Abstract
Theater has a long tradtion as a forum for generating and facing strong emotions. This article examines some holistic child-centered drama therapy strategies including improvisation, mime, puppetry, and role-playing in metaphorical situations. Dramatizing metaphorical stories is effective because it distances the child from personal painful experience while generating similar emotions or ideas. Activities are described that help bereaved children see death as a natural part of the life cycle, recognize and handle the phases of grieving, and learn to let go of the “wish” and live in the “precious present.” Actual quotes from the children are presented that indicate that drama therapy enables them to understand the grieving process and integrate the losses into their lives. Drama therapy is an effective yet underutilized intervention for addressing the needs of grieving children.
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