After years of conflict, today we have millions of internally and externally displaced Arab women, struggling each day to cope with the striving horrors they did not choose to see or face. Our 20-year plan is to reach 1 Million Arab Women, by collaborating with universities and different institutions to establish a Master’s curriculum in Drama Therapy and increase the number of Drama Therapists in the Arab world.
Our aim as a foundation is to educate and train 600+ Drama Therapists and facilitators in 20 years from now. So they can train women in their cultures, in their language, and in their communities. By supporting and empowering women, we believe they can change those around them to be better, as we hope to spread our message to all women across the Arab world.
Greater Goals
We can reach 1 Million Arab women by implementing several strategic goals that will start by collaborating across several fields of academia in social work, civil society, psychology, and women’s studies.
We plan to expand our reach through three distinct areas:
- Scholarships and Training of Trainers (ToT)
- Technical Committee
- Arab World Alliance of Drama Therapists
As war and social issues continue to ravage the fabric of Arab societies, the inevitable need for targeted psychological support grows with it. Intisar Foundation is working towards expanding its efforts in all Arab countries by developing the field of Drama Therapy.
Growing Our Movement
Intisar Foundation is currently developing a scholarship program that would allow Arab female students from around the Arab world to study Drama Therapy Master’s program free of cost. Our scholarship program will include 800 hours of field training that would allow our students to graduate ready to work on the field. Some parts of the 800 hours will be dedicated to working directly under the supervision of Arab Drama Therapists who have experience in working with vulnerable populations of women affected by war.
The ToT program will target Drama Therapists who are qualified to train other aspiring Drama Therapists to expand the discipline across the Arab world. Our ToT program will consist of 100 hours of intensive training of which different facets of Drama Therapy, political science, research, trauma-informed psychology among other topics will be taught. The ToT program will ensure a high level of training and education is provided to our trainers who will, in turn, be able to train other trainees, thus constantly expanding the tool of knowledgeable and qualified Drama Therapists in the Middle East.
Our Internal Research & Development
As a part of our efforts to advocate for the importance of psychological support for women affected by war, Intisar Foundation aims to contribute to the field of research on Drama Therapy. Drama therapy with women affected by war particularly is a scarcely researched topic, and we aim to establish its benefits and validity as a psychological intervention. We have undertaken several research projects that explore the qualitative and quantitative impact of Drama Therapy for vulnerable populations.
Our first research project was a qualitative exploration of the impact of Drama Therapy as told by seven Syrian refugee women who took part in the first program implemented by Intisar Foundation in Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon. The paper, entitled : “The Power of Theater Expression and Communication: A Psychological Therapeutic Intervention in a Refugee Camp: An IPA Study Into the Narratives of Women Refugees’ Experience With Drama Therapy”, offers novel findings in this field. This paper has been published in Psychology Research Journal by David publishing company. The paper can be accessed here.
