Fall Semester 2026

Principles of Drama Therapy​

Facilitator:  Pam Dunne Ph.D., RCT-BCT, NT & Nadine Bernard, MA, MFA, RDT, NF

Dates: Sept.12, 19. Oct. 3,17, 24. Nov. 7, 14, 21

Time: 9:30 am to 3:30 pm (PST)

Lunch Break: 30 minutes

Cost: $899

TBA (7+ hours arranged video/articles)​

​

Class Information:

​Participants will learn key drama therapy methods, including Role Theory, Narradrama, the Integrative 5 Phase model, Transpersonal approaches, DVT, Ethnodramatherapy, and Insight Improvisation. Through hands-on activities, they will practice these methods and explore creative tools like masks, puppets, life-size dolls, and objects. They will also learn psychodramatic techniques such as role reversal, doubling, interviewing, and mirroring. There will be opportunities to apply these methods with different populations and in various settings.

​

1 Unit Classes:​​​​​

​

Narradrama as a Three Act/One Act Play

Facilitator: Pam Dunne Ph.D., RCT-BCT, NT

Dates: Sept. 19,  Oct. 10, Oct. 31, Nov. 7, Nov. 28

Time: 9:30 am to 12:30 pm (PST)

Cost: $438

TBA  (5 hour + arranged video/article)

​

Class Information:

In a new restoried approach to playwriting and performance, participants as authors of their three act plays, restory parts of their history, imagine new possibilities, experience unexpected outcomes and gain insights about their strengths by creating a one act play. Each aspect of the development of the play is explored from a Narradrama perspective, such as preferred roles, scenes, prologue, epilogue, play structure, stage design, staging, reflection and interpersonal connection to team members. Participants, through scaffolding techniques, reflect on previous work and integrate new parts that they prefer as well as witnessing and honoring others.  Reflective processes through the telling and retelling of stories as well as other forms of reflection are central to the participants. 

​

.5 Unit Classes:​​​​​

​

LGBTQI+ Affirming Drama Therapy: Foundations, Tools, and Practice
Facilitator: Axel Winget PhD, MFA, RDT
Dates: Sept. 5 and 26
Time: 9:30 am to 12:30 pm (PST)

Cost: $169
TBA (1 hour + arranged video/article)

​

Class Information:

​This 7-hour introductory course offers practical, embodied foundations for LGBTQI+ affirming work in clinical and community settings. Designed for drama therapists, psychotherapists, theatre practitioners, facilitators, and educators, the course is grounded in minority stress theory, trauma-informed practice, and consent-based facilitation. Participants will explore identity-affirming language, ethical considerations across power and culture, and ways to build safety without requiring personal disclosure. Through experiential methods drawn from drama therapy and narradrama, participants will practice concrete tools such as role exploration, witnessing, externalization, story re-authoring, image theatre, embodied mapping, and structured approaches to rupture and repair. Topics include working with shame and internalized oppression, supporting agency and choice, and navigating family, social, and systemic dynamics. Participants will leave with practical frameworks and adaptable interventions for creating LGBTQI+ affirming spaces that foster resilience, connection, and embodied possibility.​​​

 

​​​​​​​​​​

​

Authentic Movement: Embodied Presence, Witnessing & Self-Care for the Drama Therapist
Facilitator: Pam Paulson
Dates: Dec. 12
Time: 10:00 am to 6:00 pm (PST)
Cost: $169

TBA (1 hour + arranged video/article)

​

Class Information:

Authentic Movement invites us to slow down, listen inwardly, and notice what begins to move when we are not trying to perform, explain, or achieve a particular outcome. Rooted in the work of dance/movement therapy pioneer Mary Starks Whitehouse and Jung’s concept of active imagination, the practice allows movement to arise from sensation, feeling, image, memory, and impulse within the compassionate presence of a witness.  For drama therapists, Authentic Movement offers an opportunity to turn some of the attention we give to others back toward ourselves. Through movement, witnessing, and reflection, participants will explore embodied self-care, regulation, self-awareness, and the development of an inner witness. Greater awareness of our own embodied experience can deepen our capacity to remain present and attuned with others. Authentic Movement can also open pathways to image, metaphor, role, and story—elements already central to drama therapy. The body can offer a way of knowing and expressing what has not yet found language. Through movement, writing, drawing, witnessing, and reflection, participants will explore how principles of Authentic Movement—such as embodied attention, witnessing, and creative response—can inform and enrich clinical practice. ​​

 

​

 Embodied Ethics and Inclusive Practice in Drama Therapy

Facilitator:  Kamran Afary Ph.D., MA, MFT, RDT, NT  and Lynn Baker-Nauman LMFT, RDT

Dates: Dec. 5 and Dec. 19

Time: 9:00am - 12:30pm (PST)

Ched Credits: 7 hours (Ched credits are important for professional RDT’s for registration renewal and for AT students)

Cost: $169

TBA ( 1 hour + video/article)

​

Class Information:

How do we hold steady when the ground shifts—when clients fear leaving home, loved ones are taken, markets crash, or old certainties collapse? In this workshop, we approach uncertainty not as paralysis, but as a generative ethical space. Drawing on drama therapy’s embodied tools and narrative imagination, we’ll explore how ethics are lived—not prescribed—especially amidst loss, migration, systemic injustice, and rise of authoritarianism. Participants will engage in experiential practices to externalize moral dilemmas, explore power and privilege, and rehearse grounded responses to real-world rupture. Rather than offering fixed answers, this workshop invites presence, play, and collective reflection as we navigate the tensions between responsibility and survival, care and complexity. Informed by abolitionist principles and restorative justice practices, and a deep dive into Antigone --the enduring Greek masterpiece of ethical conflict-- we will explore the connection working with individuals and groups. Open to drama therapists, students, and helping professionals seeking creative, embodied ways to stay ethically alive in uncertain times. 

​

​

Independent Study: Ethics and the Law:

Facilitator: Pam Dunne Ph.D., RCT-BCT, NT

Dates: TBA

Time: TBA

Credits: 1 Unit

Cost: $338

​

Independent Study Information:

Independent studies are more student-led and often with the goal of completing a research project. Meetings will be scheduled on the days and times when the facilitator and the student’s schedules match. Meetings are not mandatory like classes but are rather designed for the facilitator to help the students in their research projects and for students to learn from other students. (time is PST)

​​

​

Group Supervision for Professionals and Advanced Students:

Supervisor: Pamela Dunne Ph.D., RCT-BCT, NT

Dates: TBA

Time: Fridays 9:00am to 11:00am (PST)

Cost: $225.  Sets of 3 paid in advance. 

Enroll: Please email assistant.dtila@gmail.com.

Ongoing supervision group (requires a six month commitment)

​

​​​

​

Things to Note for DTILA Classes:

• Most classes and meetings are held virtually over Zoom, unless noted.

 

• Specific classes adhere to all standards and professional ethics of CAMFT and satisfy continuing education requirements for LMFT, LCSW, and LPCC’s.

 

• Specific classes are approved by the American Psychology Association for continuing education requirements (CE). These classes are monitored collaboratively by DTILA and The Creative Arts Therapies Center.

 

• For more information on how classes offered can help you meet your own continuing education requirements email assistant.dtila@gmail.com

​​

​

​

​

​