Challenging Experience: An Experiential Approach to the Treatment of Serious Offenders

"Drama, art, and movement provide clients who have only limited powers of verbal expression with some new ways to tell their stories as well as fresh strategies to investigate themselves."--Challenging Experience

People attend plays for catharsis and vicarious experience, to feel through performance without harming self or others. The same principle applies to drama therapy role-play ignites in the moment responses that simulate real-life behavior and emotion for examination and contemplation in a safe, therapeutic environment. Challenging Experience presents exercises written for treatment providers who work with either adult or adolescent sexual abusers and violent offenders.

A variety of exercises range through warm-ups to low and high intensity activities, and include calming and cooling exercises as well. The authors focus on using the proper exercise for clients when they are at the right stage in treatment and emotionally prepared to participate. Information accompanies each exercise regarding the number of clients and amount of time needed to implement.

John Bergman is a master drama therapist who specializes in working with sexual and violent offenders. He is founder and director of The Geese Theater, which operates in the US and the UK. He is an internationally-renowned expert in training prison staff to interact humanely with inmates, setting up and delivering therapeutic programing, creating original productions and consulting in the criminal justice system using activity-based methods.

Saul Hewish is one of the UK??s leading practitioners in the use of drama and theater-related work with offenders and at-risk young people. He is the founder and director of Acting Out Company and executive co-director of Rideout (Creative Arts for Rehabilitation), an arts-based company specializing in drama, theater, and multi-arts programs in the UK prison system. He is a winner of the Butler Trust Award (2005), recognizing exceptional work by staff in HM Prison Service.