“Human beings are role players from the moment of birth.”
JACOB LEVY MORENO (1889-1974)
Founder of Psychodrama, Sociodrama and Sociometry
A week ago, I went through and passed the Practicum Exam that marks the beginning of the end of my Group and Individual Psychodrama Psychotherapy training, with the London Centre for Psychodrama (LCP).
Becoming a therapist was not a goal I established for myself, but rather a vocation my life’s journey led me to embrace. I enrolled in the LCP’s one-year Psychodrama Certificate course in 2011, to develop skills as interactive theatre performer and group facilitator. Back then, I was the former executive director of a communication agency, who had moved on from Public Relations (PR) and attempted to work solely in Theatre and Music, with very marked prosocial goals; I was a struggling but motivated actor, singer-songwriter, and Playback Theatre (PT) practicioner, keen on developing my ability to offer safe, boundaried, and grounded containment for increasingly common trauma stories, distressed audiences, and emotionally impacted performers. Professionally, I counted 10 years in PR roles and nearly as many in Theatre and Music-related roles, with continuous and overlapping skill-development, based on experience, training, and study.
Being a fairly seasoned communicator, spontaneous, creatively empathic and socially responsible was not enough for me: I wanted to know what to do and what not to do with empathy and creative expression in PT and in life, in order to relate adequately to traumatised people on and off stage, and to manage the impact of “difficult” performances on audience members, actors and musicians.
The demands of (re-)training professionally at a post-graduate level in Psychodrama Psychotherapy are quite extreme (and I am sure this is the case in other psychotherapeutic modalities). I have been a Psychodrama trainee since 2011, with monthly training weekends at the Maudsley Hospital, mandatory external training hours, essays and papers (some adapted for publication), 450 hours of clinical practice, plus regular supervision and personal therapy. The psychosocial and financial strains of this training led me to question my path, become depleted, and feel de-skilled at times – times when I actually struggled to communicate, be creative, act spontaneously, and live responsably. Still, I kept going, asked for, received and reciprocated support, and eventually overcame the challenges I faced.
At the final stage of my training with the LCP, and because of the actual practice this training entails, I nearly count yet another decade of experience, in yet another professional field. My life experience and the skills I have learnt, developed and recuperated through time are indeed transferable from one field to another. I am humbly but positively aware that I have a lot to offer, and that I offer it for very little of what would otherwise exclude many of those who need therapy (meaning, very little money).
What matters the most for me? To get continously better at being who I am, in the role-relations I maintain with myself, others and the world; and in doing so, to continue pursuing personal, interpersonal and transpersonal healing, happiness and fulfillment.
I don’t have much time nor drive to perform and sing “professionally” at the moment… Instead, I work to instill creative healing action in others, providing affordable psychotherapy, counselling, and facilitation services to groups, organisations, communities, and individuals in need. Registered with the British Psychodrama Association (BPA), clinically supervised, and professionally insured, I practice in English, Spanish and Portuguese, now online and in the beautiful county of Surrey (Guilford and Woking).
Feel free to contact me if you would like to know more about what I offer, if you require therapy, or if you wish to work on your self-development, to maybe (re-)define, pursue and achieve relevant life goals (what really matters to YOU). As you know, every journey begins with a single step, progresses one step at a time, and often, winding roads do not let us to see much further ahead – change and uncertainty are facts of life.
When you want or need a confidential space to work therapeutically on yourself, your relationships, and the life journey you are in, take a step forward and get in touch.
CLAUDIA VAU 