Workshop (90 minutes) #58
Tracks
Room A319
| Thursday, June 25, 2020 |
| 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM |
| A319 |
Presentation
Dramatherapy’s multimodal approach to therapy for young people with intellectual disability | Musicka-williams
Presentation information
This session runs 3.00 - 4.30pm
Presenter(s)
Ms Amanda Musicka-williams
University Of Melbourne (creative Arts And Music Therapy Research Unit) And Port Phillip Specialist School
#58 Musicka-williams: Dramatherapy’s multimodal approach to therapy for young people with intellectual disability.
Abstract
Traditional talking therapies offer limited accessibility and meaning to populations for whom speaking and thinking are not key strengths. Dramatherapy offers a unique multimodal platform from which young people with intellectual/developmental disabilities can creatively engage with the therapeutic process.
Participants attending the workshop will be given a brief introduction to dramatherapy, its unique embodied practices and therapeutic aims. Specific focus will be given to exploring the strengths of dramatherapy to enable young people with intellectual/developmental disabilities to meet relational and therapeutic needs. Following this, participants will then be invited to engage in an experiential group-work approach to therapy. Group-work dramatherapy enables young people with intellectual/developmental disabilities to engage in problem solving scenarios which are developmentally appropriate to the adolescent experience.
Participants will be introduced to a unique session structure which acts as a ritualized container for the therapeutic experience. This session structure supports participants of dramatherapy to enter a more unconscious state of play where new insights, ways of acting/being in the world may emerge through dramatic creation. Within this structure participants will explore those dramatherapy techniques and practices which adolescents in a special education setting, who participated in a dramatherapy research project, identified as most helpful for developing personal insight and connection to others.
Introductory activities provide unique multi-modal ways of checking in with participants, to support their capacity to be self -expressive and acknowledge the expression of peers. The warm up phase will introduce participants to movement practices and co-operative games which support relational connection, trust and spontaneity. The main event will explore participant’s capacity for personal problem solving through structured improvisation employing forum theatre techniques (Boal). Improvisation is explored as a tool for life in which young people with special needs, can experience themselves as directors of their own life stories and scenarios.
Participants attending the workshop will be given a brief introduction to dramatherapy, its unique embodied practices and therapeutic aims. Specific focus will be given to exploring the strengths of dramatherapy to enable young people with intellectual/developmental disabilities to meet relational and therapeutic needs. Following this, participants will then be invited to engage in an experiential group-work approach to therapy. Group-work dramatherapy enables young people with intellectual/developmental disabilities to engage in problem solving scenarios which are developmentally appropriate to the adolescent experience.
Participants will be introduced to a unique session structure which acts as a ritualized container for the therapeutic experience. This session structure supports participants of dramatherapy to enter a more unconscious state of play where new insights, ways of acting/being in the world may emerge through dramatic creation. Within this structure participants will explore those dramatherapy techniques and practices which adolescents in a special education setting, who participated in a dramatherapy research project, identified as most helpful for developing personal insight and connection to others.
Introductory activities provide unique multi-modal ways of checking in with participants, to support their capacity to be self -expressive and acknowledge the expression of peers. The warm up phase will introduce participants to movement practices and co-operative games which support relational connection, trust and spontaneity. The main event will explore participant’s capacity for personal problem solving through structured improvisation employing forum theatre techniques (Boal). Improvisation is explored as a tool for life in which young people with special needs, can experience themselves as directors of their own life stories and scenarios.
