MA in CMHC with Drama Therapy

Foster change through movement, story, and role play.

Successful therapy of any kind requires a strong working relationship between client and therapist, based in trust and emotional honesty. In drama therapy — through the client and therapist’s creation of movements, pretend images, stories, and scenes — the therapeutic relationship develops at an accelerated rate. By mutual agreement, client and therapist enter a shared imaginal realm and experience pretend consequences of choices they make within the fictional contexts they create together.

This degree is offered by AU Seattle.

Program Overview

Drama therapy is one of several expressive therapies used by clinicians and practitioners to help their clients achieve emotional and physical integration, personal growth and symptom relief. Like art therapy, it is the application of a creative modality to psychotherapy. Drama therapy allows you to develop your own way of working with clients.

The Antioch program is one of only a few in the country that offers a special focus in Developmental Transformations (DvT). Drama therapists work in numerous settings including, but not limited to, hospitals, residential treatment programs, schools, shelters, community centers, prisons and private practice.

The master’s degree can be completed in three years. Students choose from Couple and Family Therapy and Clinical Mental Health Counseling coursework, integrating drama therapy as part of an additional concentration-specific training which includes internship.

Degree Requirements

Coursework

Antioch’s Drama Therapy specialization is combined with the M.A. in Counseling with Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC) concentration.  It is recommended that you consult with your adviser to create your own sequence of courses before the middle of the second quarter.

The Drama Therapy program is 90 quarter credits. To accommodate working adults, our schedule allows students to work during the day and take classes in the afternoons and evenings as well as all day on Friday. You may begin the program only in the fall.

Required Clinical Courses:

•    Advanced Theories: Varying Subtitles
•    Career Development and Counseling
•    Communication and Counseling Skills
•    Group Therapy
•    Human Development in Context: Gender and Development
•    Psychodiagnostics and Treatment Planning
•    Psychopathology
•    Systems Perspectives in Family Therapy
•    Tests & Measures
•    The Counseling Profession and Identity
•    Theories & Practice of Counseling: Human/Trans/Easten
•    Theories & Practice of Counseling: Psychodynamic and Cognitive Behavior

Required Drama Therapy Courses:

•    Approaches to Drama Therapy
•    Creative Arts Therapy I: Children and Adolescents
•    Creative Arts Therapy II: Adult and Geriatrics
•    Community Based Theater & Sociodrama
•    Ethics in Drama Therapy
•    Family of Origin Systems & Drama Therapy
•    Improvisation and Creative Dramatics
•    Intro to Drama Therapy
•    Master’s Project or Thesis
•    Multicultural Perspectives & Drama Therapy
•    Psychodrama
•    Research and Assessment in Drama Therapy with Individuals & Families

Elective Courses:

•    Abusive Relationships
•    Addictions and Substance Abuse
•    Loss & Grief

Internship Courses:

•    DT/CMHC Internship I, II, III, IV, and V
•    DT Case Consultation I, II, III, IV, and V

For detailed curriculum, degree requirements, and course descriptions, please visit the AUS catalog.

Career Outlook

Drama therapists work in private practice and/or in clinical, educational and rehabilitative settings such as:

•    hospitals and clinics
•    residential treatment centers
•    long-term care facilities
•    community centers
•    prisons
•    shelters
•    schools
•    mental health and social service agencies