Jason Butler and I co-facilitated this embodied panel and workshop at the meeting of the North American Drama Therapy Association in Yosemite, CA. As the fourth annual Educators’ Forum, this workshop once again created space for drama therapy educators to come together for support and collaboration. In connection with that year’s theme, we looked at ideas of balance and wellness as they apply to the drama therapy educator. In particular, we examined the day-to-day strategies that assist educators in maintaining balance and a personal sense of wellness. Participants were invited to bring strategies that work for them as well as situations that cause difficulty. Together we actively explored the contradictions and paradoxes inherent in drama therapy education and work to facilitate harmony and balance.
Participants will also heard about our recent explorations and collaborations bridging the fields of drama therapy and applied theatre as we had recently co-presented at two international applied and educational theatre conferences. Our experiences and findings were shared and these were collectively investigated with participants alongside other ways that other related fields can inform the education and practice of drama therapy.
Finally, we examined how drama therapists can better collaborate with applied theatre initiatives in order to expand the exposure of the field and create more opportunities for teaching drama therapy and expanding the profession.
Below are some images of the participants embodying scenarios and themes of drama therapy education:
