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Drama/playTherapy
What is Drama Therapy?
People can worry when they hear "drama therapy" that they will have to "act" or "perform" as a part of therapy. I hope to be able to alleviate those fears by clarifying what drama therapy can do for you when other forms of therapy have not worked.
Drama Therapy is used to help clients utilize sound, movement, and representation to move past the typical defenses that can arise in talk therapy. There are many forms of drama therapy, but the form that I utilize most is called Developmental Transformations (DvT). Developmental Transformations involves the continuous transformation of embodied encounters in a "playspace" (an agreed upon structure that the play is representational). Basically, Developmental Transformations is the practice of being in relationship to help heal relationship struggles. You can find more information about it here:
In work with children, drama therapy utilizes a child's natural ability to play and imagine. I weave a child's treatment goals into the therapeutic play challenging them to grow and learn through the use of their imagination and embodied practice. If there is a specific trauma that a child has experienced, I utilize drama therapy as a gradual desensitization tool to reduce negative symptoms around this trauma and decrease emotional reactivity around this event.
In family therapy, connection, attachment building, and problem solving are fostered through structured and unstructured play aimed at strengthening the family's positive relationships. I will cater therapy to meet a family's needs by providing just the right amount of challenge that is needed to make change.
In work with adults and parent coaching, drama therapy can look like sitting on a couch and using playful metaphor to examine problems, or getting up and utilizing DvT.
What is Play Therapy?
From the Association for Play Therapy:
"Play therapy is a structured, theoretically based approach to therapy that builds on the normal communicative and learning processes of children (Carmichael, 2006; Landreth, 2002; O'Connor & Schaefer, 1983). The curative powers inherent in play are used in many ways. Therapists strategically utilize play therapy to help children express what is troubling them when they do not have the verbal language to express their thoughts and feelings (Gil, 1991). In play therapy, toys are like the child's words and play is the child's language (Landreth, 2002). Through play, therapists may help children learn more adaptive behaviors when there are emotional or social skills deficits (Pedro-Carroll & Reddy, 2005). The positive relationship that develops between therapist and child during play therapy sessions can provide a corrective emotional experience necessary for healing (Moustakas, 1997). Play therapy may also be used to promote cognitive development and provide insight about and resolution of inner conflicts or dysfunctional thinking in the child (O'Connor & Schaefer, 1983; Reddy, Files-Hall, & Schaefer, 2005)."
In sessions with children, I provide toys and objects that a child can represent worries or struggles onto in order to communicate their needs. I translate play for the child by tying together actual experiences and those represented in sessions. This facilitates creative problem solving, corrective experiences, and the processing of past traumas.
In family sessions, I work to establish caregivers as the protective forces in their children's lives through play, facilitate the development of a positive attachment, and help caregivers to clarify for their children what has happened to them with the goal of taking any undue feelings of guilt or confusion away from the child.