During my Performance in Social Context module, I got the opportunity to work with Converge which is a group for local people who use mental health services, it is led by staff and students, and allows the individual’s that are involved to express themselves using different drama mediums. This was interesting for me because I have never really worked closely alongside adults, I’m used to working with children and young people after previous work experiences. I had the opportunity to run 40 minutes of the session weekly alongside a colleague, in which we created workshop plans with different tasks on that were designated to each of us. This allowed us to get to know the group individually and see how they work within the group. Knowing the dynamic of how a group works is very important when facilitating individuals. Facilitating can change depending on what context you are working in, for example, education or community. There would be a different dynamic and potentially a different way of working in a school compared to working in a prison. This is where awareness takes place and being socially aware of different individuals, this allows you to built a rapport with each individual. One aspect I learnt was maintaining the professionalism whilst interacting with the students throughout our breaks. Within the lesson it is natural to get into your professional character ready to teach, but in breaks it is still important to maintain that as well as being their friends, this is in case the individual brings anything personal or concerning up, then I can choose the correct decision to make in order to listen and support this individual. This was something I encountered during my time at converge, and something that I will remember when going into my career.
“It can be hard work, but also immensely rewarding when the group is working well together.”
This is something I experienced whilst being a facilitator. It sometimes can be difficult to keep everyone in the group happy and positive, but it is important to try keep everyone involved and support them through tasks and not force an individual to do something if they feel uncomfortable. It’s important to remember that this is supposed to be a positive environment for everyone. It is very rewarding to watch the students grow with each other and see how theatre can really help them. Theatre can have a positive effect on mental health and needs to be made more aware on the impacts it can have. Individuals can come together and understand that they are not alone with what they are going through and allow themselves a positive mindset, and as a facilitator to be apart of this is can be such proud feelings knowing that you have allowed them to feel accepted and support them. This is all experience and knowledge I will take with me into my masters and other work-experience but transferring it to specifically Dramatherapy.
York St John University [GB]. https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/converge/ [Accessed 2 April 2020].
Time-to-change.org.uk. (no date). Working with Groups. [online] Available at: https://www.time-to-change.org.uk/sites/default/files/Working%20With%20Groups.pdf [Accessed 24 April 2020]