Drama-based group therapy offers a supportive environment where children can connect and communicate, transforming challenges into opportunities for growth and self-discovery.
The Benefits of Group Therapy for Children
- Reduced Isolation: Children feel less alone in their experiences.
- Sense of Belonging: Participants build community with peers.
- Understanding and Validation: Children feel more understood and validated, enhancing empathy.
- Comfort in Sharing: They become better at discussing difficult emotions.
- Social Skills Development: Group therapy improves social skills and reduces negative behaviours.
- Increased Confidence: Participation boosts self-esteem.
- Problem-Solving Practice: Children practice strategies for real-life challenges.
- Collaborative Exploration: The group setting helps them work through tough issues together.
Group therapy positively impacts children's emotional and social development by helping them manage challenges in a safe environment
How I work
I offer creative group therapy through drama therapy and psychodrama psychotherapy, utilising drama and role-playing to address personal and interpersonal issues. Psychodrama techniques like doubling, role reversal, and the mirror technique are especially effective for children, promoting emotional expression, empathy, and self-awareness, which enhance coping skills and personal growth. These techniques are closely related to theories of child development.
Session Overview
Adam, Becky, Carla, and Daniel (anonymised) have met for six weeks, creating a safe group dynamic. Each session focused on themes like "calm," "kindness," and "safety," allowing them to explore these concepts. Members practiced role-reversal to gain different perspectives and ended each session with a reflection on how to apply their insights to personal space.
Once the group had developed cohesion and established a sense of safety, we began to explore personal stories. In one session, Becky arrived feeling very upset. That morning, she had injured her hand on her way to school, and by the afternoon, she was still struggling with her emotions. Becky has faced several significant losses in her life, lives with extended family, and often struggles to feel a sense of belonging in her emotional landscape.
As a group, we decided to work with Becky’s theme of her hurting hand and the upset she felt. We set up a hospital scene in which Becky played the patient, Adam was the doctor, and Carla was the nurse. Daniel was absent for this session. The scene unfolded with Becky being treated and cared for, and already, she had shifted into a different state of mind. After the scene played out, Adam and Carla engaged in active empathy by imagining they were Becky and voicing how they thought she might be feeling (example of doubling).
Becky felt heard, understood, validated and connected to the group as her needs were met. We played the scene two more times, with each participant trying a different role. Afterward, we discussed our experiences and how it felt to take on those roles. This reflection encouraged everyone to explore new ways of being that they could practice outside of the sessions, where the skills developed would ultimately transfer into the real world.
Potential participants
Participants should have self-regulation skills, motivation, and reflection abilities, akin to one-on-one therapy, along with some group work capacity. Art and drama skills are not required. We offer creative therapy groups through MAST, now including environmental arts therapy.
