iFilmGroup Drama Therapy Workshop
Acting is an activity in which a story is told and played out employing its enactment by an actor or actress who adopts a character. The power of acting out our feelings and emotions can be quite powerful and through this art form can help people to deal with things they don’t always know how to say or express.
In fact, the art of drama and acting is used by the professional therapist as a form of therapy to help patients explore and express what they are feeling. It is called drama therapy and it is the intentional use of drama and/or theatre processes to achieve therapeutic goals. Drama therapy is active and experiential. This approach can provide the context for participants to tell their stories, set goals and solve problems, express feelings, or achieve catharsis.
Drama therapy which in the UK, Europe, Australia, and Africa is written drama therapy, is the use of theatre techniques to facilitate personal growth and promote mental health. Drama therapy is used in a wide variety of settings, including hospitals, schools, mental health centers, prisons, and businesses. Drama therapy, as a modality of the creative arts therapies, exists in many forms and can be applied to individuals, couples, families, and various groups.
The modern use of the dramatic process as a therapeutic intervention began with Dr. Jacob L. Moreno’s development of Psychodrama, an action-based form of psychoanalysis. However, although Moreno's psychodrama preceded the beginning and development of drama therapy by roughly half a century, the field of drama therapy established itself as a distinct modality within the creative arts therapies and cannot be seen as merely an evolved form of psychodrama. The field of drama therapy has expanded to allow many forms of theatrical interventions as therapy including role-playing, theatre games, mime, puppetry, and other improvisational techniques. Often, drama therapy is utilized to help a client with, solving a problem, Achieve a catharsis, delve into truths about one's self, understand the meaning of personally resonant images, explore and transcend unhealthy personal patterns of behaviour and interpersonal interaction
The theoretical foundation of drama therapy lies in drama, theatre, psychology, psychotherapy, anthropology, play, as well as interactive and creative processes. Today, drama therapy is practiced around the world and there are presently academic training programs in Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, Croatia, Israel, and the United States.
iFilmGroup shares the mission of providing a safe, supportive and creative environment that allows personal expression and encourages personal growth as well as allowing positive changes in their lives in a meaningful way.
The iFilmGroup team has worked on projects which have included such topics as “ various addiction” (Addictions) “electronic device attachment” (Tuned In), “depression” (Struggles Within), “teen bullying” (Malicious Attack), “mental illness” and “domestic abuse” (Blue Love) Through seeing the various projects and along with speaking with the co-founders iFilmGroup and observing how they work in person and on set, you can see how drama is being used and embraced by iFilmGroup to tell stories that people can relate to when they watch them.
But even great is the deeper mission and purpose of the group through the making of the films, that they allow people of all different ages to come together in the community working as the writers, cast and crew to explore things that they dealing with in their own life, in a safe non-judgemental environment. iFilmGroup allows mentorship by members of each other in filmmaking as well as life situations. It is an outlet that allows those involved to express themselves in a safe situation of acting out a character in a story. Each person associated with the iFilmGroup films gets an opportunity to play various characters and roles that allow them to experience different feelings, and get to think differently without being judged
It is through the art of drama and plays that many people learn to express themselves better and gain confidence in interaction in the world as well as how to effectively deal with personal matters and worldly issues more effectively. Drama and acting can be a tool in which those involved can gain some amazing benefits and encourage personal growth within individuals and positive meaningful change in a person’s life.
Dramatic play, whether formal (theatre experience) or informal (playing at home) allows children, youth and teens to safely express themselves, try on different characters, experiment with a different voice, and make brave choices.
Angel Bilagot, Registered Psychotherapist and Drama Therapist.
Drama therapy uses drama and theatre to achieve therapeutic goals. Simply put, a drama therapist uses drama in a skilled and intentional way to help others. In drama therapy, dramatic play can be done in a safe environment under the guidance of a trained therapist who can use these moments of play to help a child heal and grow.
Angel Bilagot is a Registered Psychotherapist and Drama Therapist. Angel graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University with a combined degree in Psychology and Theatre. She completed her Master’s Degree at Concordia University, specializing in Drama Therapy. She continued her training in Drama Therapy in New York City while working as a Therapist at the PTSD Clinic in New Haven, Connecticut. She was provided with the opportunity to have gained professional experiences to work, teach, and develop programs for environments such as the Jewish General Hospital (Montreal), The Canadian Institute for Neuro-Integrative Development (Montreal), The Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter, and The University of Alberta (Edmonton).
iFilmGroup.org - Services - Drama Therapy- 02-19