Week 4: Creative Arts Therapy High

Proof: there's lots of ways to practice DT
I had a meeting with the other Drama Therapist on Tuesday that works for ITA (not the one I shadow) to chat about DT. We talked about the advantages of an Alternative Training DT registration track, her experience with the at-risk-youth population, and a little bit about her method of practicing DT. Everything she said was confirmation of why I want to get involved in DT: holistic approach to people, allowing imaginative practice in the healing process, using theatre in a process-not-product focused manner,  a small community of collaborative and creative professionals. We're going to meet again to  talk more about the logistics of what a DT session looks like, since we got sidetracked talking about the best way to get the right experience with the right populations to figure out what kind of therapy I want to practice.  The little we talked about the logistics, though, was promising. It was, as I expected, different than the drama therapist I shadow but equally as valuable. She practices, I've gathered, with a more embodied approach. She uses more movement, and the practice of DVT, developmental transformations (http://www.developmentaltransformations.com/), a really awesome theory and practice that uses embodiment and is becoming more widely used as of late in the DT field.  It's something I'm definitely interested in looking into for future practice.

Open House
At the end of our Open House, our Practice Manager turned to me, saw me smiling, and said, "You're on a Creative Arts Therapy high, aren't you?"

Yep. I was. Our open house was interactive; we had demonstrations of the 4 different CAT modalities happening simultaneously for almost the full five hours of the event.  I spent a little bit of time in all four, seeing not only examples of interventions our therapists might use with a clients but also hearing their explanations of why they might use those interventions, answering questions along the way. I participated in a group movement exercise similar to our movement warm ups in my Voice and Movement course, and a drama imagination game similar to generating exercises the Here and Now cast used for our devised show last spring.  I saw a group of adults create artwork carousel-style, and I listened to one of our Neurologic Music Therapists talk about the advantages of musical entrainment for fine motor coordination.  I was grinning ear to ear for the majority of the time.

So there I was, surrounded by these mental health professionals from the area who were experiencing CAT, many for the first time  (the event was geared toward professionals who were interested in seeing what some of their own clients might be involved in should they refer them to ITA).  We were all nodding, smiling, and having our own ah-ha moments.  We were all on a CAT high. Even better, I lost track of time. I was so engrossed in the demos, 2pm became 6pm.  I sat with our Dance Movement Therapist for about an hour talking about how to get into the field, and 6pm became 7pm, clean up time. I went home glowing.


At our clinical meeting this week we had client presentations, where a therapist (in this case our clinical interns) gives a presentation about a particular client including their diagnosis, presenting problems, therapeutic goals, and intervention strategies being used to address the problems. IT WAS SO COOL.  I got to hear real presentations about real people with real psychological diagnoses and see how their treatment plans are organized. The coolest part: I could see myself doing that for a very long time.  How could I ever get bored of an ever changing, complex human being with evolving problems and diagnoses? How could I ever tire of coming  up with creative solutions, individualized to that complex individual, to help them improve their quality of life, especially after a significant trauma or other problem that interferes with their opportunity to have the unimpeded options so many people have? I could feel good about that job.  I could go to bed feeling as though I was intellectually stimulated and like I was doing important work and doing at least a little bit of my part to give back to the world and its people after they have given me so much.

Takeaways
So what did I learn out of all of that whirlwind of a week? I've solidified a direction for grad school.  MSW programs, here I come. After I take some time abroad (1 year? 2 years?), I'll apply to grad school for Master's in Social Work. If I'm still interested in becoming a Creative Arts Therapist at that point (which I probably will be- I don't see my passion for theatre, arts,  psychology and client work shifting all that much), I'll do an Alternative Track certification so I can practice as a licensed counselor and a drama therapist.   DT is my path of choice to pay it forward, and it's a job I could love and feel good about.

 Internship is already half over- here's to a great rest of the adventure!