The working group was newly established in 2023.

Who we are ……. We work with people with cognitive impairments and multiple other disabilities/developmental delays in the field of drama therapy/education. We are trying to fill a gap, as there are currently virtually no adequate psychotherapeutic services for adults with disabilities. This is because: methodologically, the approach of child and adolescent therapists would be most suitable for therapy with this client group, but this form of therapy is not accessible to adults. For people with cognitive impairments in particular, however, the classic forms of therapy with their linguistic and cognitive requirements are too complex. For this reason, the majority of psychotherapists do not consider people with cognitive impairments to be suitable or treatable for therapy.

The members of our working group have experienced in various areas that the use of dramatherapeutic methods can be applied effectively with this group of clients. So far, however, we have felt quite alone with these experiences and observations. This field of work has also received little attention in the field of drama therapy therapy.

The Drama, Therapy and Disability working group was founded at the 2023 Summer Academy in order to support each other, shed more light on this field of work and make it better known.

……. and what we want Our working group initially serves to exchange information: about projects, methods and financing of drama therapy with this group of people. In the future, we also plan to conduct research and create case vignettes and collect best practice examples. Finally, our aim is to use our findings to approach providers and stakeholders in disability care as well as health policy makers in order to raise awareness of drama therapy as an excellent, low-threshold form of therapy for people with cognitive impairments and to introduce it into the discussion.

Specifically, we are currently addressing the following questions:

• What structural framework is required for dramatherapeutic work with people with disabilities?
• How can such a framework be created?
• How can drama therapy services for this client group be financed?
• Which methods and formats are suitable for our clients?
• How can the effectiveness be evaluated?
• What starting points/methods are there for research?

….and when do we meet? We meet every month via Zoom and cordially invite interested people with and without disabilities to join us and exchange ideas.
Feel free to write to us: ttub@dgft.de

Karlotta, Kerstin, Marlies und Sabine