Through TraumaDrama, OPI Participants Heal Past Experiences and Develop New Narratives for Their Lives
TraumaDrama is a 10-week experiential group for OPI and OPI Intensive participants who have struggled with trauma at some point in their past. Facilitated by clinical therapist Kim Jensen, LMFT, TraumaDrama utilizes structured psychodrama interventions, improvisation, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), drama narrative, Fitzmaurice Voice and somatic bodywork to help participants process “life wounds” associated with trauma, grief, loss and PTSD, while developing skills and coping mechanisms that support new narratives for their lives.
TraumaDrama developed out of Jensen’s experience teaching college-level acting classes for two decades, incorporating trauma-focused CBT in the treatment milieu and his studies with Catherine Fitzmaurice and her interpretation of Wilhelm Reich’s somatic work with tremoring.
“In teaching acting, I noticed how some of my students were more able to make a deeper emotional connection to text than others,” explains Jensen. “I began to witness students gravitating toward scene work that paralleled similar events in their lives, those ‘life wounds’ that they were trying to get clarity on or relief from through the performance.”
When Jensen began to utilize the same approach with his clients, he was struck by the similarities between his acting classes and the evidence-based practice that was having a positive impact on his clients. That’s when he decided to create an experiential group to aide survivors of trauma and PTSD through structured improvisations and play.
He says, “What I have discovered with TraumaDrama is that through physical freedom and play, participants are more apt to want to explore situations and experiences that they may not have been able or willing to in conventional talk therapy. TraumaDrama enables the participant to regain their power over the memory and feelings of the event in a safe, nurturing environment. I have been offering TraumaDrama for the past two years in residential treatment and throughout the community with excellent results, and am pleased to bring this program to OPI and Roanne.”