ADCR

A Question of Identity and Belonging

The Self between Familiar and Unfamiliar, Foreign Spaces.

Jessica Williams Ciemnyjewski and Tamar Brown

Convenors of the Dramatherapy European Exchange Project (DEEP)

Working Party of The British Association of Dramatherapists

ECArTE London 2009

The idea to develop the possibility for exchange within the profession of dramatherapy across Europe came from Salvo Pitruzzella, who had established contact with members of The British Association of Dramatherapists (BADth), whilst establishing his dramatherapy training programme in Italy. Essentially then this kernel of an idea originated from an Italian dramatherapist living and working in Italy within a British dramatherapy organization. It set the scene for DEEP’s conception as a BADth working party in 2007 following an original meeting of interested parties at the BADth conference in 2006. However though it lodges within this British group its’ remit and email list of interested parties reflects very much its’ essence as European. All four members of the Working Party are dramatherapists who did their training in the UK, three of these whom now live and work outside of the UK within Europe, in Germany, France and Switzerland whilst the fourth member originally from France now lives and works in the UK.

This nucleus which resonates with themes associated with people who leave the familiar space of home and work to enter a new and foreign space is reflective of the wider group, those professionals, predominantly dramatherapists who form the DEEP email group many of whom are also familiar with the dynamic of what it means to ‘leave home’. To have to grapple with issues such as alienation, differences in communication and language, loss of a familiar sense of self and belonging, questions of identity, as they struggle to build bridges that can link the space between what is known and unknown, personally and professionally and therefore within their own internal and external worlds.

What has struck us during our research into this dynamic within the context of dramatherapy practice and its’ place as a profession across Europe, is the complexities attached to the very word ‘dramatherapy’, because of the different meanings associated with and given to the word drama. Hence in some countries the word theatre therapy is used, others use dramatherapy as it reflects the profession so well established and developed within the UK, the USA and the Netherlands despite the fact that this word may be problematic in terms of contextual definitions and how dramatherapy might therefore be interpreted within a given European country. In other countries dramatherapy as a named and registered practice does not yet exist and is often confused with psychodrama or theatre in education, or it may be along with art, music and dance integrated into an arts therapies training.

Another factor in attempting to define the space between how dramatherapy may be understood within one European country and another, and therefore how the dramatherapist moving from one conceptual dramatherapy framework to another attempts to define themselves, is the nature of theatre and drama within different cultural and political settings; these may differ and therefore colour the orientation of dramatherapy training, practice and supervision, and too the inner world of the dramatherapist themselves. Such factors then contribute to the dialogue between the internal, felt and external, lived experience of the individual. The person is both in the in-between state of ‘becoming’ in that foreign space, whilst simultaneously standing as if on a bridge witnessing their own process of evolvement and integration as an immigrant professional.

In closing discussions amongst members of the DEEP group following a rich and thought provoking exchange weekend with members of the Italian dramatherapy association in May 2009, reflections and thoughts were being shared amongst ourselves about the very nature of DEEP, its’ roots, the makeup of its’ email group and working party, its’ identity as a dramatherapy European exchange project operating in the form of a working party placed specifically within the British dramatherapy association and how this might colour its’ development. It was hard work, views differed, so many possibilities opening up in the space between the working party, the wider DEEP group and the wealth of trainings and orientations in terms of how dramatherapy is understood, it felt at times as if we had come adrift. And so we turned our thoughts to the more personal, how we as dramatherapists residing and practising in our different countries (7 being represented in the small group present) felt having spent the weekend connecting through our experiential work and the feelings this evoked ;

thoughts such as, connected, a desire for links, to bridge the unknown space, to get to know it, to retain an essential sense of self culturally and in our practice whilst wanting to evolve in that foreign space, the wish for a more fluid experience of our profession and its’ recognition across European borders which may have become more open in concrete terms but which may remain in mind and in a country’s psyche. Feelings of fragmentation were shared by one member, and others felt a deep resonance. Fragmentation experienced in leaving the familiar and before achieving a sense of ‘home’ in one’s professional standing in a new country, fragmentation in the multifaceted dynamic of what it means to the individual to feel both connected and disconnected whilst defining what ‘home’ is inwardly and outwardly.

The term “fragmentation” is an interesting and complex one as there are several definitions. A fragment is “a piece broken off or detached, an incomplete piece, a portion, a scrap, a morsel, a bit…”. The definition of fragmentation is “the act of fragmenting or the state of being fragmented, the disintegration of norms regulating behaviour, thought and social relationships, the steel particles of an exploded projectile; of or relating to a weapon designed to explode into many small pieces…”

These definitions can be associated to ideas of loss, transformation, change, falling apart, being on the outside of, no longer belonging to, incompletion, destruction, reconstruction… something which comes apart and has to be fitted together again, but differently. The experience of leaving the familiar and entering into a new and unfamiliar environment can often evoke these feelings and create a fundamental shift in ones’ sense of self. The motivation, level of choice, conditions, all play a part in how the move can be processed on a personal as well as on a professional level. How much does one maintain ones’ difference and how much does one seek to fit in?

In dramatherapy there is an invitation to explore the unfamiliar aspects of one’s inner world, to move away from the repetitive and destructive patterns we might tend to adopt, fall into, an attempt to hold onto our original selves, but to also introduce change. What are the parallels between the professional process and what can be experienced when we move away from our original source and create a new, modified sense of familiar and therefore self? What happens when there has been constant moving from one place to another, to a point where there is no one familiar place or sense of belonging, but a melting pot of multiple sources, identities? How can it facilitate or complicate a sense of creating ones’ inner home, something that is solid no matter how much one moves, changes? This question is particularly pertinent when one considers the notion of “role” and how one can tend to repeat and reduce ones’ repertoire of roles, stay with the familiar, because the unfamiliar roles feel so out of reach, so unattainable.

Dramatherapy offers the possibility of exploring these unfamiliar areas through play, through the whole notion of make-believe. In a sense the dramatherapy process addresses the question of ones’ fragmented parts, roles and how pretending to be someone else, playing other roles can paradoxically result in reinforcing ones’ sense of self. It proposes to explore the fragments in order to create a greater sense of coherence between them.

Dramatherapist and theoretician, Roger Grainger said, “Dramatherapy strengthens the person by using imaginative involvement in other peoples’ lives as a way of validating the self” (1992). Moreno, founder of psychodrama, stated that his method based on the encounter between people, encouraged them to share life experiences and achieve : “a realisation of the self through the other.” (1970).  In Dramatherapy Theory and Practice 3, edited by Sue Jennings (1997), Sue Mitchell in her chapter on the technique of “Personagrams”, describes that “the personality was not merely a sum of its’ parts, but that each aspect was inextricably and inevitably affected by each of the other aspects… Correspondingly a personagram involves fragmenting the personality to see more clearly what its’ aspects are, yet each aspect does indeed contain the whole, because its’ very nature is determined by its’ relationship to all aspects which create that unique individual.”

In these descriptions there is the delicate balance of moving away from oneself, exploring broken off pieces, detaching different parts, all with the aim of somehow gathering them all back together and feeling a greater sense of the whole. In Europe, there has been a similar movement of blurring the boundaries between one country and another, creating a sense of a European identity more than an identity pertaining to a specific country, facilitating movement from one country to another. This creates a wealth of exchanges, cultural mix, an opening of borders, and yet there is also the danger of splitting, losing ones’ identity, staying with a sense of the fragments rather than the whole.

As a therapist, one is faced with the suffering of our patients, often around questions of identity, a sense of belonging, acceptance, being a part of their environment, having a recognized place amongst significant others. When the therapist is struggling with these questions exacerbated by the loss of familiar territory, of a sense of security and recognition, of a peer group, of a capacity to communicate adequately and precisely, can it affect our capacity as therapists? How? Is there a danger of being under-distanced in the relationship between therapist and patient because there is an over identification, a substantial degree of common experiences? This can be particularly the case when as a foreign therapist, patients of the same nationality, therefore the same language come to consult in order to pursue therapy in their own language. Then patient and therapist, both foreigners together, find themselves sharing the same language, and therefore creating a certain closeness, a shared experience that can affect and intensify the therapeutic relationship.

The issues raised by the theme of this year’s conference are compacted by the fact that today, we live in a society which is causing us to lead increasingly fragmented lives, where the past, present and future are less distinct, where we are dispersed, inundated by stimuli, and less and less encouraged to relate directly to one another in the here and now. The blurring of country borders, the increased possibility of moving from the familiar to the unfamiliar opens up exciting horizons, makes dreams seem possible, but can also cause disorientation and disillusionment.

The process we have been experiencing in the group DEEP, over the last few years, reflects this struggle between a need to link in with and belong to our original British dramatherapy family and the desire and impulse to co-create a new European dramatherapy identity which does not yet exist. An area of particular importance is the implication for training and practice in Europe and the question of fluidity of professional recognition and registration across country borders.

Outside of all the potential DEEP might have as a group in its’ endeavour to enable such exchange and the furthering of the profession of dramatherapy across Europe, a fundamental issue close to the heart of those who have to date been a strong presence within DEEP’s growth, was the desire for DEEP to have a role in providing to dramatherapists working and living outside and beyond the familiarity of ‘home’, a secure base. A place which could help to contain the fragmented aspects in the space between shedding a skin and gaining a new one, in the journey of creating a redefined sense of belonging and identification, with the potential for change both professionally and personally.

As we each try and adapt to the specific country, culture, language we are practicing in, there is a growing awareness of trying to juggle the gaining of something new without losing too much of the familiar.