Drama Therapy 10/20/11

Today was amazing!!! My group is getting bigger and the men love it! I can definitely tell my energy level is key in maintaing a fun atmosphere and we hit the roof today. We laughed the whole two hours.
Once again we started with a sun salutation and three energy exersices called the Shakes and Energy Ball and zip zap zop. We kept the energy rolling with a game called Look Up Duded that allowed them to become aware of psychic que. We then did verbal warmups that allowed us to speak of our own character to get to know each other a little. It's always easier for them to perform when we're all aware of who each other is.
We broke the ice about performing by doing some characterization and scene work with a game called Freeze. Everyone was able to participate at their own will and everyone did and had a great time. We then did a theraputic exercise that allowed them to role play. With this role play the chose a partner and spoke to the other person as if it were themselves when they were young. Then their partner would repeat it back to them. This closed the group when everyone got a turn.
I have to say listening to some of these men benefitted me. There was one man in particular that I related with most and I walked away from that experience feeling as though I needed to hear that. Some of the other men got real deep and expressed how they needed it as well. One of the gentlemen wrote me a poem. This was a real good session:)

Art Therapy 10/18/11

Today was a little frustrating because everything seemed so unorganized. The project was to help make jewelry and mosaics for a fundraiser. Although everything turned out ok it is not the kind of art making I want to be involved in. I do believe the process is theraputic but I'm leaning toward little 'a' big 'T'. I enjoy the discussion of what the art means to the client and finding symbolic relations. When just giving them a project to work on, although for a good cause, I believe it turns into a space filler activity.

Drama Therapy 10/13/11

I have been very low energy all week and I was nervous starting off a drama group without it. One of the goals of drama therapy is to gain the energy needed so I was hopeful. The guys are pretty open and friendly so that makes it easy and I had about five more men than last time. The only thing I actually get nervous about is not being prepared enough with enough exciting material. Luckily I have been keeping up on my homework thus far.
Today we began with the sun salutation to warm up then began an energy builder called zip zap zop. Everyone caught on quickly and enjoyed it. To get familiar with each other played a game that allowed each person to ask another person a question about themselves and then turned it inward by a game that allowed each person to say something to themselves they've always wanted to here. Then we played hitch hiker again to gain some enthusiasm and after started on some character building games. Last but not least we got in a circle and made ghost phone calls to people we need to call or wish we would have.
After this session a few of the men emphasized that this was their favorite group. One of the guys decided to open up to me for a while and discussed how the ghost phone calling was very helpful for his circumstances. They all said they want to do more of those scenarios. I told them to start thinking of things they would say if they could to themselves when they were younger.

Art Therapy 10/11/11

When I went into Art Therapy today at Mariners I was very low on energy. I didn't want to participate along side doing the artwork in fear of getting the same result as last time. Since the project was to create trees and we had just discussed in our Theory class about interpretations of trees in assessment, I felt this was a great opportunity to gain some definite insite of the present state of these men. With this in mind I casually went from table to table discussusing their projects with them.
Surprisingly most of the men drew strong oak trees. Some even insisted on the tree of life. One man drew a big "city" maple that he saw growing up and said it had died once but now continues to grow. All of the trees had holes in them, mostly for the housing of animals and one where a limb had fallen off. And one had knots all over it. The project I was most intrigued by was completely dark or dead on one side and full of life on the other. There was a path behind it that lead from one side to the other. He said he was on the dark path and will gain life as soon as he crosses over.
I truly enjoy working with these men and I have been told by a few of them they truly enjoy my company. I have the opportunity to work one on one with them but I don't believe 25 hours would be sufficient enough time to make any progress with my limited abilities and knowledge. I think I will continue my research with addiction when I leave here and maybe one day return.

First Session With Drama

Because of my BA in Theatre Miss Lowe allowed me to start a Drama Therapy Group with my clients at Mariners. I was extremely nervous about this but I did some extensive research and am inlove! It was a hit. Although only about 7 of the 50 men participated, they enjoyed themselves so much I believe more will attend next time. We started off with a sun salutation to get our blood flowing and limbs moving. Next I wanted to get to know each other so we did two exercises, one on our names and the other about how we relate. After that we did an energy warm up called energy ball which was a hit and because my guys were very much alive we jumped right into an improv game called hitch hiker. We were laughing and screaming so much Miss Lowe ran in thinking there was a fight, good times. I am going to work on getting to know these guys and some of their issues and work on eventually doing personal scenes from their past or incorporate some ideas they may have for fun. Some were already sharing music. Mariners has never had a drama group and I feel as though I am going to be contributing one of my best qualities and this makes my day.

First Session at Mariners Working With Art

My first session was on Tues 10/4/11. I didn't quite know what to expect but I was excited and a little nervous. I thought that I was entering the activity hour working with an actual Art Therapist and figured we would be one on one with clients or at least in a small group. I was wrong. I worked with and Art Therapist volunteer and an artist. The Art Therapist volunteer never tried to do any actual art therapy. So we went into a room with about 50 men and proceeded to do an "activity" with the men. The activity was to make fans out of paper and on one side create images of where you've been and on the other make images of where you're going. Alot of the men just sat there and doodled, only a couple paritcipated. I sat down with one gentlemen and created one while he talked with me. Funny thing, all the questions he was asking made me feel like I was the patient as I drew. I was honest though and shared myself with my work. This grabbed quite a few of the mens attention when I shared my art with them. They realized what the project actually was and some proceeded to join along. They now think I am "cool peeps." We can related and I heard many stories.
I am probably going to write my ethical dilema paper on the little situation noted above. How much should you share with your clients about your personal life? There was an instance I started to feel like lying or completely walk away because the questions were coming as fast as I could answer them. I couldn't tell if he was undermining me, or overtly curious, or if in fact he was trying to keep the attention off of him.
I want to beable to share with my clients because I think it will help them open up in ways. I can see how this may be a problem and I am going to research what would be the best strategy for this issue.

Service Learning Interview

I went to my interview at Mariners Thursday morning. I was a little bit nervous due to the fact they seemed to have wanted some credentials but I was welcomed with open arms. I chose them first because I knew that I would receive excellent experience actually working with clients receiving Art Therapy. That is exatly what I am getting. I start Tues. morning right in on the Art Therapy sessions and then because of my Theatre background she is giving me my own Thursdays to do Drama with. I am so excited and am preparing for my venture with them. I feel as though I am where I am suppose to be and I am actually going to beable to give back through art and it's just an amazing feeling!