Emily Wheatman talks to Beau-Jessica Roberts about her inspiring work as a dramatherapist.
Dramatherapy may seem to some people an intangible concept, but if you're a student at Darwin College, Cambridge or a SEMH (Social Emotional Mental Health) School in Cambridge, you may well have taken part in a session with Beau-Jessica Roberts and her sand tray, and learnt just how effective it could be.
Dramatherapy is a type of psychotherapy. It is the intentional use of drama as a medium for therapeutic change, and armed with a degree in Philosophy and Drama, and a Masters in Dramatherapy, Beau has been making waves within her industry; she was shortlisted for the Inspiration Award at the recent Music and Drama Education Awards for her impressive work.
So, what makes Beau an inspiration in so many people's eyes? Well, for starters, as one of her nominators suggested, there is the breadth of her work. Not only is she currently the head of wellbeing at the aforementioned Darwin College, Cambridge, where she has made sure that creative dramatherapy sessions are offered to all students to help them navigate the non-academic sides of life, she is also the lead dramatherapist at TherapyBeau Ltd. She has worked in various schools and ensures that whoever she works with, in every capacity, has access to mental health support through her creative work.
At Darwin College, Cambridge, where Beau works two days a week, she offers ad-hoc therapy sessions to students who are struggling with issues such as imposter syndrome, self-sabotage, loneliness, and their overwhelming workloads. She enjoys how the un-academic space she creates offers students who ‘might literally spend the majority of their time in a lab curing cancer a chance to come in and play with the likes of puppets, masks, and costumes and, in doing so, access their inner-child’.
Aside from her work at the college, Beau works three days a week on the ground in SEMH schools. In her role as lead therapist, she works closely with the senior leadership team to ensure a therapeutic offering that builds relationships with the school's learners. Her individual and group dramatherapy sessions are creative and playful; there is often puppetry, performance and lots of laughter coming from her therapy room. The testimonies of teachers she has worked with suggest that this benefits not only the students, but impacts the atmosphere of the whole school. When I spoke to Beau and asked her more about these sessions, she admitted that it's hard to describe in full what the work entails, but what she has found is that, once they are in the space and having fun being silly, every teenager she's met has been willing to play. Over the ten years Beau has worked in this role, she has noticed that ‘the art of playing, even among children, is often neglected’. And the joy of her role is that she gets to watch how her learners experience moments with ‘sand or puppets that can be overwhelming, but also, life changing’.
Furthermore, it's not just the learners that benefit from her skills, but the staff at the schools as well. Beau makes it part of her fight to ensure that there are weekly creative clinical supervision sessions. This is unusual in a educational setting, but she is indefatigable when it comes to making sure that the staff are provided with regular support, and it's clear from the supporting testimonies of multiple staff members that made up her nomination just how beneficial the impact she has on the schools has been.
And if this wasn't impressive enough, Beau has been making tracks within the LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art) community, where she has been both a teacher and examiner. Beau has also created a LAMDA course that is accessible to students with additional needs, such as those who are unable to access school. The course has ensured that those students are able to both engage in a playful, creative and dynamic way, but also achieve an OFQUAL-accredited LAMDA qualification, which for many of her students will be the first accredited qualification that they will have received. Beau runs her own LAMDA tuition company (RainBeau Drama), where her team meets with small groups, totalling over 100 students a week, ensuring that drama continues to thrive throughout Cambridgeshire.
I asked Beau what her favourite part of her job was, and she replied without hesitation: ‘I already know that dramatherapy works, but sharing my creativity with someone who is feeling uncreative, or who is struggling to access that part of themselves and seeing glimmers of change, connection and progression within that, is a very powerful thing to witness, not only as a therapist, but also for the artform.’ She went on to explain that ‘access to the arts, creativity and drama changed my life as a child and I am so grateful to be able to provide a space for positive change in other people's lives. Being able to call this my career is the ultimate privilege.’
As many of her colleagues have said, it's difficult to put into words just how much Beau's work has impacted those who have benefitted from it, but it's undeniable that it has, and continues to be a source of joy and comfort to them all.
@therapybeau
To learn more about training to be a dramatherapist visit badth.org.uk