Engaging the body from a distance: Online dramatherapy with traumatised children

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The lockdown restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic forced many dramatherapists to urgently move their work with traumatised children to online spaces. This created new challenges and opportunities particularly in regard to engaging in embodied therapeutic work virtually. This chapter critically discusses what online dramatherapy with traumatised children may involve and how embodied practices can be incorporated in virtual spaces. It starts with an overview of the consequences of childhood trauma in children’s development. It then discusses empirically how trauma can manifest as a bodily experience and considers the theoretical and practical implications of utilising embodied practices such as play in the treatment of childhood trauma. The challenges involved when shifting from face-to-face to online work – such as the feasibility of creating aesthetic distance between the therapist and the child through the computer screen – are then outlined. The chapter ends with an overview of several embodied practices which can be used in online dramatherapy work with traumatised children to facilitate healing and a discussion on key steps for future research and practice.