The TUODP Action Learning Set - Mission Accomplished

The ALS output presented above containing the links to the various multi-media presentation of the groups work. Job well done!

Therapeutic Use of Dramatic Role Playing - The Action Learning Set group task

Mission Impossible - Operation "Heroes in Transitions"


This was the brief that the ALS was given. Have a look at what the ALS have achieved on the next posting. Making the Impossible - Possible

Academic Articles - Art Therapy - Children, Adolescent and Learning Difficulties

Some articles of interest in the application of art therapy:-

• Art Therapy as an Intervention for Autism
• The Use of Creative Arts in Adolescent Group Therapy
• The contribution of art therapy to the social, emotional, and academic adjustment of children with learning disabilities
• A model for art therapy in educational settings with children who behave aggressively
• Art therapy applied to an adolescent with Asperger’s syndrome

Click for pdf copy

CPPD - Therapeutic Use of Art and Image Making - Follow-Up Resources

Hi all, I felt that the workshop on Saturday went very well and I hope that you have been able to bring something of use away with you from the day itself. Given that it is only a day workshop, I hope that the brief introduction would be enough to stir your curiousity in wanting to explore the potential of Creative Arts Therapy and the immense contribution it can make to the quality of our lives and those who we are attempting to be of some help to. I have put together some possible links to resources which I feel may be of relevance and of use to some of you. As I have stated from my own observation of the day, I would suggest that you do make use of every opportunity in exposing yourself to some of the great artists, past and present, their works and their inspirations for their creations. If the chance came your way do visit the art galleries to see the original work of art dont miss it, failing that visit, the galleries through the internet. Let your imagination be inspired!

I have been playing with GoAnimate and created a simple animation for pleasure. Get familiar with the medium first and that goes for your clients too before considering using image making through animation for therapeutic aims and objectives. Below is also the website for cartooning, maybe for the younger children although adolescent would also find it useful.

and another site for making cartoon strip...

An excellent website to start would be http://www.arttherapyblog.com/ lots of sharing of resources, ideas, art activities covering a wide and diverse area where art therapy are used. Definitely worth a visit. The other site http://sara-crafton.blogspot.com/2008/10/birds-nest-drawing.html summarised all the art therapy assessment tools which I had showed you briefly during the workshop can be found here.

Keep coming back to this site as I will updating and keeping you inform of more resources. In the meantime feel free to add your comments. I will posting my answers to your questions shortly.  Alex

 

CPPD - Therapeutic Use of Art and Image Making - Collection of Video Links

Below is a collection of short videos to give you a visual taste of the range and diversity in the Therapeutic Use of Art and Image Making

Introduction to Art Therapy

What is Art Therapy?



Examples of Art Therapy



Art Therapy Has Many Faces



Art Therapy with Children

Art Therapy with Hospitalized Children



Drawing Diabetes: Diabetes Through the Eyes of Children




Voices and drawings by the AIDS impacted children in China



Art Therapy for Children in Inner Cities



Art Therapy with The Elderly

Making Mandalas With The Elderly



Alzheimer's & Art Therapy




I Remember Better When I Paint

CPPD - Therapeutic Use of Art and Image Making - 5th June 2010

The next skills workshop in the Creative Arts Therapy CPPD programme is the above. Click here to download the flyer. Book early to avoid disappointment.

Continuing with a second posting to the ALS group and preparation for some of the learning activities

Preparation - Therapeutic Use of Dramatic Role Playing - Online Tutorial 1 - 19^th May 2010

Hi all

I am delighted to see you all have now set your Personal Learning Journals, and I am sure the one remaining will have it up before the weekend. Not all of you are been shown up as following each others blog.

No	Name	Google Mail Account	Personal Learning Journal (Blogspot.com)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Remember having your Personal Learning Journal means keeping a regular entry of your reflections, try not to procrastinate, challenge any inner voices you may be harbouring; somehow  imagining you are going to accumulate enough material to display how ‘excellent’ your are in your ‘student/learner’ role  before you enter the perfect entry. The learning is in the ‘process’ not ‘product’ ….learn to give up unnecessary anxieties and stress yourself out. I know, been there already J,  after all, we are learning to invoke and evoke our inner creativity and spontaneity, so learn to capture the inner thoughts of the moment without too
many self censorship in giving birth to your inner expressions , that’s the only you are going to get to know your ‘Self’ …. well…...at least you know that this will be contained within the safety of this ‘playing and learning space’ as you engage with the materials. This process is no different than what you hope to achieve with your clients as you consider the creation a similar ‘therapeutic space’ where they can feel safe with their own creativity and spontaneity.

Preparing for the online tutorial

The rules of giving apologies to your group applies if for whatever reason you are not able to attend, maybe when you all meet as an ALS group as in my earlier suggestion to go through the ground rules again.

Task One

Have your role play character ready– see attachment for the Profiling of the Fantasy Character. I have given a suggested template and an example of how I’d developed my own fantasy character – Shape Shifter. A copy of an blank template has been send via attachment.

Guideline in using the template

To help yourself, use the technique of‘role interviewing’. A useful process is creating a visual representation of the character first. This can be easily achieved by gong to the various links which have application for you to play with as you create a character  DON’T worry too much about the background details for the character, just be intuitive and go with your ‘gut’ feelings and let yourself be drawn by what you have put together. Next, like any piece of art that is created, not only look at it but ‘into’ and ‘through’ it. Let the details of the image tell you its story, the eyes, its clothing, its gestures, let the image suggest what it is attempting to tell you, to communicate to you, there is a story waiting to be told. Really open yourself to it and contemplate and reflect on your impressions. This will really help you to connect to your own creation more meaningfully as the uniqueness of your creation comes from a place that is deep within you. Don’t dismiss what may initially seem alien, strange thoughts, images and impressions that may spontaneously pops into your head, go with it. Take some risk with your imagination, go outside normal convention,  outside your narcisstic, comfort zone, play a character of someone that is ‘not you’, experiment beyond  the sweet young cute, pretty, handsome, prince charming, socially acceptable, run of the mill ‘nice’ one-dimensional  fantasy type of character. This could be an opportunity to explore your rejected, disassociated, projected, ‘split off’, shadow part of you in a relatively safe environment. As you put yourself in unexpected role playing situation, you learn to improvised and you can therefore you  appreciate why ‘improvisation’ is greatly valued in role playing as it is the germ/virus for spontaneity and creativity…..its fun too as you learn to trust in ‘letting go’ your ‘normal’ constraints on your ways of behaving and thinking and experiencing….after all its only pretending, playing only lah, not real, not me…just being the character !. This is the advantage of improvised role playing as it let you discover alternative outcomes and ways of being from which insights can then be integrated into your everyday reality..……or maybe what I am suggesting could be a leap too far for the group at moment, if that is the case, ignore all of the above as just my inconsequential rantings when I get carried away every now and again.

Role Interviewing is a technique for fleshing out your basic character and giving it breadth and depth. You can make your character as simple or complicated as you want you character to be. Firstly distance yourself or dis-identify yourself from the created character and take on another role maybe as an investigative journalis, or TV interviewer and interrogate or interview the character, write down the interview questions that are more likely to reveal the fullness of the character. This can be in the context of time…… past, present, future……motivation and intentions…….. social-c ultural  context……….strengths and weaknesses ………hopes and dreams  etc etc Then answer your own questions in character and this will provide substance to your character and make the ‘suspension of disbelief’ easier  as you enter the imaginary realm. The development of the ‘interviewing technique’ will sharpen your skills in bringing out your clients role play character.  We will be doing some practice with each other during the tutorial. We will be engaging in synchronous or real time interaction in role for part of the tutorial session. Give some thought to how you prepare your ‘ritual’ to get into your character (role-taking) for role playing. Remember my earlier email to you with an example of how I use an everyday object like a marble to mark my transition into virtual space as I proceed from everyday reality into dramatic reality. It also helps with the role-taking process as I begin to inhabit the role and such a ritual will also help me to de-role myself when I finish and
engaged with my everyday reality.

The Drpworld forum I have set up is to be used as a virtual space only to be entered in role as your character and not as ‘you’ so keep the boundary between Drpworld and your everyday world. Writing will be in first-person,  present-tense, whether in dialogue or monologue. When you enter, your Keep the space ‘sacred’ ……. Just like you maintain and respect the boundaries of your therapeutic space where you do your therapy with your clients. This is not a forum to ask for clarification, discussion about the role playing task at hand, reflect and analyse on the process etc . as a student of this module. This happens in the main learning portal for this module at Module Blogspot and within your Personal Learning Journal or Emails to me or your ALS. Drpworld allows the development of the extended role playing asynchronously whilst the Chat room provide for synchronous role playing.

Task Two

Could you also prepare very brief vignettes of work with individual children (we will start with one to one work with children before we progress into group later) you may be working with, from previous or current cases where you may consider how best to move into role playing to achieve your therapeutic intention or the your role playing efforts had come across some hiccups in your attempt. (Maintain the
confidentiality, annonimised all personal references) The main teaching point here is primarily to explore the skills that could be applied or be implemented generally with children. Supervision later will look into the unique dynamic of the individual case presented in relation to your work in using therapeutic role playing. I was thinking about the problem scenario for the ALS and may be incorporate a Case Study. We will discuss this further in tutorial.

A task for your Personal Learning Journal

Apart from your reflections and evaluations of the skills workshop, your questions, goals and aims for doing
this module, in you PLJ, you are also given a prescription to another small task. I will be posting the relevant books in anticipation that you will be referring to it. The only requirement is that you provide a Chapter Review in your Personal Learning Journal which you will have selected from the book “Clinical applications of drama therapy in child and adolescent treatment / edited by Anna Marie Weber, Craig Haen.

The review will contain your very brief summary of the chapter (e.g. say in no more than 50 words what’s its about) your reflections on it (e.g. what were the ‘good’ bits and how has it contributed to your thinking about therapeutic role playing) That’s all for now. This email will be uploaded onto the Module Learning Portal as well and I am thinking to put on AlexCPPD.Blogspot.Com as well to give those who have attended the skills workshop a flavour of what happens in the Second Half of the module with the Action Learning Set.

Best Wishes

Alex

Providing a glimpse into the Action Learning Set/Online component of the module

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

My Mind Map of Therapeutic Use of Dramatic Role Playing

My Mind Map of Therapeutic Use of Dramatic Role Playing

Glossary of Psychodramatic Terms

I have uploaded a glossary of background terminology from the the book by Leveton hopefully to help those who may be new in this area to familiarised themselves with some of the terms. 

Psychodrama - Glossary of Terms (Rererence - A clinician's guide to psychodrama 3rd Edition by Eva Leveton Springer Publishing Company)




Acting. A discipline that trains the actor to take part in theater or film work. Acting is often confused with role playing, which is, in fact, only a small part of the discipline comprising improvisation, mime, voice production, body movement, character building, analysis of text, and many other techniques.


Auxiliary. Originally Moreno's "auxiliary ego" the term refers to the individuals who help the protagonist by taking parts in his drama.


Berne, Eric. Author of Transactional Analysis in Psychotherapy and Games People Play; founder of transactional analysis, a system of individual and group dynamics using group therapy.


Bridge. Used to describe the connection the leader makes between the various scenes in a psychodrama and the commentary that precedes and follows them.


Catharsis. The discharge of intense emotion through its expression in a psychodrama, as, for example, the expression of unexpressed grief or anger in a particular scene.

Childhood recall. Sometimes referred to as age regression, the vivid and detailed recall of childhood experiences not readily available to the individual.


Client. A person under sufficient stress to pay for the services of another to help reduce it.


Conflicts. The collisions of opposing forces that are the heart of psychodrama. Whether the struggle is inter- or intrapersonal, both sides of the conflict are enacted on the psychodramatic stage.


Control. Here used in the sense of an individual's ability to remain in charge of his emotions. The leader must be aware that unpredicted outbursts of tears or anger in an enactment may challenge a protagonist's or auxiliary's sense control.


Critical distance. The physical distance vis-a-vis others comfortable for the role-player.


Director. The person in charge of a specific psychodrama. (There may be several directors in a group where each scene has a different director.)


Distancing. Here used to mean (1) putting the other person off, at a psychological distance, or (2) viewing the material from a greater distance, as when the protagonist chooses to direct all or part of scene rather than take part in it, or (3) locating the other person in the physical distance that fits the perceived psychological relationship.


Double. An auxiliary who represents another part of the protagonist.


Enactment. The staging of a protagonist's scene.


Erickson, Milton, M.D. Hypnotist known for the development of clinical hypnosis using metaphor and story to help clients work on their problems while in a state of relaxation.


Encounter. A psychotherapeutic approach centering on a dialogue between peers where each is expected to comment frankly and honestly on the other's behavior.


Drama therapy. A discipline developed in the '80s using drama and theater-based techniques to further emotional growth and individual change. It differs from psychodrama in its more direct connection with theater and performance and its focus on the whole group rather than the protagonist.


Emunah, Renee. Innovator of Drama Therapy. Author of Acting for Real, Drama Therapy Process, Technique, and Performance.


Esalen. A spa with hot springs in Big Sur, California, used as a center for learning. Both Fritz Perls and Virginia Satir were longterm resident teachers there.


Experiential. Here used to describe a therapeutic technique that actively provides the individual with a new life experience, as contrasted to the more analytic "talking" therapies.


Fantasy. All role-playing requires fantasy, but here we refer to material outside the real life situation of the role player. A fantasy role is imagined in the sense that it takes place in another country, another life /one, or dreams; a person can change into an animal, a rock, a much richer or poorer individual, etc. Another term used for this category is surplus reality.


Gestalt. A psychiatric theory and technique developed by Fritz Perls. Gestalt, the German word for figure, refers to the individual's need to complete his psychologically unfinished business, lest he spend his life repeating the same patterns, just as the hungry person spends his time with recurrent fantasies of food until his hunger is satisfied.


Haley, Jay. Member of the original Mental Research Institute group that developed systems and communications theory and the concept of the double bind. Author of many books, including Uncommon Therapy and Problem-Solving Therapy.


High-functioning group. Term used to refer to a group that can function without being affected by major psychological or physical handicaps.


Humor. Here used to highlight the use of irony and humorous contrast in a psychodrama to help an individual see problems from a lighter perspective.


Impasse. A stuck place reached when an enactment begins to lose energy and become repetitive because its protagonist has reached a major internal obstacle.


Intellectualization. A psychological defense mechanism in which a threat is deprived of its emotional content through intellectual analysis.


Johnson, David. Pioneer of Drama Therapy. Author of many articles describing his developmental theory and innovative improvisational technique in drama therapy.


Jackson, Don. Member of the original Mental Research Institute (MRI), Palo Alto, California (see Jay Haley). Editor of Human Communication, Volumes I and II, a compendium of this group's work.


Keleman, Stan. Teacher of Bio-Energetics (a system combining body awareness and psychological dynamics), therapist, and author of Living Your Dying.


Korn, Richard. Practicing psychodramatist best known for his work with prison inmates and prison personnel; trained byj. L. Moreno.


Lewin, Kurt. Sociologist. Founder of Field Theory, a system of social psychology that stresses the necessity of considering context in the analysis of any situation.


Low-functioning group. A group whose members are severely handicapped psychiatrically, physically, or mentally. Because their handicaps will make it difficult to focus attention, to maintain control, to express themselves freely or easily, the director must provide more structure and more concrete directions than in high-functioning groups.


Magic shop. Psychodramatic technique that uses the device of a shop dealing in human qualities to examine them.


Mirror. Psychodramatic technique in which an auxiliary mimics the protagonist to demonstrate an aspect of behavior of which she is unaware.


Model. To demonstrate how to play a role, comment, or behave spontaneously; an important aspect of psychodramatic leadership.


Moreno, J. L. Founder of psychodrama as a system of psychiatric dynamics and a technique of teaching and psychotherapy. Author of Psychodrama, Vol. I and, together with Zerka Moreno, Vol. II and Vol. Ill, and coeditor with A. Friedemann, and R. Battegar of The International Handbook of Group Therapy. The Morenos are the originators of psychodrama and have published widely in addition to these seminal volumes.


Moreno, Zerka. Psychodramatist, author, and coauthor with J. L. Moreno of Psychodrama, Vols. II and III, coeditor with J. L. Moreno, A. Friedemann, and R. Battegar of The International Handbook of Group Therapy, and with Dag Blomkvist, Surplus Reality and the Art of Healing.


Perls, Fritz. Founder of Gestalt Therapy. Author of Ego, Hunger and Aggression; Gestalt Therapy (co-authors: Ralph Hefferline and Paul Goodman).


Process. The "how" of doing something, here used to explore the workings of the director as well as the group interaction.


Protagonist. The main character in a psychodrama.


Psychodrama. Term originated by Moreno, which we use in a more general sense to designate role-playing in the service of personal growth.


Resistance. In relation to psychodrama, the psychological defenses designed to protect the individual from the dangers of change by cooperating without commitment, refusing to cooperate, or otherwise sabotaging the goals of the director and the group.


Resolution. The psychodrama achieves resolution when there is a lessening of tension and sense of completion that may be accompanied by a different point of view, a new solution, or insight.


Risk. Used when a person takes a leap into the psychological unknown.


Ritual. An activity that marks an important event or transition in human development, often conducted by a specialist such as a priest or a shaman. Psychodrama often takes on a ritual quality.


Role-playing. Taking part in a psychodrama. It is important not to confuse role playing with acting. Role playing refers to spontaneous improvisation depending solely on the participant's ability to fit himself into the role and his reactions to the others. Acting, on the other hand, begins with role-playing but involves a complex discipline requiring the individual to be able to learn scripts, play in a way suitable for stage or film, and repeat performances in exact detail.


Role reversal. When two role playing individuals take each other's roles. (In a father-son dialogue, for example, the father plays the son's part while the son plays the father.) For an excellent discussion of role reversal, see Adam Blatner, Acting-In: Practical Applications of Psyche-dramatic Methods (New York: Springer Publishing, 1988).


Satir, Virginia. Author of Conjoint Family Therapy and People Making. A leader in the development of family therapy and the evolution of experiential techniques.


Sacred space. A place where the ordinary world can be transcended. The psychodramatic stage often becomes a sacred space.


Scene. A part of a psychodrama with a beginning and an end. Directors often find it useful to divide a psychodrama into various scenes, each with a specific purpose.


Sculpture. An experiential technique requiring an individual to shape another person (or persons) into the posture he feels appropriately describes an emotional relationship.


Sensory awareness. A therapeutic technique designed to provide the individual with greater information about his body and his five senses.


Sociodrama. Moreno's term for drama based on social issues facing the whole group, for example, racial conflicts in a group withboth Caucasian and Black members.


Sociogram. A psychodramatic technique requiring the individual to make a living picture of a group of persons important to him by placing them at the physical distance appropriate for their psychological relationship.


Soliloqui. The protagonist speaks his thoughts directly to the audience.


Stage. Here used to designate any area where a psychodrama takes place.


Strategy. A plan developed by a psychodrama leader or director for a specific purpose in a particular psychodrama.


Style. The manner of doing one's work; that which is personal and idiosyncratic in the psychodrama director's performance.


Surplus reality. The world that takes place on the psychodramatic stage where anything can take place—time travel, fantasy, enacted metaphor—and still be seen in the present and in real dimensions.


Tele. Term coined by Moreno to denote the dynamic that determines the way in which individuals are connected in a group in terms of their attraction and repulsion. It accounts for preferences between group members, the mood of the group and the intuitive leaps often made in role assignments and role-playing.


Warm-up. The initial activity in a psychodrama group designed to encourage maximum participation and spontaneity as well as introduce material for further work.

CPPD - TUODRP - Dramatic Role Playing in the Classroom

I have noted that a number of participants attending the workshop are working in educational settings. I have open a separate repository of relevant videos on the use of Dramatic Role Playing in the Classroom. Enjoy!

CPPD - Therapeutic Use of Dramatic Role Playing

 have compiled and embedded within this blog a collection of related vignettes of diverse videos pertaining to the dramatic arts and therapy. This is to offer you a visual sampling of the wide range areas to as to how dramatic role playing can being utilised. The one day workshop that you will be attending or have attended is but only a small beginning in my desire to introduce you to a therapeutic medium that is so vast and rich with so much potentialities to address the life span challenges and needs of our communities and in fostering the well being of its individuals.


I hope such materials will further support your interest and may even motivate you in wanting to invest further in acquiring the range of creative arts therapy skills to be able to integrate it into your current practice as a enabler and helper for others. Pease feel free to add your comments.

Dramatherapy around the World



...from Palestine




....from Thailand



.....from Italy



......from Netherlands



.....from USA


Prominent figures who have to contributed to the development in the discipline of Dramatherapy

Jacob L Moreno
The original contributor to the many action methods employed in many contemporary therapies




Augusto Boal

Founder of the Thearte of the Oppressed




Dorothy Heathcote
Employing Drama in the Classroom

Thinking Out Loud

My thoughts on the 6PSM - ALS Group TUOS

How To Make E Learning Work

View more presentations from Jane Hart.