My core training is in Dramatherapy, using metaphor, creativity, ritual and play to support people of all ages to make sense of and communicate their experiences and feelings. There’s a quote about Musical Theatre that says “when you don’t have the words to speak anymore, you sing”, similarly in Dramatherapy when words alone don’t give voice to our feelings, we create. We draw, build, play, write, sculpt or embody the parts of us that words can’t quite capture. Connecting with someone, outside of verbal language, is one of the strengths I value from my Dramatherapy training, particularly, when finding the language to communicate painful or complicated experience, is a struggle.
Whilst Dramatherapy will always form the bedrock of my identity as a therapist, since my core training I have continued to deepen and expand my work through further learning in the fields of anxiety and trauma. I trained in EMDR, a well-researched and evidence-based approach that helps the brain reprocess traumatic or distressing memories. EMDR can create meaningful change quickly for people who have experienced trauma, while also offering effective ways of working with challenges such as phobias and other anxiety driven difficulties. Alongside this, I have developed an integrative way of working with anxiety that draws on both my dramatherapy and EMDR training, as well as ideas from approaches such as CBT. I think of these as different “hats” I can wear, allowing me to tailor therapy, and offer support that feels grounded, creative and bespoke to the people I work with.
I believe that the quality of the therapeutic relationship and paying attention to the feeling of safety in the therapy room are the foundation of any good piece of therapeutic work and I always aim to start here. I want to learn alongside my clients and this means staying curious and flexible in the therapeutic relationship, deeply listening, inviting feedback, naming my own activations in the moment and always remembering that I could be wrong!
As humans our bodies always striving to move towards safety. For me what ties together the impact of traumatic experiences and anxiety is the way that they teach our very wise nervous systems to “shrink” our world to what we feel like we can manage. This can feel paralysing and make us feel trapped. What drives me is wanting to support those tentative steps to learning that parts of the world can be safe and that we can tolerate new and sometimes scary experiences.
Jack is registered with HCPC as a Dramatherapist – his membership number is AS16938.