Embolden Creative Drama’s facilitator, Brenna Shannon, has an Honours BA in Drama in Education and Community with a minor in psychology (U of Windsor, 2006) and has been teaching creative drama for over 20 years. Brenna worked as a Direct Support Professional full time for 13 years in family home, supported/staffed home, vocational program, and recreation program settings. Brenna updates Criminal Record Check and Child Abuse Record Check every 2 years and carries both Professional Liability and Commercial General Liability insurance. Learn more about Brenna, her journey, and goals in her bio.

Embolden offers creative drama sessions. While creative drama offers therapeutic benefits, it is not the same as drama therapy. Drama therapy and creative drama (also referred to as applied theatre or drama education) both use theatre-based exercises to achieve growth, however drama therapists are trained clinical therapists, often focusing on individual pathologies of rehabilitation. Creative drama facilitators focus on community and social transformation, using theatre-based exercises to encourage meaningful communication.

Creative Drama offers benefits to many different populations. However, as a new business Embolden Creative Drama chooses to focus on this population because there is a need for it; inspiration for the company came from Brenna’s past work with people who have intellectual disabilities. If you think Embolden Creative Drama could help you or your organization, contact us! We would love to connect you with the benefits of creative drama.

One beautiful thing about creative drama is a focus on the journey, not the destination. That is to say, the goal is not to create a performance, but to use drama exercises to experience learning in a holistic way. There are elements of performance in the exercises, but the facilitator builds trust, support, and comfort within the group to accommodate the risks. The facilitator will encourage, but never apply pressure to participate in exercises. Participants are welcome to engage in the activities whichever way they choose, as long as it works for the group as a whole.

Direct Support Professionals are expected to participate in the sessions as well, providing direct support throughout the session as needed. Teambuilding, experiential learning, and practice in communication benefit everyone. In fact, engaging in creative drama can help improve skills that are essential to the work Direct Support Professionals carry out.

Embolden's booking process involves discussing accessibility, as well as the particular strengths and interests of each group. Further, introductory workshops serve as a needs assessment, using a selection of activities capeable of being altered accordingly. A good facilitator can learn a lot by observing the ways in which participants engage with creative drama exercises, using this information to inform future session plans. Since drama activities are so varied and highly adaptable, a knowledgeable facilitator can design and select activities that both suit the interests/abilities of participants and build towards the learning goals of each given session.

Embolden Creative Drama is based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia and offers services to organizations within the province.

Contact us and ask. We would love to hear from you!