I aim to nurture creative communication through supervision amongst mental health professionals, whatever their training.

Creativity has a role in healing. There is strong evidence from neuroscience research (Rubinstein, D., & Lahad, M. 2023)  which supports my clinical experience that imagination repairs trauma and promotes wellbeing.

Through my commitment to research I have a clinical and theoretical understanding of how nonverbal creative methods engage people who have been traumatised. My research articles evidence how clients with complex needs engage with non-verbal creative activities based on the developmental stages of Embodiment, Projection and Role (Bradley and Combes 2022, Combes 2020, Combes 2019)

These creative activities also provide fast access to core subconscious issues in supervision.

My approach has normalised creative therapy and creative supervision in Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) and Complex Emotional Needs services in Leeds, creating jobs for other arts therapists.

I am interested in the way trauma is held in systems.  As a dramatherapist I notice the physicality of power and status, and through three years of systemic training at Leeds University I have a good understanding of unconscious power-holding within professional and personal roles.

I have learnt to be proud of the relevance of creativity in promoting wellbeing. I engender self-belief in my supervisees, strengthening their confidence to use creative methods whilst navigating the complex boundaries and unintentional violations that sometimes occur in organisations.

I am committed to working at the margins where professionals are at a greater risk of burnout. (Skovaholt 2016).  Therapists working with clients who are unable to engage with mainstream treatments can be challenged as they also experience feelings of being at the margins. Having to explain non-verbal processes can lead us to feel de-skilled or unable to confidently share our practice.

Over many years of experience as the only non-verbal specialist in a team, I am aware that some medical staff welcome discussion about talking therapies whilst being uncomfortable with nonverbal approaches. Only after supervision have I felt entitled to report the value of my work through dramatherapy methods; inviting staff to notice how clients communicate through actions rather than words.

For many of our clients, life is dramatic, so it makes sense that dramatic conventions can provide a familiar container for work in therapy.

As a dramatherapist I have experience of using theatrical concepts to allow shameful, unspeakable things to be explored without using words.

Working as the sole creative therapist and creative supervisor in a medical system for over a decade,.

I know first-hand how such revelations can impact upon us personally. The effect of non-verbalised trauma, on us, the client and the wider support system held accountable for client safety is an important feature of my supervision practice. I work to reassure my supervisees, allowing unconscious systemic vulnerability to be explored without fear or shame.

The relationship between creativity and risk is vital when working with clients with serious mental illness.

In creative therapy we can use the central section of the therapy session to explore what it is ‘to be’ authentic. This might include the client sharing the chaos of their internal world. Replaying personal experience in this way often gives rise to new information in the therapeutic relationship.

Just as the client increases their understanding through creative play, so we as therapist can use supervision to replay our emerging awareness of the client’s practical and emotional risks. Through a systemic lens in supervision and reflective practice we can review the ethical implications for the wider care system. For example, with new information we might need to consider arising safeguarding concerns for those related to the client. Alternatively, changing behaviours might engender unhelpful responses from staff involved in their care. We can unravel how the wider system plays into unhelpful patterns. My practical experience of different sectors, having worked in public, private and third sector roles, gives me the confidence to unpick even the most confusing systems.

I am committed to learning from clients. I believe we have a responsibility to contribute to a better understanding of clients who do not easily engage in mainstream talking therapy. I want to amplify our discoveries through researching and publishing client feedback. Please click through to see how I have contributed to the evidence base for dramatherapy. This includes a co-written book chapter in The Practical Handbook of Hearing Voices 

I support Masters Dramatherapy students during their final year placement. I find it joyful to support the next generation in growing in confidence and flourishing in their placements. Students on placement regularly feedback that my warm approach helps them explore their own vulnerability with positive effect.