
This intervention is suitable for institutions, interested in providing creative therapeutic assistance to their clients. The sessions are on an hourly basis, half day or full day and may include one-to-one and group sessions. Such institutions may be:
Regular or special needs schools.
Hospitals or psychiatric institutions.
Drug rehabilitation centres.
Centres for the homeless.
Centres for people with physical disabilities.
Institutions treating people with learning disabilities.
