newsletter

* * CHANGE OF ADDRESS DETAILS * *

Any ideas or information that you want to share? Jot it down and send it to me:

Elinor Vettraino, Dramatherapy Scotland Link Person

email: elinor@vettraino.freeserve.co.uk

Members of Dramatherapy

Scotland Executive are:

* Genevieve Smyth - Chairperson

* Suzanne Aitken - Secretary

* Maggie Morgan - Membership Secretary

* Elinor Vettraino - Treasurer/Link Person

Please contact E.Vettraino if you want to contribute to this group - all help welcome!

Welcome to Dramatherapy Scotland’s newsletter! As

always this issue is packed with training information as well as news from BADTh’s 2001 conference and SATF training days. Please also note a change in address of both the DTS Chair (new address on the back page) and also myself (new address below). Read on and enjoy!

A warm welcome is bid to newcomers to Dramatherapy Scotland who have recently joined in a bid to extend the growing

Dramatherapy network throughout Scotland. In particular, a big hello to Suzanne Aitken who has recently taken on the role of

Dramatherapy Scotland’s Secretary with the Membership duties handed over to Maggie

Morgan (see the new listing below). Also, to Sharon Hall working in Edinburgh (check out her message on the back page) and Jinti Wight-Boycott based in Fife both of whom are keen to link in with other Dramatherapists working in Scotland - so get in touch! In

addition, Dr Ann Cattanach has been

welcomed to Scotland and you can find details of training that she will be offering in 2002 on p2 in the Training and Events section. Ann is a Play therapist and Dramatherapist and was leader of the first Dramatherapy course run in the UK in the 1970’s at Queen Margaret College, Edinburgh. She is well published and is now based in Kingussie in the Highlands of Scotland.

It was a real pleasure to be part of this thoroughly cognitive experience which began with a thought provoking keynote speech from Alice Forester President of the NADT in which she quoted statistics apparently ‘proving’ that forms of psychotherapy are not effective treatments for enduring mental health issues! However, she went on to evidence the steps that have been made in pushing forward the work of Dramatherapy in the US and spoke of Dramatherapists as becoming leaders of the ‘oppression resistance’, needing to become managers very quickly due to the Manage Care insurance companies system operating in the US. Alice ended on a positive note basically saying that Dramatherapists are being dynamic in their practice and affecting change in self-advocacy in an effective way.

There were many interesting papers and workshops on offer and, as always, it was difficult to choose but I opted for the Celebrating Diversity workshop which explored the practical uses of story and myth across cultures as well as allowed for some discussion time. There were two out of the three members of the group at the workshop and they gave a very informative account of their work in other countries in particular Romania where they used drama and music to help bridge the gaps that existed in their multi-cultural sessions. (cont p2)