Christine Mayor | University of Manitoba (original) (raw)
Papers by Christine Mayor
Journal of Prisoners on Prisons
Social Work Education, Jul 28, 2022
Early Childhood Education Journal
Drama Therapy Review, Oct 1, 2017
Journal of Prisoners on Prisons, 2020
Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research
Affilia
Largely absent from the feminist qualitative social work research literature are practical discus... more Largely absent from the feminist qualitative social work research literature are practical discussions about the ethics of white researchers who “study up” people and institutions of power. This methodological article grapples with how to conduct data collection from an anti-racist framework. I explore my use of an arts-based self-reflexive memoing process of embodied tableaux to inform my experimentations of rejecting “neutrality” when interviewing participants. I provide examples of disrupting white, patriarchal, and colonial norms during qualitative interviewing, including directly naming my whiteness and anti-racist stance; intentionally challenging the racism of white participants and deepening critical reflection; and viewing myself through a lens of critical skepticism to recognize when I was protecting whiteness or failing to effectively intervene. I conclude with an invitation to others to experiment with an anti-racist research praxis—an iterative process of self-reflexivi...
Arts in Psychotherapy, 2021
Recent scholarship into school-based drama therapy (SBDT) has largely explored individual interve... more Recent scholarship into school-based drama therapy (SBDT) has largely explored individual interventions and programs. What remains less understood are broad practice trends across SBDT in North America. The current study is an investigation of descriptive intervention vignettes (N = 49), aggregated from a larger 2018 survey of North American drama therapists. It is the third exploration of this data set and specifically seeks to understand SBDT practice vignettes within the context of drama therapy core processes (Armstrong et al., 2016; Jones, 2007, 2016). In applying the core processes as an analytic instrument to examine SBDT, this research dually investigates how drama therapists are using core processes in their school-based work as well as the use of the core processes as a research tool. Core processes were identified in each of the vignettes and their unique presence and frequency distribution contributed to further understanding SBDT across the profession. Limitations in us...
Despite widespread discussion in the United States, up until now there has not been a review of t... more Despite widespread discussion in the United States, up until now there has not been a review of the demographic and contextual factors associated with Canadian academic achievement. Using Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) framework, a scoping review was conducted to answer two questions: What demographic and contextual factors are most commonly used in K–12 academic achievement studies in Canada? What, if any,research gaps exist? Fifty-four studies were identified for review. The results reveal 40 demographic or contextual factors, with socio-economic status (SES), gender, language factors, immigrant status, family structure, and Indigenous status being the most commonly studied. Race, religion, and LGBTQ+ identity were understudied factors. The authors recommend the adoption of “educational opportunity gap” as a consistentresearch term, identify understudied factors, and outline several research design considerations.
Drama Therapy Review, 2018
This article is a performative exploration of Developmental Transformations’ (DvT) potential as a... more This article is a performative exploration of Developmental Transformations’ (DvT) potential as a political practice of resistance and imagining the world in which we want to live. Following a review of the literature on DvT and social justice, this article employs a radical performative methodology, which attempts to embody in its form the principles of DvT practice and the carnivalesque. This writing style aims to disrupt and engage the reader, point to how knowledge is produced through the status quo of academic writing, and to spark the creative impulses that drive many to drama therapy in the first place. This article attempts to articulate ways in which DvT might allow us to engage with complexities of social justice, power, and inequities within an aesthetic, relational frame. It also points to the complexities and failings of attempting to deploy DvT, or any drama therapy practice, within political or social justice frameworks. The article does not attempt to resolve these tensions for the reader.
The Arts in Psychotherapy, 2020
Qualitative Social Work, 2020
Due to the increased interest of social workers in arts-based research, there is a need for guida... more Due to the increased interest of social workers in arts-based research, there is a need for guidance in how to apply arts-based research methods to social work questions and research. The lack of detailed methodological procedures in the existing literature potentially inhibits social work researchers’ ability to select and implement appropriate arts-based research methods. This article thus provides a step-by-step procedural guide for a drama-based arts-based research method called embodied tableaux. Adapted from Boal’s Image Theatre techniques and tableaux exercises common in drama therapy, this ABR method can serve as a rich source of embodied, aesthetic, imaginal, and relational data suitable for many of the populations and social issues that social work researchers typically focus on. This article also highlights ways to adapt this method for the various stages of the research process and explores important ethical issues. Illustrative examples of the embodied tableaux method a...
Drama Therapy Review, 2018
This article examines the impact of the neoliberal school reform climate on the practice and pote... more This article examines the impact of the neoliberal school reform climate on the practice and potential of drama therapy in schools. Based on focus group discussions and arts-based research using embodied tableaux (n = 18), this article highlights how school-based drama therapists navigate precarious presence and isolation, pressure to perform as efficient magicians and having to ‘sell’ drama therapy. The article also considers the possibilities of creative resistance using drama therapy methods.
Drama Therapy Review, 2018
Although a growing body of literature describes drama therapy intervention models and case exampl... more Although a growing body of literature describes drama therapy intervention models and case examples of school-based work, there has yet to be a comprehensive study that details the prevalence and practice of drama therapy in North American schools. Members of the North American Drama Therapy Association received an online survey designed to gather quantitative descriptive data and qualitative experiences of drama therapists currently practicing in schools. This article presents findings related to the former, reporting data focused on relevant training and experience, organizational information, scope of practice, clinical engagement and obstacles to the introduction and implementation of services. Interpretation of reported descriptive data is provided and future research directions are considered regarding school-based, drama therapy practice.
Drama Therapy Review, 2018
In this study, the authors used collaborative discourse analysis (CDA) to analyse textual descrip... more In this study, the authors used collaborative discourse analysis (CDA) to analyse textual descriptions of three approaches to trauma-informed drama therapy in schools. Findings reflected a shared commitment to the use of metaphor and dramatic media in managing trauma-related symptoms and the need for interdisciplinary collaboration. Each approach differed with regard to the role of aesthetics and ‘safety’, embodiment, the format and recipients of intervention, and the degree to which traumatic events should be directly addressed. Agreement concerning indicators and approaches to evaluation would strengthen future comparative research on the impact of drama therapy in schools.
Whiteness and Education, 2018
Drama Therapy Review, 2016
A short-form of Developmental Transformations (DvT) is presented as a method of stress reduction ... more A short-form of Developmental Transformations (DvT) is presented as a method of stress reduction for elementary school students. DvT short-form is compared with other stress reduction approaches such as recess, mindful meditation, yoga, progressive muscle relaxation and release therapy. A case example illustrates the phases and specific techniques used, which include placing a demand on the student through the play, identifying an important relational theme, varielating the theme, and then working through the moment of recognition where the real stressor is differentiated from the play situation. This case study highlights the likelihood that DvT short form serves as an effective stress reduction technique. FORMATO REDUCIDO DE TRANSFORMACIONES DEL DESARROLLO COMO MÉTODO PARA AMINORAR EL ESTRÉS EN NIÑOS Un formato reducido de Transformaciones del Desarrollo es presentado como método para aminorar el estrés en estudiantes de escuelas elementarias. Transformaciones del Desarrollo (DvT) en su formato reducido es comparado con otros enfoques para aminorar el estrés como los recreos, meditación consciente, yoga, relajación muscular
Affilia
Creative writing during the COVID-19 pandemic can serve as a decolonizing intersectional feminist... more Creative writing during the COVID-19 pandemic can serve as a decolonizing intersectional feminist method for critical self-reflexivity. We share responses to the prompt: “If my therapeutic practice came with a warning label in COVID-19, what would it say?” and provide an analysis of the neoliberalism, whiteness, and colonialism embedded in our creative writing and practice. Engaging in critical self-reflexivity through metaphor carries potential for revealing hidden gendered, racialized, colonial, and neoliberal biases and norms related to social work practice, particularly when done in a collaborative, dialogic manner. We conclude by providing possible creative writing prompts that might be used in social work practice, supervision, and teaching to advance existing practices of self-reflexivity in social work both during and beyond the pandemic.
Journal of Prisoners on Prisons
Social Work Education, Jul 28, 2022
Early Childhood Education Journal
Drama Therapy Review, Oct 1, 2017
Journal of Prisoners on Prisons, 2020
Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research
Affilia
Largely absent from the feminist qualitative social work research literature are practical discus... more Largely absent from the feminist qualitative social work research literature are practical discussions about the ethics of white researchers who “study up” people and institutions of power. This methodological article grapples with how to conduct data collection from an anti-racist framework. I explore my use of an arts-based self-reflexive memoing process of embodied tableaux to inform my experimentations of rejecting “neutrality” when interviewing participants. I provide examples of disrupting white, patriarchal, and colonial norms during qualitative interviewing, including directly naming my whiteness and anti-racist stance; intentionally challenging the racism of white participants and deepening critical reflection; and viewing myself through a lens of critical skepticism to recognize when I was protecting whiteness or failing to effectively intervene. I conclude with an invitation to others to experiment with an anti-racist research praxis—an iterative process of self-reflexivi...
Arts in Psychotherapy, 2021
Recent scholarship into school-based drama therapy (SBDT) has largely explored individual interve... more Recent scholarship into school-based drama therapy (SBDT) has largely explored individual interventions and programs. What remains less understood are broad practice trends across SBDT in North America. The current study is an investigation of descriptive intervention vignettes (N = 49), aggregated from a larger 2018 survey of North American drama therapists. It is the third exploration of this data set and specifically seeks to understand SBDT practice vignettes within the context of drama therapy core processes (Armstrong et al., 2016; Jones, 2007, 2016). In applying the core processes as an analytic instrument to examine SBDT, this research dually investigates how drama therapists are using core processes in their school-based work as well as the use of the core processes as a research tool. Core processes were identified in each of the vignettes and their unique presence and frequency distribution contributed to further understanding SBDT across the profession. Limitations in us...
Despite widespread discussion in the United States, up until now there has not been a review of t... more Despite widespread discussion in the United States, up until now there has not been a review of the demographic and contextual factors associated with Canadian academic achievement. Using Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) framework, a scoping review was conducted to answer two questions: What demographic and contextual factors are most commonly used in K–12 academic achievement studies in Canada? What, if any,research gaps exist? Fifty-four studies were identified for review. The results reveal 40 demographic or contextual factors, with socio-economic status (SES), gender, language factors, immigrant status, family structure, and Indigenous status being the most commonly studied. Race, religion, and LGBTQ+ identity were understudied factors. The authors recommend the adoption of “educational opportunity gap” as a consistentresearch term, identify understudied factors, and outline several research design considerations.
Drama Therapy Review, 2018
This article is a performative exploration of Developmental Transformations’ (DvT) potential as a... more This article is a performative exploration of Developmental Transformations’ (DvT) potential as a political practice of resistance and imagining the world in which we want to live. Following a review of the literature on DvT and social justice, this article employs a radical performative methodology, which attempts to embody in its form the principles of DvT practice and the carnivalesque. This writing style aims to disrupt and engage the reader, point to how knowledge is produced through the status quo of academic writing, and to spark the creative impulses that drive many to drama therapy in the first place. This article attempts to articulate ways in which DvT might allow us to engage with complexities of social justice, power, and inequities within an aesthetic, relational frame. It also points to the complexities and failings of attempting to deploy DvT, or any drama therapy practice, within political or social justice frameworks. The article does not attempt to resolve these tensions for the reader.
The Arts in Psychotherapy, 2020
Qualitative Social Work, 2020
Due to the increased interest of social workers in arts-based research, there is a need for guida... more Due to the increased interest of social workers in arts-based research, there is a need for guidance in how to apply arts-based research methods to social work questions and research. The lack of detailed methodological procedures in the existing literature potentially inhibits social work researchers’ ability to select and implement appropriate arts-based research methods. This article thus provides a step-by-step procedural guide for a drama-based arts-based research method called embodied tableaux. Adapted from Boal’s Image Theatre techniques and tableaux exercises common in drama therapy, this ABR method can serve as a rich source of embodied, aesthetic, imaginal, and relational data suitable for many of the populations and social issues that social work researchers typically focus on. This article also highlights ways to adapt this method for the various stages of the research process and explores important ethical issues. Illustrative examples of the embodied tableaux method a...
Drama Therapy Review, 2018
This article examines the impact of the neoliberal school reform climate on the practice and pote... more This article examines the impact of the neoliberal school reform climate on the practice and potential of drama therapy in schools. Based on focus group discussions and arts-based research using embodied tableaux (n = 18), this article highlights how school-based drama therapists navigate precarious presence and isolation, pressure to perform as efficient magicians and having to ‘sell’ drama therapy. The article also considers the possibilities of creative resistance using drama therapy methods.
Drama Therapy Review, 2018
Although a growing body of literature describes drama therapy intervention models and case exampl... more Although a growing body of literature describes drama therapy intervention models and case examples of school-based work, there has yet to be a comprehensive study that details the prevalence and practice of drama therapy in North American schools. Members of the North American Drama Therapy Association received an online survey designed to gather quantitative descriptive data and qualitative experiences of drama therapists currently practicing in schools. This article presents findings related to the former, reporting data focused on relevant training and experience, organizational information, scope of practice, clinical engagement and obstacles to the introduction and implementation of services. Interpretation of reported descriptive data is provided and future research directions are considered regarding school-based, drama therapy practice.
Drama Therapy Review, 2018
In this study, the authors used collaborative discourse analysis (CDA) to analyse textual descrip... more In this study, the authors used collaborative discourse analysis (CDA) to analyse textual descriptions of three approaches to trauma-informed drama therapy in schools. Findings reflected a shared commitment to the use of metaphor and dramatic media in managing trauma-related symptoms and the need for interdisciplinary collaboration. Each approach differed with regard to the role of aesthetics and ‘safety’, embodiment, the format and recipients of intervention, and the degree to which traumatic events should be directly addressed. Agreement concerning indicators and approaches to evaluation would strengthen future comparative research on the impact of drama therapy in schools.
Whiteness and Education, 2018
Drama Therapy Review, 2016
A short-form of Developmental Transformations (DvT) is presented as a method of stress reduction ... more A short-form of Developmental Transformations (DvT) is presented as a method of stress reduction for elementary school students. DvT short-form is compared with other stress reduction approaches such as recess, mindful meditation, yoga, progressive muscle relaxation and release therapy. A case example illustrates the phases and specific techniques used, which include placing a demand on the student through the play, identifying an important relational theme, varielating the theme, and then working through the moment of recognition where the real stressor is differentiated from the play situation. This case study highlights the likelihood that DvT short form serves as an effective stress reduction technique. FORMATO REDUCIDO DE TRANSFORMACIONES DEL DESARROLLO COMO MÉTODO PARA AMINORAR EL ESTRÉS EN NIÑOS Un formato reducido de Transformaciones del Desarrollo es presentado como método para aminorar el estrés en estudiantes de escuelas elementarias. Transformaciones del Desarrollo (DvT) en su formato reducido es comparado con otros enfoques para aminorar el estrés como los recreos, meditación consciente, yoga, relajación muscular
Affilia
Creative writing during the COVID-19 pandemic can serve as a decolonizing intersectional feminist... more Creative writing during the COVID-19 pandemic can serve as a decolonizing intersectional feminist method for critical self-reflexivity. We share responses to the prompt: “If my therapeutic practice came with a warning label in COVID-19, what would it say?” and provide an analysis of the neoliberalism, whiteness, and colonialism embedded in our creative writing and practice. Engaging in critical self-reflexivity through metaphor carries potential for revealing hidden gendered, racialized, colonial, and neoliberal biases and norms related to social work practice, particularly when done in a collaborative, dialogic manner. We conclude by providing possible creative writing prompts that might be used in social work practice, supervision, and teaching to advance existing practices of self-reflexivity in social work both during and beyond the pandemic.
Current Approaches to Drama Therapy, 3rd edition, 2020
Current approaches in drama therapy, 3rd edition