Talk focuses on mental health and drama’s positive influence
A VERY informative talk, which focused on how partaking in drama can have a positive impact on a person’s mental health, took place in Clayton White’s Hotel.
Organised by Olga Conway from Discovering Drama, the talk was given by Patsy McCaughey, educational psychologist and deputy principal at The High School in Dublin. He outlined the benefits of drama participation and spoke about how drama ticked all of the boxes when it came to the new Junior Certificate programme and how it would develop kids’ life skills.
Following his talk, one of Olga’s pupils, Gia Simmons spoke about how drama had benefitted her. Olga explained that Gia had been in her school for about 12 years and was currently the Head Girl in the Loreto Secondary School.
‘Gia talked about how drama was her little escape from the tough things in school. She spoke about how it helped her with public speaking, participation within groups, and tapping into skills through drama that you bring with you into every day life.’
Olga said she was delighted with the event, saying that she, as a teacher, was able to take things from the night as well.
‘This discussion was something I wanted to do for a while as we have a large number of teenage students that we want to help as much as we can.’