ADCR

THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL DRAMATHERAPY TRAINING IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC

Admission Criteria

Very good knowledge of English (spoken and written)

Theatre/Drama experience

Basic knowledge of music theory

Experience in Art Therapies

Age of 24+

Curricullum

Total of 360 hours in the course of 3 years (3 five-day meetings in a year) in following structure:

300 hours odf Dramatherapy

20 hours of Arttherapy

20 hours of Dance and Movement Therapy

20 hours of Musictherapy

Content

As for the content, the training had 4 concurrent forms:

Education

Self-experience

Supervision

Group practice (in Kurim prison)
Individual practice and supervision were compulsory during the course of the training

Lecturers

Fay Prendergast (Dramatherapy, concept of the training)

Sue Jennings (Dramatherapy, concept of the training)

Salvo Pitruzzella (Dramatherapy)

Angela Fenwick (Music Therpy)

Beate Albrich (Arttherapy, professional guarantor, organization)

Jana Špinarová Dusbábková (Dance and Movement Therapy, organization and coordination)

Criteria for successful completion of the training

Minimum of 80% attendance

Completed requirements (essays, research projects, own Dramatherapy practice)

Final Essay (on Practical application of the theoretical concepts in own Dramatherapy project)

Video presentation of own practice (ca 15 min)

About the training

The idea of the first Dramatherapy training in the Czech Republic appeared after series of successful workshops given on this topic by Fay Prendergast in Fokus Břevnov, Atelier Extraart in 2002 – 2004.

Fay was an English dramatherapist who lied and worked mostly in Italy (at Turino University). At a art therapies conference in Turkey she met Beate Albrich and Beate invited her to teach to the Czech Republic.

It was quite clear by that time that the Dramatherapy, although practiced under such name in numerous places in the country, is:

understood very differently by different practitioners and the nature of the practice would in many cases rather refer to educational drama or simply free time activities containing elements of theatre
lacking experienced Dramatherapists and training in this area is practically non existent in the Czech Republic

However, the interest in the training was considerable. Than, the idea of the dramatherapy training led by Fay, guaranteed and organized by Beate Albrich and her colleague Jana Spinarova Dusbabkova came to being.

The 3 year training begun in the autumn of 2005, altogether 360 hours structured to three five day meetings in a year, offering theory, practice, self –experience and supervision blocks to its participants.

The training had a “missionary ethos” from the very beginning: the expenses (e.g. fees for the lecturers and organizers) were minimized, so that the training would be affordable for all interested (also less affluent social workers and students).
The training course started in September 2005 with altogether 17 participants. Quality of the training led by Fay was, no doubt, very high: the work was focused on the realm of non-verbal space and movement and understanding of its semiotics.

However, Fay died out of the sudden after the second meeting in spring 2006. This was shock that nobody expected: the prospects of the training were uncertain now, as it was extremely difficult to find relevant substitute for Fay; a lecturer of similar experience and skill was impossible to find in the Czech Republic indeed, or it was hardly possible to pay a foreign professional of such standard.

After a difficult communication with Fay’s relatives organizers succeeded in finding a very relevant substitute : Sue Jennings, a tutor and friend of Fay, a pioneer of the Dramatherapy and Playtherapy in UK and Europe, the founding member of the British Association of Dramatherapists (BADth) agreed to take over the leadership of the training. Sue followed up he Fay’s work and enriched the training by her specific approach of a cultural anthropologist; stressing the social dimension of Dramatherapy, own practice, responsibility, action and promotion of the profession.

Input of the other lecturers from the field of Dramatherapy (Salvo Pitruzzella), Arttherapy (Beate Albrich), Dance and Movement therapy (Jana Špinarová Dusbábková) and Music Therapy (Angela Fenwick) was also considerable.

Altogether 12 Drama therapists were certified at the end of the training in October 2008 and Czech association of Dramatherapists (ADCR, www.adcr.cz) was founded at this occasion.