Study Details: MA 2 years (full-time)
Become a qualified dramatherapist with this unique programme at Roehampton. It offers a theoretical, experiential and clinical exploration of ritual and drama for working with others to facilitate healing and positive change in a variety of clinical settings.
The MA Dramatherapy programme at Roehampton offers a ritual theatre form of dramatherapy. Influenced by key theatrical figures and explored from anthropological, political, psychological perspectives, the programme offers a clearly structured developmental learning process mirroring the clinical application of dramatherapy at various levels.
The programme offers theatre skills, movement, working with stories and myths, Grotowski’s paratheatrical techniques, crafting theatres of the psyche, working with our own internal dramas and the use of ‘rites of passage’ within ritual theatre. There are opportunities to work with other art forms and to learn different theoretical perspectives through embodied learning.
On this programme, you will learn to facilitate an in-depth therapeutic process for a range of client groups, and devise therapeutic performances and workshops. You will also undertake an original piece of research into dramatherapy practice. The course is approved by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and leads to a nationally-recognised professional qualification.
The programme consists of three stages, which offers a clearly structured developmental process for the clinical application of dramatherapy. In Stage One, you will be introduced to basic theatre skills and use these creatively to work with established stories and characters. This progresses into an exploration of the personal identifications that we have with stories and myths, and an understanding of the deep foundations within many cultural traditions of using ritual, drama and performance for the enhancement of health.
In Stage Two, the focus moves on to employing drama and theatre processes as vehicles for exploring our own inter-personal and internal ‘dramas’.
Stage Three is where you will conduct your own piece of practical investigation or research into the literature and theory-base of dramatherapy practice. The Dramatherapy programme will provide you with a broad range of skills enabling you to pursue your own research interests across a wide spectrum of dramatherapy practice and theory.
Our research areas include individual dramatherapy in schizophrenia; perception and evaluation of therapeutic outcomes from therapist and client perspectives; the role of race, culture and gender; dramatherapy and “mentalisation” with borderline personality disorder and complex trauma; therapeutic scenarios and resistance; creativity and destructiveness; the dramatherapist; and the multidisciplinary team.
Alongside the experiential focus of the training, the programme also aims to develop the necessary understanding and reflective capacity required to practice as a professional dramatherapist. This is achieved through workshops, lecture series and clinical application seminars, as well as through assessed clinical placements.
For more information about this course, including the application process, entry requirements and finances, please refer to the programme information pack.
You should usually hold a second-class honours degree (certain programmes may require a 2:1) from a recognised British or overseas university. Advice on recognition can be obtained from the Admissions Office. Non-graduates with appropriate professional qualifications will be considered on an individual basis by Programme Conveners; contact details can be found on the individual programme page. Applicants will be expected to apply and register for the full master’s award. Those with a third-class honours degree are encouraged to complete an application as we will consider an applicant’s wider circumstances in making a decision on an application. Please contact admissions@roehampton.ac.uk if you have any questions.
For fees and funding options, please visit website to find out more
The University of Roehampton is based in southwest London on a 54-acre green and sustainable campus. The University is focused on providing educationa...