UKRAINE: Drama therapy workshops with psychology students

"Michael Reisman (right) directs college students in Kyiv during a drama therapy workshop." (Photo provided/ Retreived from the Highlands Current)

The Highlands Current published a column about the experiences of a drama therapist leading drama therapy workshops for psychology students in Kyiv, Ukraine, to help them cope with the ongoing war.

"Images of war and weapons came up in every session. In one group in Lviv, students traveled on a magic carpet to Crimea — occupied by Russia since 2014 and a raging war zone — and had a beach party, singing “The Caucasus” by Ukraine’s national poet, Taras Shevchenko. To conclude, we passed around a magic seashell that granted their wishes: peace, victory and to be reunited with friends and family.

During another session in Lviv, some members asked to remove an imaginary pile of weapons, while others refused, even for make-believe. I was thinking it might be best to avoid diving too deeply into war themes, but then Claudia volunteered to do an individual session. We imagined flying over Mariupol, her hometown. She described the month she spent underground in 2022, fleeing just before the city was reduced to rubble. I understood all this even before my translator rendered her words into English. She wanted to go home, but could not. "

Read the full column by Michael Reisman for the Highlands Current.