Umbrellas in Paris

Usually there is something which drives me to update my blog, and I start with an idea, often with a title before I begin, but I've been struggling this month. I've decided that I'm in a transition, which often manifests itself as a kind of stuckness.......the desert without an oasis in sight, the flat expanse of ocean, far from land. Yesterday, I found myself lost on a dual carriageway, in driving rain and fog, without a clear idea of where I was. However, I decided to leave the dual carraiageway and head back, re-tracing my route until I found myself back at the roundabout where I'd taken the wrong exit.

I think that's how life has been lately, finding myself a bit lost, but coming around again to a place I recognise and making a more considered choice about which road to take. I decided some months ago to cut back on my working hours to spend more time on my own creative work, but have found the days and weeks passing without anything much to show for them. Now new work opportunities have made me focus again on what my priorities are - to have a balance in my life which makes me feel content ( for me this is better than happiness, which tends to happen in fleeting perfect moments - the photograph, a shop window in one of the passages in Montmartre, taken two weeks ago on a wet day in Paris, represents one of those.)

I've taken some decisions which allow me space to give my therapy clients my full attention, before and after a session, as well as during it. Time to reflect on process is too easily lost when under pressure. I feel more confident as a supervisor, enjoying the experience of group and individual work. I also worry less about work in between times, finding my increasing enjoyment of music, knitting and sewing gives me tremendous satisfaction, fulfilling some of my own creative needs, both alone and with others. I think having my own parallel creative life makes me more receptive to the often small and subtle ways in which clients wish to express their thoughts and feelings through creative activities.

I wonder what part personal creative activities play in the lives of other arts therapists. I found when I was training that the work we did on the course opened up a side of me that I had lost. As a drama teacher, all my own creative energy seemed to go into my job, and it was a joy to re-discover my interest in drawing, painting, music and acting, as part of my own journey as a therapist. But once established in my dramatherapy practice, time for personal creative activity was squeezed out by work, somehow more worthy and deserving of my attention.

So - what part should creativity play in the life of a dramatherapist?

your comment, question, suggestion....