IMPROving Spontaneity: Supporting Mental Health with Applied Improvisation - Insights from Gestalt Therapy
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| Year of publication | 2024 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | The learning journey will support applied improvisation practitioners in tackling issues related to mental health difficulties. We do not need to be therapists to create social spaces that have healing (therapeutic) effects. Applied improvisation is an amazing tool to do so. Recently, Applied Improvisation has been attracting attention from mental health professionals. By exploring applied improv in this context, we are tuning up to the future of mental health care as AI is social, embodied, and, at the same time, a low-cost, inclusive, and easy-to-access tool. Therefore, improv might play a massive role in an overloaded mental health care system. Gestalt therapy and applied improvisation come from the same roots and share many principles as here and now focus on co-created spontaneous interaction. According to Gestalt therapy, mental health is defined by the ability to creatively and spontaneously adjust in an ongoing moment-to-moment contracting process between human being and their environment. We will focus on supporting this ability in ourselves and our clients. |