Supporting Mental Health in Schools and Communities Using Drama

A person’s mental health is one of the most important building blocks of their ability to cope with and be resilient in stressful situations. Drama classrooms, when crafted well, are often safe spaces for people to open up and be vulnerable. How as facilitators can we best support our participants in their journeys? How can we explore mental health using drama tools in a safe way? In what ways can drama tools and techniques be used to support a person’s mental health?

Join us as we start to unpack what exactly supporting mental health in schools and communities using drama looks like and hear more from practitioners about the different ways this can be achieved.

About the Moderator and Panelists

Rosie McGowan, Moderator

Rosie uses drama and theatre to explore potentially difficult and sensitive themes. She has a masters in applied theatre and a masters in counselling. As an applied theatre practitioner, Rosie has explored themes of self-care, sexual assault trauma, self-harm, communication, and mental health. Her counselling practice is often experiential, specialising in addiction and trauma. She is the current President of the Singapore Drama Educators Association (2021-2023).

Panelists:

Michael Cheng

Michael Cheng is an applied drama practitioner and educator. His work in community arts projects is collaborative, participatory, and multi-disciplinary. As an accredited trainer of Playback Theatre (Centre for Playback Theatre), he has travelled extensively, teaching all levels of Playback practice. He is also Artistic Director of Tapestry Playback Theatre, a Singapore theatre company that focuses on community dialogue and personal stories. Michael has worked in mainstream education and special school settings as a drama trainer. He engages directly with the students, develops curriculum, and trains teachers to use drama in the classroom. He is also currently an adjunct lecturer teaching applied drama modules to youth and working adults.

Katy Harris

Katy Harris is British and moved to Singapore almost 30 years ago. She has two adopted children, each of whom have the 'dif-ability' of autism and ADHD and who are grown and live in Bali and UK. Her learning journey went from Montessori training into a degree in Early Years Education and then a Masters Special Education and later to Coaching Psychology and Counseling degrees. And she has trainings in CBT, ACT therapy, Youth therapy, Expressive therapies, Family therapy and NLP. She worked in a busy therapy centre for 10 years and has been operating independently for the last six, running Family SOS which provides support for children from 2-10 (with a wide variety of issues affecting their social, emotional and behavioural functioning) and families who struggle. In her spare time she is an active volunteer with the Singapore Zoo, Heritage Board and Fridge Rescue Community and her greatest passions are trees and travel.

Izzaty Ishak