When people hear the term Dramatherapy, they often assume it involves acting, performing or role play.

In reality, Dramatherapy is a psychological therapy that uses creativity, imagination, stories and metaphor to help people explore their experiences and emotions. Rather than focusing on performance, Dramatherapy creates opportunities for children and young people to express themselves in ways that can sometimes feel safer and more accessible than direct conversation.

Stories are often central to this process

Throughout childhood, stories help us make sense of ourselves, our relationships and the world around us. Whether through books, films, imaginative play or characters we create ourselves, stories can provide a powerful way of exploring experiences that may be difficult to put into words.

To learn more about this unique therapeutic approach, we spoke to Gateway Psychology Dramatherapist Ellie about the role stories play in therapy, why imagination matters, and what Dramatherapy can offer children and young people.

For those who may not have come across it before, what exactly is Dramatherapy?

It’s a form of creative and expressive therapy that uses drama and theatre techniques to effect psychological change and transformation.

Some of the most used methods include story-making, role-play, puppetry, sand-tray and small world play/projection onto objects.

The title of this post is Why Stories Matter. What role do stories play within Dramatherapy?

Stories are at the heart of Dramatherapy. There are many ways in which we may use them in our process. Firstly, we may create stories using games, simple structures and improvisation. Secondly, we might select existing stories and characters that we feel connected to and work creatively with them. Finally, we can bring stories to life, tell life stories and piece together memories using stories.

A lot of people assume that you must be an experienced or skilled performer to engage in Dramatherapy. This is not the case! Whilst those who are familiar with drama may initially be more confident in the space, the gentle and flexible style of Dramatherapy enables those without a theatre background to engage at their own pace and discover methods they are comfortable with. Furthermore, I have often witnessed creativity challenge the self-limiting beliefs of those with less drama experience and foster empowerment and connection with the younger self.

Dramatherapy focuses on the process of creative expression, rather than producing art. Therefore, no client is expected to perform or judged on their acting skills. Instead, they are encouraged to explore, reflect and connect using drama as a foundation.

Why do stories, characters and metaphor often help people explore experiences that can be difficult to talk about directly?

Characters, stories and metaphor all create something called aesthetic distance between someone’s real life experience and their exploration of it. For example, if a character is feeling jealous and a client needs to explore this emotion for themselves, becoming the character allows them to do so in a less confrontational way. Children’s natural language is play and so exploring difficult emotions and memories in this way is easy for them to tolerate.

For emotions to be understood, they need to be felt, to be witnessed and to be explored. Stepping into fiction allows children to feel emotions carefully, within a character. The Dramatherapist witnesses these emotions and offers acceptance and validation. They then gently guide the child through a meaning making process called life-drama connection. This is where the experience of a character can be compared with real life experience and assist a child in understanding how they feel and why. This may not all occur in one session, but over the course of an intervention.

Are there particular reasons why stories can feel safer than direct conversation for some children?

Talking directly about traumatic experiences is a significant threat on a young person’s nervous system. Children who experience trauma live in a perpetual state of vigilance, detecting threat in most environments and responding in the only way they know how- fleeing, shutting down or lashing out. Playing and imagining reduces the intensity of exploring these experiences by removing the demand for direct interaction or recollection of difficult times. Furthermore, stories have predictable structures which foster a sense of security and that can be absent in the life stories of traumatised children. This is a core reason why play, acting and creative expression feel safer.

What kinds of children and young people might benefit from Dramatherapy?

Anyone can benefit from dramatherapy! As it is such a flexible approach, it’s possible to design a unique intervention for each individual client. However, dramatherapy has particular benefits for children whose presentation is chaotic, shut down or mature for their biological age. Play spaces offer opportunities to transform chaos to order in an expressive way that is contained by creativity. Children who are shut down can discover new ways to open up again. Young people who have had to grow up too quickly can rediscover their inner child through play, and develop a more secure sense of self.

What does a Dramatherapy session actually look like in practice?

Usually in a session there will be an opening ritual, such as breathing exercises, followed by a check in, which often takes a mixed approach of verbal and creative. This is to ascertain the child’s presentation and create space for reflecting on the previous week. We’ll then move into a main activity such as creating a story, enactment, image making, mask work. There is then some time to reflect on this process before a closing ritual that mirrors the opening, to facilitate containment. If we have been enacting stories through role-play a vital step in a session is to de-role, so that a child leaves difficult material with the Dramatherapist and feels themselves again before returning to their daily activities.  This can look like movement to get back into our own bodies, breathing exercises and shaking off characteristics together.

How do you help children feel comfortable if they are initially unsure about engaging in creative activities?

Lots of choice is given and progression occurs at the child’s own pace. We may start with games and characters a child is already familiar with, rather than introducing anything new and uncertain. I explain the plan of each session and of the overall process, so children know what to expect.

What role do imagination and creativity play in emotional wellbeing more broadly?

Creative processes are often cathartic. In busy modern day lives we often have little time to talk about how we feel. Engaging in a creative activity allows for emotions to be expressed and therefore processed. Processing minimises the power of those emotions and helps people feel more in control.

Connection is fundamental to our wellbeing as a social species. Engaging in creativity with others facilitates powerful connection. Think about when your child invites you into their world by asking you to play. Consider the many conversations you’ve had with people about tv shows you’ve seen or music you love. There are many ways in which creativity can be a foundation for connection building.

A lot of aspects of modern-day life prevent playfulness and creativity and keep up stuck in our heads, overthinking. As a movement-based approach, being imaginative and playful allow us to move through emotions stored in our bodies and release any tension.

How do you know when a child is beginning to make progress through Dramatherapy?

I often notice gradual progress, such as a child becoming more confident in the space, taking the lead more often and sharing ideas. However, progress can also occur via critical incidents, such as making a significant life-drama connection, choosing creative regulation strategies instead of defaulting to habitual ones and engaging in creative expression outside of sessions. A child’s presentation may shift from chaotic to calm, anxious to regulated or shut down to expressive. An increase in general confidence often results from consistent creative engagement and achievement also.

What have children and young people taught you about the importance of stories and imagination?

So much! They have taught me that stories are not just important, but fundamental for healthy emotional development and healing. Stories help develop empathy and emotional literacy. They provide comfort, they inspire innovation, they ease difficult transitions. I believe it is a fundamental parental responsibility read to children. If you are parenting a child who has additional needs or has experienced trauma, this is especially true.

What is the most rewarding part of your work as a Dramatherapist?

There are many rewarding aspects of this work. Stories are so important I would say getting to be part of a child or young person’s story, even for a short time, is rewarding in itself. Helping them tell and explore their stories and grow in confidence over time fills me with pride.

If there was one thing you wish parents, carers and professionals understood about Dramatherapy, what would it be?

That there is method in the madness! On the surface it may not make sense, but every intervention is carefully considered and evidence based. If you can trust the creative process, you are inviting powerful change and supporting your child in a way that will serve them for their whole lives.

Stories have been used throughout human history to communicate experiences, explore emotions and make sense of the world around us. For children and young people, stories can provide a powerful way of expressing thoughts and feelings that may otherwise feel difficult to articulate.

As Ellie explains, Dramatherapy is not about performance or acting ability. Instead, it offers a therapeutic space where creativity, imagination and storytelling can be used to support emotional wellbeing, self-understanding and meaningful change.

If you would like to learn more about Dramatherapy or discuss whether it may be appropriate for a child or young person you support, please get in touch with the Gateway Psychology team.