Could you tell us how you would identify yourself as a practitioner and the context in which you would like to work including who your audience and target market would be?
I identify myself as a drama therapist etc facilitator. Using drama techniques, I have learnt, I want to impact different communities in a positive way through drama workshop. I want them to be able to express themselves and use the issues they face to impact their theatre making skills in a positive way. Becoming a student at York St John university brought me to the discovery of drama therapy; ever since I became a student I became invested in the idea of working closely with communities through the power of the arts. My main interest, within facilitating different communities, lies within the mental health sector. I am truly passionate about this aspect as I think mental health is something that affects everybody, whether that being severe mental health or minor. I like the idea of working with mental health users in an educational setting etc universities, schools; providing educational opportunities for them to thrive within the arts world. This stemmed from my experience with converge, as they are a part of York st john university and work closely with mental health users through the arts.
I want to carry on facilitating those who find themselves in very challenging circumstances. As well as impacting communities’ lives, I want to ensure the wellbeing of those around me. Ensuring that they are safe and comfortable when taking part in the workshops. I like the idea of working with different communities and going against the challenges they face. Not letting that be the focus; but the theatre that they create. I would not want to provoke them hard hitting subjects unless they felt comfortable enough to talk. However, in certain aspects of drama therapy I think that using an individuals challenges in life is essential; enabling individuals to create hard hitting theatre that is raw with emotions. For example, I think that a prison setting is a perfect setting for this kind of theatre; this would be a way of inmates relieving the negative energy that they feel; turning it into a positive through the use of performance.
In terms of facilitation, my target audience is communities. Whether they use theatre as a way of escaping life; or using it to face there challenges head on through creating a performance. I would like to work with different communities, facilitating drama workshops with them. I want people in the community who have faced problems to know that opportunities are there for them, educational opportunities within the arts world. Performance is and will always be a passion of mine but the more I have experienced facilitating different groups, the more I have realised that my real passion Is influencing individuals to create a performance through facilitating workshops. Giving them a purpose to thrive and do something that they thoroughly enjoy.
How is your identity as a practitioner both reflected in the portfolio and produced by the portfolio?
This portfolio presents the different placements I have undertaken while studying my degree of Drama, Education and community. It goes into depth about the kinds of communities that I have had experience with and the context of these workshops that I have facilitated. I have also touched upon intimacy within the arts industry and how it is important in terms of my relevant career choice of facilitating communities through drama workshops.
The portfolio explains how I want to work with different communities in the future, specialising in mental health. I think it is important to always talk about triggering topics to raise awareness but in terms of mental health I like the idea of not using an individuals mental health as a stimulus to create a piece of theatre. This way it is all about the theatre and what the participant creates. I state in this portfolio how I want to go on to do a postgraduate in applied theatre, furthering my knowledge and understanding of facilitation. In my portfolio I evidence 3 past projects I have done; explaining the importance they have to me and why they have been a massive influence for the kind of work that I want to make. It portrays the skills that I have gathered because of these three projects; exploring further how it has helped me enhance my facilitation skills.
I have ensured that my portfolio is clear; everything is easy to find. I have presented it in a professional manor but made it easy to access for those who are wanting to look at it. This was important to me to show future employers that I have clear communication skills. As well as my portfolio underlining the work that I have already done to further my knowledge and understanding of facilitation, it also gives a clear representation of where I want to go next. Furthermore, wanting to specialise in facilitating mental health users through drama workshop; wanting to go on to doing a postgraduate degree in applied theatre.

Drawing on evidence from your portfolio, what would your identity as the most significant moments of insights to your learning as a practitioner?
The most significant moments of my learning as a practitioner are within the 3 projects that I have gone into detail with. Underlining my experience within facilitating different communities. It shows the different approaches I have had to take with different communities when facilitating, in terms of mental health and age. These experiences have really shaped me as a facilitator, giving me two very different experiences of taking a leadership role and highlighting to me the importance of communities.
It’s Not Okay was the project where I got my first-hand experience of facilitation. Going into it was a very quick process as soon as we went to the school, we had our first session facilitating the children. This was frightening at first, as I had never facilitated a community properly. However, going into the experience in this way meant that I got to adapt quickly. Even though every workshop did not go to plan I learnt that it is not always a bad thing. Obstacles enhance your knowledge of facilitating; you can take away what went wrong from that session and build on it to create a better workshop for the coming week. Having the end discussions really helped as the young people were very open with us; expressing what they enjoyed and what did not work for them. Taking this on board and creating a workshop that they enjoyed meant that the communication and the end was working, enhancing my communication skills on a whole.
For me, the most rewarding project I have taken part in has been converge, in the moment. This project did not just teach me about taking a leadership role; but how to involve myself in a community. I had o be apart of creating an enjoyable atmosphere for the participants involved; furthermore, creating an enjoyable atmosphere for me as a facilitator. It built my confidence in so many ways, helping me to overcome my fears of not knowing what to say in a workshop environment due to lack of confidence; worry that I will not succeed. Even though I was there to assist and at points take a facilitation role, I feel like I created bonds with the participants. I got to know them on a deeper level rather that just being in a drama workshop with them. Seeing them create a performance that they were so invested in was a very heart-warming feeling for me; I knew I had been apart of this, apart of a community. Before converge I had only has experience with children; I had never had experience with mental health users. So naturally this was daunting at first, I did not want to cross the boundaries in terms of what I said or how I acted towards them. However, the more sessions I undertook the more comfortable I felt. Learning to take initiative in situation, to not be afraid to try new things. Problems did arise at many points during the workshops, for example one of the participants did not feel up to involving himself in one of the last rehearsals, in the actual performance itself. This could have been made into a massive issue, but with our approach it was not. Teaching me that you must be prepared for every scenario, if things don’t go to plan it can’t be helped and you should still carry on. Even though we did not focus on the participants mental health, it was still something that they struggled with daily. I always had to have in the back of my mind that certain aspects of the workshops could still trigger them; it was how I dealt with that as a facilitator that would really shape the outcome of the situation.
What do you want to do next and how do you think your portfolio evidences and helps this ambition?
My portfolio evidences that my end career goal is to become a drama therapist, facilitating drama workshops to different communities, specialising in mental health. However, there I steps that I need to take in order to reach this goal. I am wanting to do a postgraduate in applied theatre, furthering my understanding in facilitation and taking necessary steps towards my goal. However, apart from that I would also like to experience different aspects of life for myself. Volunteering in the community; getting more experience with different types of communities. At this moment in time, I have only worked with young people and adults who have used mental health services. Another goal of mine would be to undertake a placement in a prison partnership programme; something very out of my comfort zone. I have never had experience in this type of environment, my understanding is the rules in terms of safeguarding would be a lot stricter because of the setting. However, I want to experience a community who are oppressed, who use drama as an escape. I want to have a positive affect on there outlook on life; giving them hope that there are still opportunities out there for them. As well as this I would like to travel; to meet new people and gain more of an understanding of the different communities that are out there and how drama therapy could potentially change there lives for the better.