Constantly evolving definitions

 I remember coming home to Atlanta from NYU, and wondering what to call myself.  I felt instinctively that Drama Therapist was too limiting, but I did not have another word for it.  So, I felt resigned to calling myself that, and then educating the public on what a drama therapist was and was not.  I spent a good deal of time defining myself against the other creative arts therapies such as art and music, so that people would at least have a frame of reference - which also did not seem fair to drama therapy as it is, distinctively, its own, wonderful modality.  Over the years I began to hear more about Expressive Therapy and instantly felt a kinship with that community.  It is almost like knowing I am black and feeling a certain love and affinity for my group, and also defining as a human being and knowing that those two parts of myself must and do co-exist.  Defining myself as an expressive therapist rather than drama therapist is a definitive choice I made in going forward with my website, blog, business cards, etc.  It is the way I brand myself.  Of course I am a drama therapist and feel nestled by my community of drama therapists, but I am also a part of the Expressive Therapy community and feel it necessary to nurture that bond as well.

I was talking with a drama therapy colleague of mine today, as we prepare for Arts Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill next week.  I was asked to be a member of a panel discussing the arts in healthcare for some members of the House of Representatives as a part of AAD.  They have asked for power point presentations from each of the creative arts therapies that will be represented   So, I looked on YouTube to see what was already out there in the realm of drama therapy.  I was happy to see that there was a lot, but sad to see that if you were not a part of the drama therapy community, you would think it was at most, interesting, and at worse pure idiocy.  So, I called up my colleagues from ArtReach to see what we had that was specific to work with Veterans since I know it is a hot button issue in Congress right now.  They immediately got to work on putting a CD together for me.  When I informed my drama therapy colleague of this I was reminded that I needed to focus on drama therapy exclusively because "it's just better, and we don't want to talk about how great somebody else's organization is and drama therapy really is the only one that consists of everything.  we do masks and poetry and music..." 

 I reminded my illustrious colleague that "in the coming days we should probably get used to there being an integrated arts approach rather than focusing exclusively on one or the other because I think they work just as well, if not better, in tandem".   What I really wanted to say is,"if drama therapy incorporates masks and poetry and music, then why not call it expressive therapy?"  All of this exclusivity seems a bit ridiculous to me when we are all fighting over crumbs!!! All of us - art therapists, music therapists, drama therapists, movement therapists, dance therapists, poetry therapists, drama therapists and the like - are all fighting over the same piece of pie.  Why don't we fight together?   The reality is that some people may think drama therapy is "better" and others may think art or music is "better" And believe it or not, I am biased.  I am happily biased.  I do the work of a drama therapist.  I was trained as a drama therapist, but one things for certain, the public has been exposed to more feature stories touting the efficacy of art and music therapy than they have of drama therapy.So, I definitely want to expose drama therapy to more people, but I want to do it as a part of the creative arts therapies, not as a rogue method out there on its own. 

We are fighting so hard in so many different places for reciprocity that we cannot afford to exist in a vacuum.   And I guess it really seems a bit ludicrous when I hear that after creative arts therapists in New York have worked so hard to get licensure, now agencies are starting to hire non -licensed clinicians - even non clinicianed artists - to do the same work.   It sometimes makes me ask, what the hell are we fighting for?!  And then I remember how lives have been transformed by drama therapy.  My own life has been transformed by drama therapy.  And so I keep on truckin'. 

I do think it is ironic that I got a specific request from Barry Cohen to do a workshop for the Expressive Arts Summit in New York this November, while I am waiting to hear back about a proposal I submitted for the National Association of Drama Therapy conference - also in November.  Things that make ya go hmmm...