Placement students Imogen and Yvonne used games and an action-focused approach to drama therapy to help one child find new confidence through a dramatised character created in their sessions.
Our Positive Transitions service hosted Imogen and Yvonne on a student placement from university, to support children, young people and families as a Positive Transitions VIP (what we call our volunteers, interns and placement students).
Imogen and Yvonne both specialise in drama therapy, an active form of therapy that can help channel excess energy into a tool to communicate internalised feelings and concerns. Drama therapy allows children to explore their creative personalities, thanks to a high focus on the exploration of oneself. Sessions give children the much-needed space they require to grow and develop, a space they may struggle to find in busy classrooms or difficult home environments.
Some children struggle to grow and learn in the current school system, often feeling distracted or having too much energy to focus. Imogen and Yvonne have learned to adapt their learning and supporting style on the fly due to the high energy of their groups, incorporating games that allowed the children to share their feelings and aspirations, fears, and concerns. Activities included den building, role play and city designing where they could name areas after concerns they had in life.
King Monkey takes the stage
King Monkey was a character designed by young person Sam, which helped to give him newfound confidence and the ability to share with others.
Sam came to the drama group feeling like an outcast, not very confident, and not comfortable sharing his emotions. In contrast to the high-energy group he found himself in, he struggled to keep up. Our placement students adapted their sessions to help manage this high energy, giving Sam more space to express himself. The city design activity led him to create an island of animals ruled by King Monkey, a super-powered hyperactive leader.
While only starting as a character, he grew to be more than that after costumes and props were brought into a follow-up session. Sam put on a cape, tail and crown and transformed into King Monkey embodying everything he believed his character was, interacting with his classmates and teachers in ways they had never seen before.
Sam used the character in his day-to-day life, asking himself what King Monkey would do.
A standing ovation
After these drama therapy sessions, teachers began reporting that Sam had a new sense of confidence and was much happier in class. He was interacting with other kids constantly and in ways they hadn’t seen before. While speaking to Imogen and Yvonne, they mentioned that Sam has a character he plays in class if he feels nervous and sad; King Monkey.
King Monkey helped change Sam’s life. The drama therapy sessions helped him realise that he did have the confidence, and just needed a comfortable way to channel it and share who he is in school.
Stories like these happen because of Positive Transitions and the efforts of everyone involved in the service. They show that a little positive influence in someone’s life can go a long way.
You can bring that positive influence as a Positive Transitions VIP! Being a student isn’t the only way to get involved, why not join us as a Youth Work Volunteer and help children across Edinburgh and the Lothians find their King Monkey?