Implementing drama therapy in a French school: When drama therapy meets sociocracy

Abstract

This article focuses on describing the use of drama therapy to deepen one school’s adoption of sociocracy. The school opened in the south of Paris, France a year ago for children who did not ‘fit’ in the public school system. Sociocracy was chosen as a way to share the school’s governance and involve students in decision-making processes. Drama therapy tools such as role-playing and/or forum theatre-based exercises were used to implement the intervention. This article explains sociocracy, provides the overarching school context, and identifies how drama therapy techniques were used to make sociocracy a dynamic process.

The Analysis of Causes and Treatments of Adolescents' Psychological Disorders in China

“…The second methodology is the Role Method. The steps of the Role Method could be specified into eight steps: invoking the role, naming the role, playing out or working through the role, exploring alternative qualities in sub-roles, reflecting upon the role play, relating the fictional role to everyday life, integrating roles to create a functional role system, and discovering how the behavior of the client affects others [20]. Through this method, the adolescent that performs inability to understand and relate to situations and to people could be able to organize the interpersonal relationship they have in the school.…”

A Scoping Review on the Use and Potential of School-Based Drama Therapy to Enhance Socio-emotional Skills in Early Childhood

“…Specifically, authors noted the aesthetic frame of drama afforded a developmentally appropriate opportunity to safely engage with issues that might otherwise be overwhelming or destabilizing (Bornmann et al, 2007 ; Cropper & Godsal, 2016 ; Johnson et al, 2021 ; Sajnani et al, 2019 ; Webb, 2019 ). Furthermore, SBDT’s focus on creative expression through socially-focused drama activities, structured role plays, and projective objects (e.g., puppets) establishes an inviting therapeutic environment to address socio-emotional content (Akhmetzhan et al, 2020 ; Kejani & Raeisi, 2020 ; Lau, 2019 ; Mayor & Frydman, 2021 ; Moula, 2021 ). These activities provide an opportunity for young children to draw parallels between what occurred in the dramatic space and connections to their real world relationships and emotional experiences (Ellinor, 2019 ; Kejani & Raeisi, 2020 ; Lau, 2019 ; Mayor & Frydman, 2021 ; Sajnani et al, 2019 ).…”

“…In addition, SBDT may be particularly suited to support socio-emotional skills like communication and expression in groups (Lau, 2019 ). When engaged in a group process focused on decision making, SBDT’s use of role play and emphasis on self/creative expression may be useful for communicating, identifying points of dis/agreement, and generating group norms and systems (Akhmetzhan et al, 2020 ; Lau, 2019 ). Students practice these socio-emotional and self-expression skills within the metaphor and play, which offers opportunities for strengthened skills in the real world.…”

“…Implementation of tier I SBDT models have provided school-wide, developmentally-appropriate psychoeducation on the adverse effects of trauma-exposure across socio-emotional and learning domains (Sajnani et al, 2019 ) and offered play-based assessments of trauma-informed, drama-based behaviors intended as a universal screening of younger students (Johnson et al, 2021 ). Moreover, tier II SBDT classroom-based or group interventions have been utilized to facilitate decision-making processes, provide conflict resolution (Lau, 2019 ), and improve well-being and social roles (Moula et al, 2020 ), all arenas related to the interpersonal impact of trauma-exposure (Johnson & Lubin, 2015 ). Lastly, tier III SBDT individual interventions have targeted secondary effects of trauma exposure with young children (Cropper & Godsal, 2016 ; Dix, 2001 ; Webb, 2019 ), noting the utility of SBDT as an expressive outlet for psychological containment.…”

“…Researchers noted that educators could potentially incorporate content from SBDT sessions to support the social-emotional progress of students, suggesting that in-class practice of skills explored in SBDT could solidify targeted outcomes (Akhmetzhan et al, 2020 ; Kejani & Raeisi, 2020 ). Scholars wrote about how interdisciplinary collaboration facilitates the incorporation of SBDT into the school ecology, including being built into schedules (i.e., students do not miss instruction time to participate), supervising those providing SBDT services, and helping shape the school structure (Dyer, 2017 ; Ellinor, 2019 ; Lau, 2019 ). Further, some SBDT practitioners reported challenges establishing a physical space for their work, potentially compromising effectiveness and the containment of socio-emotional content.…”