"Playing with Scary Voices" with Tami Gatta, MA, LCAT, RDT
Workshop & Play*Space: How do we best support those individuals who have experiences deemed “psychosis”? When voices, visions and other sensory phenomena feel overpowering, or frightening, is there a way to find some sense of safety through playful interventions?
In this 90 minute session, Tami will present suggestions regarding a compassionate and empowering approach to the experience of voice hearing, rooted in methodology created by those with lived experience. Students will learn about the Hearing Voices Movement, engage in empathy building exercises, and learn creative strategies for engaging individuals AND their voices. Discover concrete techniques that move away from pathologizing language, and instead celebrate the strength in identifying each voices’ role.
Following the workshop will be an experience of DvT play led by practitioners from the NYC DvT training program.
Tami Gatta, MA, RDT, LCAT (she/her) is the co-director of Curious Rebels, LLC post-graduate drama therapy training and the founder of Tami Gatta Mental Health Counseling (PLLC Pending). A peer-identified clinician, Tami is candid about her own history of mental health struggles, and the ways this lived experience has deepened her clinical work. Tami specializes in trauma, anxiety, depression, blocks in embodiment, and extreme states (sometimes called “psychosis”), as well as meaningful use of self-disclosure, particularly as it pertains to power and privilege. She is a founding member and the current Vice President of the NYC Hearing Voices Network. Tami is a proud NYU Steinhardt graduate, where she has guest lectured consistently for over a decade. As a queer psychotherapist dedicated to providing anti-racist, fat empowering and LGBTQ/kink-allied support that celebrates all bodies, Tami commits to an ever evolving practice of humility, curiosity, and self-awareness.