Drasis Dramatherapy

A little wish has just come true! 🧞‍♂️🥲🎭
Really delighted to announce that Drasis Dramatherapy has got a “home”. After years of offering my services online, I now operate from my new consulting space in South East London! It has been a dream and it feels almost surreal it is finally real. I have really enjoyed preparing and designing the space and certainly did with lots of love and care. Spaces on their own have a crucial role to play for both client and therapist and I feel really privileged to be able to do this at such hard times. If anything I hope it offers a calming and safe environment for the people I work with. I really have enjoyed working in there already! I hope you also like it?

P.S. There are only a few supervision and therapy spaces available currently; feel free to get in touch should you wish to discuss more.

What a way to celebrate Dramatherapy Week this year! 🎭🎊

Had the amazing opportunity to attend and present to conference on the theme of creativity in conflict. 🌈⚡️

I was so curious to offer an exploration of conflict as experienced within our bodies. My workshop was inspired by John Roedel’s poem on a divorce between brain and heart! 🧠🫀

Our organs, heart, mind, lungs, gut took over and moved us (quite literally!) to a dance between connection to disconnection, turbulence to calmness, mindfulness to heartfulness! 🍂🍃

Each of the rest of presentations I attended has been so inspiring so far. This week is literally 7 days of reminders of why I fell for Dramatherapy. 🎭🫶

So happy that I contributed to such a long needed book which finally got published! 🎉I applaud all contributors and especially our editor Jean-François (J.F.) Jacques PhD that admirely put all of our work and ideas together shedding more light into embodiment and healing from trauma. 👏 I hope you enjoy and feel inspired reading it and that we continue to grow our profession moving together. 🎭🌱🪷

So pleased to have redelivered a co-produced course in the Art of Clowning as a means to promote wellbeing at Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust’s Recovery College. Together with my amazing Peter Middleton -such an inspiration- we looked at the history of clowning, the development of medical and therapeutic clowning and Jacques Lecoq’s concept of the inner clown. We then dived into an exploration of discovering our inner hidden gem clowns playfully and of course liberatingly foolishly! Such a fun and pleasure to spread the clown’s love for vulnerability and humanness. Did you know about this side of clowning?! Till the next one!

The journey of becoming a Creative Arts Clinical Supervisor has been absolutely resourceful and eye-opening. Moving toward the final stages of the training I have got the amazing opportunity to offer 10 supervision sessions to another psychotherapist, mental health or teaching professional ideally based in London at very low cost. If you are interested in learning more about creative arts supervision and whether it would suit you, do get in touch at [email protected]

This weekend, together with my wonderful friend and colleague Kyriaki, we presented in the annual Dramatherapy conference organised by BADth on the theme of Self-care in an age of Burnout. It was such an honour to reflect on the topic of complex trauma and explore with colleagues how we can meet and be with our clients authentically whilst caring about ourselves and our own complex stories. I am deeply grateful to everyone attending our workshop and met with us! Thanks to everyone who helped organising the event, the presenters and all co-participants for a weekend full of reflection, care, sharing and play.

Also, thanks to who managed to take our only picture on the conference; we didn't prioritise this enough!

Look after yourselves, you are precious!

Let 2021 lead you towards the path you already have been building and longing for in life. If anything, this year has proved that no matter how difficult or unfamiliar things get there are always little moments rising that somehow make sense and give you the force you need to keep going, to keep believing. Let the journey begin or better continue. Wishing you a happy and full of meaningful to you drasis 2021!

Artwork by Ben Hodges / New beginnings

*New article* On...line Dramatherapy; does it work?

"Online therapy seems to have offered an advantage in this case where access to face-to-face therapy is limited although, very much needed and perhaps more so, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. In this article I discuss what are the pros and cons of online therapy and if it can be effective. I then further explore how adaptive a creative arts therapist can be within an virtual environment and share my views on online dramatherapy"

Read more on the following link

https://www.drasis-dramatherapy.com/post/on-line-dramatherapy-does-it-work

On...line dramatherapy; does it work? Online therapy during COVID-19 One of the biggest changes and adaptations that society has currently taken particularly because of COVID-19 pandemic is the use of digital technology to 'meet' and communicate. At a time when social distancing appears to be the only way to keep one safe, contact throu...

It's ! Just a gentle reminder everyone has got one every single day. Look after it today, tomorrow and every day. And for the days that something gets a bit too much, do not hide it, do not shame it, and do not let anyone tell you otherwise. Struggle is around us all, it happens to you, it happens to me, it happens to everyone. Struggle is part of life and it's by giving attention to it that one can overcome it.

Ask for help and support if you need to. There's no stigma. There's kindness and there's care. Show some to someone who needs it today, tomorrow and every day (Hint: including yourself!).

Artwork:

"Paradoxically, the more we try to change ourselves, the more we prevent change from occurring. On the other hand, the more we allow ourselves to fully experience who we are, the greater the possibility of change."

In other words, do not spend energy in trying to change yourself. Do not compare yourself to others. Do not measure your success or happiness based on others'. Instead: focus on connecting with yourself. Acknowledge your values, desires, weaknesses. Be kind to its vulnerable parts and celebrate the powerful ones. Accept yourself as a whole.

The more you attune with the figure on your mirror, the more you look at the one you long to be. D.K.

Quote: Healing Developmental Trauma (2012) Laurence Heller and Aline LaPierre

Artwork: Faith Ringgold, American People Series #16: Woman Looking in a Mirror, 1966

Proud to be part of Project5, offering sessions to NHS staff. Project5 is dedicated to offering FREE support to anyone working in the NHS who feels that life or work is getting a bit much. Visit www.project5.org to book your 1-2-1 sessions with trained mental health professionals.
High Five Our Carers

Project5 Thousands of coaches and mental health practitioners have signed up to offer evidence-based support to support the national health/care teams.

To the father who chose to stand as a father.
To the brother who stood as a father.
To the family who stood as a father.
To the friend who stood as a father.
To the teacher who stood as a father.
To the guide who stood as a father.
To the father who didn't always stand as a father.
To the father who tries to be a better father.
To all the fathers.

Happy Fathers Day!

Artwork: 'Never Letting Go' by Cbabi Bayoc

An amazing training with Prof. Mooli Lahad today, offered by Brighton Therapy Partnership. We talked about imagination as a healing process and a means to reform traumatic memory.

Tip: Using our imagination we create stories everyday. These stories offer a balance between our gains and losses. Imagination then is a form of hope. And it is hope that entails pathways towards our goals and guides us through the future.

Use and trust your imagination. The possibilities are endless.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our The Healing Power of Imagination CPD day, and of course huge thanks to Mooli Lahad for joining us live from Israel!

We hope you all enjoyed the day 😊 Please do fill in the feedback form linked in the video description.

First Drasis blog post could not be about anything else other than Action. In this post, I share thoughts on action and obstacles in attempting one. A short story further makes me question, "Is there light at the end of the tunnel? Or where does it come from anyway?"

Action and the light at the end of the tunnel; or not! Is action easy? The answer is simple. It is not. But if we try to understand why acting may be difficult, we have a better chance to feel motivated and take the courage to act. Usually excuses around time, or effort, or just real life's circumstances keep us well grained into inaction. Perhaps that....

New Drasis! New Actions! New beginnings!

I am excited to announce that I have begun my private practice as Dramatherapist by creating Drasis Dramatherapy.
My goal is that upcoming posts will raise awareness about mental health and therapy and that Drasis can be another reminder that struggling is normal and getting support is an action of self-love and care. You can find the link to my website and my contact details in this page.

Warlmy,

Drasis Dramatherapy | Action toward change
Danai Karvouni
Dramatherapist MA

Welcome to Drasis Dramatherapy,
I offer online dramatherapy sessions to individuals who seek to act toward change in their lives. I follow a person-centred, creative-expressive approach tailored to my clients' needs. Compassion, care, non-judgmental approaches, and playfulness are attitudes that I always attempt to follow in my sessions.
Visit my website or contact me to learn more.
Danai Karvouni-Dramatherapist MA