Traumatic Brain Injury survivors suffer cognitive and functional impairments. Katy Weston is a experienced Dramatherapist at Chroma working with TBI survivors. Recently, Katy began working with a client who sustained a catastrophic brain injury. The client is non-verbal, uses a wheelchair full time, requires support for movement and has a vast support network.
Dramatherapy (DT) was introduced with the intention of helping the client develop a strong voice in terms of access to communication options and choice making, as well as to enable the client to expand emotional expression, and allow time and space for a range of feelings to be shared.
The intervention also offers the space for the client to choose how to structure therapy time, for example being active, relaxing or listening.
Furthermore, the sessions provide music-led intervention to support motor skills including the use of rhythm to promote movement.
Initially, DT was implemented to identify whether the client would respond to drama as a treatment modality. To date, the client has become more comfortable and open to Dramatherapy techniques and actively tries to stay engaged and alert even when fatigued. Above all else, the client is finding their voice and knows they are respected.
Dramatherapists aim to find a way to connect with their clients – to find a language that works for both of them and that provides them with a way to connect. The connection allows for a more successful therapeutic outcome.
Katy implements props into sessions to help determine a client’s emotions, thoughts and feelings that day to decide which way the session will go. For instance, introducing Winnie the Pooh characters to clients in a dramatic manner – imitating their typical emotion (Tigger – happy, excitable, Eeyore depressed, lethargic etc) to help clients determine which character best describes their own feelings at that time. It is a simple, yet effective way to determine whom they connect with and she is better able to guide the session from there.
Sessions can also involve techniques such as verbal or non-verbal creative play, body work, playing games, memory games, Theraplay (attachment work) and Sherborne Movement to name a few.
DT offers TBI survivors a safe space to express, explore and come to terms with the event surrounding their injury – the loss of self, and enjoy memories prior to the acquisition of brain injury whilst still being able to process emotions in the present day.
TBI survivors should be able to make decisions in their life where possible. Dramatherapy provides clients with the space to feel empowered so they know, even though they are non-verbal or physically impaired, they can still have an opinion on their life, such as being presented with choices on where to sit instead of just being ‘put’ somewhere. For those living with a TBI, Dramatherapy lets them know they are respected and empowered, providing them with a voice where there are, more often than not, no words.
