Older people, dementia and neuro-dramatic-play: A personal and theoretical drama therapy perspective

This conceptual article will consider Sue Jennings’ neuro-dramatic-play (NDP)
as an overall theoretical framework for working with older people with dementia.
NDP was developed over a number of years by pioneering UK drama therapist
Sue Jennings. It is a culmination of attachment-based play, drama, movement and
storytelling, and arts-based approaches that are used within drama therapy and
other play and creative-based work with children. The author will consider from a
personal and reflective perspective how NDP approaches can be adapted by drama
therapists to work with older people with memory loss based on almost 30-years
history of being involved in the field of drama therapy as a student and practioner,
and his work with older people, at both the beginning of his career and his current
reflections many years later.