“What Are We Doing Here?: Identity, Positionality, and Parallel Processes in Multidisciplinary Inpatient Care

On a day in inpatient psych, multiple processes unfold simultaneously: a drama therapist finding footing within a multidisciplinary treatment model; patients orienting themselves to involuntary hospitalization and diagnosis; and early-career clinicians of color negotiating professional and cultural belonging within the U.S. These parallel processes raise a recurring question: What are we doing here? This intermodal presentation, led by a drama therapist in collaboration with a dance/movement therapist and an art therapist is grounded in the drama therapy core process of “multidimensional relationships” and informed by role theory. The presenters will examine how personal, professional, and systemic roles intersect in work with involuntarily admitted patients with drastically varying backgrounds.

A brief, curated Forum Theatre-esque experiential, rooted in Theatre of the Oppressed theories will be followed by a facilitated dialogue among participants, reflecting on how, as creative arts therapists, we can serve as change makers and disrupt the faulty power structures within our systems.