How?
Creative Arts Therapy, Dramatherapy and Psychotherapy for children, adolescents, parents and adults.
Free resources to be taken and used within the family home for those unable to access therapy.
Workshops and programmes that have been carefully designed to give you tools to take forward into your daily life.
Through training in schools, communities and organisations we hope to empower communities to assist families that are seeking understanding and support.
Free Parent Forums to provide advice and support for families
Therapeutic Theatre Projects devised and created by people with lived experiences of adversity. Performed in schools and communities, educating and inspiring audiences from the heart.
Why the Whale?
Dramatherapy works with symbols and metaphors, they act as a container and also a bridge between our inner and outer worlds. Sometimes an image can say what words cannot. The Whale symbolises everything that matters to our project; family, community, creativity, power, inner truth, emotions, compassion, peaceful strength, vulnerability, communication, body and mind.
The Whale Therapy is intended to weave together family life and therapy to promote positive emotional and physical wellbeing. Its message is "empowerment to families", tapping in to the whale in all of us.
Dramatherapy is a unique form of psychotherapy that uses creative techniques alongside the traditional talking therapy.
Within a dramatherapy session there is always the space to talk and creative methods are suggested to encourage insight, healing and growth.
Dramatherapists use techniques that engage the body and senses as well as the mind; storytelling, myth, poetry, art, sand-play, puppetry, music, movement, embodiment, role play, object work, symbol, projective techniques, play, character work, mask, enactment, visualisation and improvisation.
We work primarily through metaphor (a chosen story/a symbol/a piece of artwork) to reach suppressed material and to develop a deeper understanding of subconscious problems. Working in this way provides our clients with the protective distance necessary to process experiences that still feel overwhelming or disturbing.
Dramatherapy can be empowering and healing for children, young people, parents and adults alike. Offering opportunities to explore and come to terms with life experiences.
Children are enabled to develop agency through a non-threatening, child centred approach. Children do not always have the capacity to form words to express their experiences and articulate their feelings; Dramatherapy provides a bridge from the internal to the external, giving them a voice.
Dramatherapy is extremely adaptable and flexible in its approach to suit varying needs and aims. Through verbal and non-verbal techniques clients are given the opportunity to express, connect, explore and repair.
It is client led and always an invitation never a demand. We work at your pace and with your chosen way of working therapeutically as an individual.
About Me...
I am a HCPC registered Dramatherapist and full member of the British Association of Dramatherapists (BADth) with qualifications MA Dramatherapy (Distinction), BA Drama (Hons).
I have worked across the public sector with children, young people and families since 2004, predominantly in the homeless sector supporting young people with complex needs and children leaving care. I am also a trained family mediator assisting families experiencing conflict.
As a dramatherapist I have worked with both adults and children across many settings; NHS, Community Mental Health Team (CMHT), Children’s Services - complex trauma and attachment disorders, Looked After, Fostered and Adopted Children, Primary and Secondary Schools, Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) and privately.
I am passionate about working with families and I sincerely hope that The Whale Therapy Project can provide some solace to those in search.
Tania Sutherland
|Founder
Case Studies
A story written by a 5-year-old client who had experienced medical trauma and was subsequently self-harming and displaying significant PTSD symptoms. This client composed her story independently whilst sitting in her ‘safe den’ that she created.
“One day an Elephant (*the client *Annie) got stuck in a ditch. He lived in a strange jungle that was a different kind of jungle. An enormous crocodile and a tiny mouse held on to Elephant’s tail and pulled it off! (*the medical staff) There was a baboon too who was married to a poodle! The elephant was saved by 100 butterflies, 2 koalas, an iguana, a girl called *Annie and a girl called Tania”.
*I have changed the name of the client to protect confidentiality and inserted text to assist with understanding the meaning within the story.
This story illustrates how children use the metaphor to express themselves but also how the client whom was stuck in a strange world - affected by anxiety and the impact of medical trauma, overcame her fear. The client is empowered to become her own heroine (building inner resilience) within the therapy, with guidance from her therapist and support from her family.
Ralph was 10 and a child in care. He had a particularly difficult history and he struggled to make friends due to fear of danger. Ralph was unable to speak directly about his feelings and emotions. During one session Ralph spoke of a dragon, I invited Ralph to create a place for the dragon with fabrics and he transformed one corner of the room into the dragon’s den. I then asked Ralph what the dragon looked like, how he moved etc and asked him to choose some fabrics to symbolise the dragon. With gentle guidance Ralph stepped into the role of the Dragon, wearing the chosen fabrics, he slunk off to the den. After some time I approached Ralph as the Dragon, playing this role Ralph was able to tell me that he was lonely and that he scared people away (by breathing fire at them) because he was afraid they would hurt him but really he wanted them to not be afraid of him and to come into his den and play. From this we were able to play around with different scenarios and Ralph was able to experience "as the dragon" what would happen if he didn't breathe fire, he was able to take risks in a safe environment and build resilience. We did much work like this together and by the end of therapy Ralph was forming many friendships and making positive connections in his relationships. There were significant improvements across his home and school life.