16th September 2019 Amy Willshire All posts, Dramatherapy or Dramatherapist, Lifelong Learning Leave a comment

Wellbeing At The Heart Of Support: Khulisa’s Trauma-informed Model For Young People

The final workshop I attended at the Dramatherapy Conference last month was on Khulisa’s approach to working with schools and prisons. I was really excited about this workshop; I had the privileged to support Khulisa’s work in 2015 and saw the transformative impact their Face It programme had in a school. At the time I was training in Person-centered talk therapy but feeling like the counselling experience was lacking in the creative and embodied approaches I like to use with […]

14th September 2019 Amy Willshire Dramatherapy or Dramatherapist, Lifelong Learning Leave a comment

Working Empathically With Unspoken Trauma In Adoptive Families –An Adopter’s Perspective.

At the dramatherapy conference last weekend, I attended Workshop 11 which included two papers on adoption, one by Catherine Lake and one by Anna Seymour. The two presenters shared their perspective as both dramatherapists and as adoptive parents with a short discussion afterwards. The first presentation (the focus of this blog) was from Catherine Lake “Since the introduction of the Adoption Support Fund there has been significant growth in the area of therapeutic post adoption support leading to an increased […]

14th September 2019 Amy Willshire All posts, Dramatherapy or Dramatherapist, Lifelong Learning Leave a comment

Art in Mental Health

There was an art exhibit called Day 1 at this years dramatherapy conference by Amit Sharma which had been exhibited as part of Mental Health Awareness Week (May) with Shadow Road and OSO Arts Centre. The piece explored a way to use art within supervision within the field of mental health. I was particularly drawn to the wire sculpture. The head was fractured by the wall behind which the torso was attached to creating a brokenness with the impression of […]

12th September 2019 Amy Willshire All posts, Dramatherapy or Dramatherapist, Lifelong Learning Leave a comment

Emotional First Aid, Trauma Tapping Technique

I had an early morning activity on Saturday morning at the BADth Conference, stating even before breakfast was served. I don’t mind an early start but it is rare that I do anything much before breakfast. Here is what the programme said to tempt me to book this activity. “During December 2018–January 2019 I volunteered at Camp Moria Lesvos, Greece. The conditions in the camp are horrendous. Most of the refugees do not feel safe, especially at night and especially […]

11th September 2019 Amy Willshire All posts, Dramatherapy or Dramatherapist, Lifelong Learning Leave a comment

How It Feels To Remember by Erica Hedge and Daniella Budd at BADth Conference

There were four choices for performances we could attend on the Friday night of the BADth Conference. I had been attracted to this one as I was interested in how pre-verbal trauma could be worked with. We had been told in the blurb that: “Often the events that shape us happen to us before we even have the language to re-tell and make sense of our stories. One of the questions we are most commonly asked by parents and care […]

10th September 2019 Amy Willshire Dramatherapy or Dramatherapist, Lifelong Learning 2 Comments

Psychological Trauma and Resilience. When words are not enough. Planting the Alder. BADth Conference Keynote

This years dramatherapy conference keynote speech was from a group of 7 dramatherapists representing different generations and approaches. Dr. Bruce Howard Bayley and Mary Smail began by wondering what note it would be and which key it would be in. What does an alder tree have to do with trauma? How can resilience be put into words? How can seven different dramatherapists bring together different aspects of this puzzle and will it make sense as a cohesive whole presentation once […]

6th September 2019 Amy Willshire All posts, Dramatherapy or Dramatherapist, Lifelong Learning Leave a comment

Embodied Approaches to Eating Disorders Part 3 Improv and DVT

Last month I attended a three day training course called Embodied Approaches to Eating Disorders led by Laura Wood, Martin Redfern and Naomi Nygaard – all creative therapists who are also trained in IFS. This is the third and final blog sharing some of the different strands of that training. The first blog looked at an embodied approach to IFS which works with parts of self and yesterday’s blog looked at meditation and theatre approaches. Today we are going to look at […]

5th September 2019 Amy Willshire All posts, Dramatherapy or Dramatherapist, Lifelong Learning Leave a comment

Embodied Approaches to Eating Disorders Part 2 meditation and theatre

Last month I attended a three day training course called Embodied Approaches to Eating Disorders led by Laura Wood, Martin Redfern and Naomi Nygaard – all creative therapiss who are also trained in IFS. I am reflecting on and sharing some of the different strands of that training. Yesterday’s blog looked at an embodied approach to IFS which works with parts of self. Tomorrow’s blog will look at movement, improvisation and Developmental Transformations. Today’s blog will start with meditation and […]

4th September 2019 Amy Willshire All posts, Dramatherapy or Dramatherapist, Lifelong Learning Leave a comment

Embodied Approaches to Eating Disorders Part 1 Eating disorder and IFS Parts

At last years conference I attended a fantastic workshop called ‘Embodying the dis-embodied: dramatherapy interventions for every stage of eating disorder treatment’ led by Dr Laura Wood. In that three hour workshop, Laura introduced some of the approaches she used when working with clients at an eating disorder treatment centre. Laura asked important questions like “What happens when the identity of an eating disorder is what sustains the person?” – some of her clients believe they can not function without […]

30th August 2019 Amy Willshire All posts Leave a comment

Embodiment for the Organs with Body-Mind Centering®

This week I attending The London Embodiment Circle, a group of different practitioners who work with the body through yoga, dance, martial arts, therapy and many other disciplines. After an opening check in and meditation warm up, we progressed to the main session which this month was on an embodied approach to conscious movement. Body-Mind Centering® Irene Cena led the session; she is a registered Body-Mind Centering® practitioner and Somatic movement educator. View this post on Instagram Irene Cena is […]

« 1 2 3 4 … 8 »