Drama Therapy

What is Drama Therapy?

“The goal of Drama Therapy is to create a safe and supportive space where clients can tell their stories, express emotions, set goals, and explore personal challenges. Through character work and role exploration, clients gain insight into the roles they already play in their daily lives, and consider new ways of engaging with themselves and others.

Sessions may include improvisation, theater games, storytelling, and enactment, often supported by text, performance, or ritual. Depending on the group’s needs and comfort level, the Drama Therapist tailors each session to help foster a meaningful experience. Incorporating elements such as puppets, costumes, and props helps foster identity exploration and can promote discussion of personal issues. Each session ends with reflection and closure, giving clients the opportunity to process emotions and deepen their self-awareness.”

-Jessica, Drama Therapist

The Benefits of Drama Therapy

Drama Therapy provides a safe space for clients to explore different parts of their identity and relationships without feeling overwhelmed. Although it might seem like acting or performing, Drama Therapy is really about enacting: practicing new ways of thinking and behaving. This helps clients build skills they can use outside of HopeWay. For example, a client might rehearse setting boundaries during a session, making it easier to do so in real-life situations.

Drama Therapy allows clients to share their emotions in ways they may not be able to in individual or even group talk therapy. Although clients are roleplaying, we often find that aspects of their personal stories and identities can still emerge through the acting and playing of certain roles.

Drama Therapy has been shown to be an effective treatment for various populations, particularly for teens and individuals diagnosed with PTSD.

Teens

Drama Therapy offers a supportive environment where teens can explore personal concerns, reduce stress, and work through trauma. It is especially effective for diagnoses such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD). Because many teens are still developing the ability to identify and express their emotions, Drama Therapy meets them where they are, providing age-appropriate tools like play, storytelling, and creative expression to help them process life experiences and emotional challenges.

Additionally, Drama Therapy fosters emotional resilience, communication skills, and self-awareness. Techniques such as puppetry and roleplay create a safe distance from sensitive topics, allowing teens to feel more comfortable opening up and engaging meaningfully in therapy.

PTSD and Trauma

PTSD, trauma, and adverse life experiences can have lasting effects on both the mind and body, whether the exposure is direct or indirect. Drama Therapy offers clients a way to explore this trauma from a distance.

For those who find it difficult to verbalize or revisit traumatic events, projective techniques and storytelling provide safer, more accessible alternatives. This approach has been especially beneficial for Veterans and First Responders coping with and processing their unique experiences. For clients comfortable discussing their trauma, Drama Therapists may use “under-distanced” approaches to examine the experience from multiple perspectives.

Additional methods, such as Developmental Transformations (DvT) and embodiment practices, support clients in staying present without triggering stress responses tied to their trauma. Through these techniques, Drama Therapy helps clients reconnect with their bodies, senses, surroundings, and relationships.