NOVEMBER

WHAT’S IN YOUR BACKPACK?
Build More Authentic and Sustainable Relationships with Your Clients of Color

Wednesday November 14th 8PM EST/ 5 PM PST

With Robin Schlenger and Kristen Brookes

As therapists, we are always carrying with us the messages (implicit and explicit), values and codes of conduct that reflect and replicate white culture in various ways.  We bring them with us into our interactions with our clients and others in our lives. As a white therapist, you may not realize the impact that your unconscious biases are having on your ability to connect deeply with your clients of color.  It is imperative that you are aware of the effects of race, in the same way you need to be aware of the effects of transference and countertransference in your therapeutic relationships. Recognizing and unpacking these biases, values and norms is an essential step to having more authentic relationships with our clients of color and guiding us toward more healing and  emancipatory therapeutic work.

In this dialogue we will begin to unpack our backpacks by reviewing  the concept of Internalized Racial Oppression and examine the ways that Internalized Racial Superiority and Internalized Racial Inferiority manifest in our relationships with our clients. This will be an opportunity for white therapists to uncover the ways in which their whiteness is influencing the therapeutic process. You will be challenged to lean into your growing edge and to work through any shame or guilt that comes out of the process.

ABOUT THE FACILITATORS

 Jasmine Edwards, MA, LCAT, MT-BC is a NICU and Vocal Psychotherapy trained music therapist and licensed creative arts therapist currently working in a pediatric medical setting. She is currently an adjunct professor in the music therapy department at Howard University.  
OCTOBER

Older Adults: Barriers to Access and Engagement

October 16th at 5 PM PST/8 PM EST
Facilitated by Jenni Smith-Peers, Kari Rogenski, Rosimar Hernandez, & Mary Farkas 

Older Adults continue to be marginalized in many ways, often stepping into “invisibility”, while navigating the complexities of stigma and aging. The NADTA has recently formed a Older Adults sub-committee to address the use of Drama Therapy in the Older Adults Act along with revisions to the NADTA website on Older Adults. This call will explore the use of drama therapy and the creative arts to promote healing and community engagement. There will be exploration of the challenges faced as students and professionals in finding internships, focused teachings in school, and support in this drama therapy/creative arts work. We can discuss our current or prior work with Older Adults and seek solutions on how we can encourage others to help break down those barriers. Please join us in this dialogue led by four trusted clinicians who have diverse older adult experience working in private practice, agency/community settings, hospitals, veterans affairs and for national non-profits.

PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR FACILITATORS
 JUNE

    A Community Call to Action: Standing up For Children and Families

When: June 28th 5pm PST/8pm EST.  

During the last two months, more than 2000 undocumented children have been separated from their parents and detained. While the current administration has declared an end to their policy of separating children from their families at the border, families fleeing violence are still being criminalized for their attempts to survive, and it is still unclear about what will happen with the 2000 children currently detained. As mental health professionals we know about the psychological and neurological impacts caused by these kinds of separations.

These xenophobic policies impact our members, clients and communities.

                  • Airlines are refusing to fly children without their families,
                  • Petitions and fundraisers are being organized
                  • Michael Moore calls for civil disobedience

What are we as drama therapists willing to do?

Join other drama therapists on Thursday June 28th, 5pm PST/8pmEST and use any feelings of concern to strategize and find our collective power to fuel action.

Click Here to View in Spanish

Healing from our colonial past: How can Drama Therapy help us heal from generations of trauma? 

When: June 11th 5pm PST/8pm EST. 

PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR FACILITATORS
MAY

 Calling it Out: Size Discrimination and Weight Bias an Advocacy Approach

May 23rd, 2018. 5:30pm PST/8:30pm Est 

Diet culture and fat-phobia can be pervasive causing immense personal and societal harm. This call will give a brief introduction to Health At Every Size® Principles and how this approach can be explored in creative-based ways in the clinical space and within an advocacy context.
APRIL

Overcoming Stigmas: An Interactive Dialogue on the Intersection of Multicultural Diversity and Disability

Monday, April 23rd at 5:00pm PST and 8:00pm EST

Diana Elizabeth Jordan will help participants understand and explore:

1. The intersection of multicultural identity and disability perspectives
2. A brief historical context of the disability and civil rights movements. 
3.Tools to explore and challenge stigma in your practice and community 

Diana Elizabeth Jordan, MFA, OTA is an awarding winning Actor, Storyteller -Speaker, Expressive Arts Facilitator, Artist Educator and Activist.
Diana has been cast in over 40 plays, television shows, films and documentaries. She is also featured in a book featuring multi disciplined artists with disabilities from around the world. She is a member of SAG-AFTRA and AEA. Diana was first actress with a disability (cerebral palsy which mildly affects her speech and gait) to graduate with a MFA in Acting from California state University Long Beach and is one of the featured artists in Liliana Moldovan's new book Eroii Imposibilului, a book featuring multi-disciplined artists with disabilities from around the world. 
Diana also holds a certificate in Social, Emotional Arts (UCLA 2014) and is studying drama therapy at the Los Angeles Drama Therapy Institute.
Diana launched her expressive arts production company The Rainbow Butterfly Café  in 2015, because of her passion for the transformative power of the performing and expressive arts. She offers ( through the RBC) one person shows, performance lectures and expressive arts based workshops that celebrate multicultural inclusion and disability intersectionality, triumphing over adversity and foster personal growth and professional development.
MARCH 

Drama Therapy and Intersectionality in Clinical and Educational Settings

Sunday, March 25 at 5:30pm Pst (8:30pm Est)

What does intersectionality mean to you in your work?
Where do you see intersectionality present in your work?
What are some of the challenges in incorporating intersectionality into our work?

Please join Danielle Levanas and Kamran Afary to explore these questions in relation to your own work and practice.

PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR FACILITATORS
 JANUARY
 

Tools for Revolution and Change

Monday January 8th, 2017, 8:00PM EST, 5:00PM PST
Facilitated by Alexis Powell, MA & Britton Williams, MA

A skill-share workshop for drama therapists to encounter and share specific tools and exercises for opening up dialogues around difference and challenging systems of oppression.