Dramatherapy and Religion: (Un) Comfortable Bedfellows? in Honour of Dr Roger Grainger

Abstract

This article was written to honour the memory of Roger Grainger, particularly his contribution to the dialogue between (drama)therapy and religion. As authors from two different faith backgrounds, who work with clients of many and no faiths, we research the impact of working with religion in therapy, its potentially helping and hindering factors. In the context of PREVENT, a government strategy aiming to protect people from terrorism (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-strategy-2011), faith can be associated with radicalisation combined with a traditional distrust of therapy towards religion. This might lead us to shy away from this area. On the other hand The British Association of Dramatherapists' Intercultural good practice guidelines advocate working within a client's cultural, thus also religious background. The following argument discusses the core concepts we are working with, outlines Roger's contribution, contextualises them within current debates and raises the challenges we face. We hope the debate will be developed by fellow dramatherapists so that our fluency in interreligious practice will continue to improve.