A living inquiry: activating and integrating the multiple identities of dramatherapist, researcher, artist and teacher

The critical narrative explores published and creative works as a performer and how this has informed the author’s development as researcher, artist, dramatherapist and teacher in Higher Education. Through clinical work as a dramatherapist in different settings and practice as a dramatherapy educator the author explores the integrating of therapy and teaching approaches such as meaning making, deep learning and student-centred learning. The research is a living inquiry that is an unfolding of the researcher’s experience and deepening of understanding over a fourteen-year period as a clinician and teacher. The author examines the encounter and interrelationship dynamic between the performer and audience; therapist and client; teacher and student; and researcher and research participant as a means for co-construction and co-creation of meaning, knowledge and raising awareness. The author explores the importance of a research approach that is congruent with a dramatherapy and teacher identity emphasising non-verbal exploration, the senses, the imagination and play as a means for deepening understanding of dramatherapy and teaching practice. Through the creative works of a solo performer the author explores how engagement as an artist informs and strengthens their identity as a dramatherapist, researcher and teacher. Different research methodologies including heuristic inquiry, autoethnography and a/r/tography are considered for their suitability for a living inquiry that addresses the multiplicity of roles.