Introduction: In advance of the practicum and internship experiences, counselor educators are challenged to provide realistic simulations of the counseling relationship for students. The paper describes a pilot collaboration between an introductory counseling and an applied theatre course to elucidate the mutual benefits of incorporating theatrical improvisation into the counseling curriculum

Description of Partnership: During the Fall 2019 semester, the first and second authors collaborated to integrate courses on introductory counseling and applied theatre within a large university in the southeastern United States. They established goals for both counseling and applied theatre students, and designated dates throughout the semester to incorporate individual and joint activities. For counseling students, the overall goals included enhancing their perspective taking to improve cognitive empathy, as well as providing opportunities for more genuine application of skills than what is typically afforded by peer role play. For applied theatre students, goals included providing opportunities to explore and perform various forms of applied theatre, such as Theatre of the Oppressed and sociodrama, and to develop an understanding of how AI can be used in educational and health settings. The applied theatre students also had the opportunity to develop complex characters and role-play with the mental health counseling students in mock counseling sessions. Activities were built into preexisting course content so that the partnership could enhance student learning across disciplines without replacing core educational objectives. 

Conclusions: Integrating applied theatre activities and students with a counseling skills course can provide opportunities for participants from both fields of study to learn from one another, with the potential to enhance counselor empathy and spontaneity while also giving theater students additional practice in applied theatre facilitation, character development, and medical education role-play experience. As discussed in this article, the authors’ collaboration resulted in several opportunities for engagement across a semester, with both joint and individual course activities. Preliminary student feedback and instructor observations suggest that this form of integrated training can be a value-added component for both programs of study, although more research is needed to explore efficacy and outcomes through both qualitative and quantitative methods.

Citation: Bayne, H., Pufahl, J., McNiece, Z., & Ataga, J.  (2021) Acting with Empathy: A counseling and Applied Theatre Collaboration. Counselor Education and Supervision, 60: 306-315. https://doi.org/10.1002/ceas.12218

CAM Faculty: Jeffrey Pufahl

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