Therapeutic Modalities
Drama Therapy
Nature Based Therapies
Mindfulness
Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Radical Openness Dialectic Behavioral Therapy (RO DBT)
What is Drama THerapy?
The North American Drama Therapy Association (NADTA) defines Drama Therapy as “an embodied practice that is active and experiential. This approach can provide the context for participants to tell their stories, set goals and solve problems, express feelings, or achieve catharsis.” In sessions this can look like engaging in creative exercises that lean on metaphor to explore and understand life struggles, relationships, and complex feelings. We may write, draw, dance, talk, or sit in silent awareness.
What are nature based therapies?
There are many specific modalities under the umbrella of Nature Based Therapies. These include, but are not limited to: ecotherapy, wilderness therapy, therapeutic horticulture, green exercise, adventure therapy, nature based expressive arts therapy, and animal-assisted therapy. My personal practice incorporates the a core concept of most nature based therapies, biophilia, which implies an innate tendency in human-kind to connect with nature in one form or another. This can look like actively engaging in contact with nature through walks, crafts, exercises, and/or utilizing nature soundscapes and images during sessions.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness practice is a cornerstone to many of the modern therapeutic approaches. Practicing awareness and judgement free acknowledgement of our thoughts, feelings, reactions, and environment allows us the time to assess and address what may be going on or coming up for us in that moment. It also allows for time and space to get a better understanding of a situation, feeling, or reaction, both during and after it arises.
ACceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT)
ACT is a cognitive behavioral form of therapy. With ACT we work to practice acknowledging and accepting thoughts and feelings are not ‘bad’ or ‘good’ but rather a source of information. Viewing our thoughts and feelings this way allows us to find connections between what we think and feel to what we value, and turn the understanding from those connections in to intentional action. In session this can look like building grace for thoughts, feelings, and reactions, as well as creating tools to be able to make space to gather the information from feelings and apply it to decisions going forward.
Radically open Dialectical Behavior THerapy
RO DBT is a form of cognitive behavioral therapy often used to treat disorders and struggles of over control. RO DBT first acknowledges the dialectic in the situation, the contradicting aspects (i.e. wanting to be able to go to a party but having the struggle with social anxiety make the idea of going to the party feel painful), encourages acceptance of the contradiction (i.e. accepting that both feelings are valid, that one does not negate the other), and then offers tools and practice to be able to move forward and take action one way or another, finding a path that is safe enough to offer growth and progress.