A fun one-day workshop with Grainne Delaney, professional in the performing arts from Ireland and the Netherlands, where play evokes all kinds of learning and over time, new attitudes and behaviour.
The workshop is graded for different age groups Age range 7-12 “Overcoming Fear” & 13-18 “Stress Management”.and recognizes the need to provide gender-specific learning opportunities.
Two separate workshops for both sexes, if preferred, but not obligatory.
Aspects of this workshop can be made culturally specific.

This workshop aims to
Understand fear: what is it, real, imagined, what are the effects, the results?

• To understand that everyone has different degrees of personal fear to different things, situations and people. (The Stress Response for Teens)
• Explore ways of dealing with it particularly for children, who often may feel that they are in a position of helplessness. (Stress Management & Assertive Response for Teens.)

How can we empower them at the deepest levels, internally? What tools can we bring that aid their resistance, perception and feelings of helplessness? Through the non-threatening, timeless and safe environment of art and creative play immediate results can be achieved.

• Role Play: Both roles of baddie/object and target, to understand the reasons behind the behaviour of both and for brainstorming the options for alternative, healthier ways to respond. The choices that lead to personal growth will be explored.
• Rewriting Fairy or Folk tales to build up the underdog.
• Shield-making. Building personal power, identifying personal strengths and protective Behaviours, Totems, Symbols & Mottos.
• Identifying confident and effective behaviour. Seeing action rather than reaction as a primary response choice.
• Affirmations and positive thinking (NLP for kids). Understanding the connection between thought patterns, perceptions and reality.

• Superhero characters and how they endow us with magical powers. Identifying qualities of Role Models & Heroic Family Members
• Skills & Techniques – tableaux, storytelling, creating characters, soundscapes, (voice and found instruments), ritual, spectacle, Witness and Forum Theatre, mixed genre and Styles

Experience
Grainne Delaney, has written, acted and directed theatre in various forms. She is a teacher at the Hogeschool voor Kunst and the International School in Amsterdam. She has many years of experience and is classically trained in theatre. She has a Master’s Degree in Psychology & Theatre  from Glasgow, Scotland. She has a deep interest in the use of masks as symbols and Process Oriented Psychology. She applies this knowledge in her work with masks, to assist and support children and adults in practical ways with their learning of life-skills.
She facilitates workshops for children between the ages of 7-18. Her creative approach uses Theatre Masks, Drama Skills, Role-Play and Scripting, on a diverse range of issues such as Assertive Behaviour, Dealing with Harassment, Bullying, Self Esteem, Body Image, Drugs Awareness and Peer Pressure

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