claire schrader drama therapist

about claire

I am living proof that an introvert need not be hampered from expressing themselves powerfully in the world and fulfilling their potential.

I have been helping people break out of their shells the fast, fun and easy way since 1997.

But I started out as a quiet, shy introverted child. We lived in flats where childhood noise was not liked and my mother says that she deliberately repressed both my sister and I. We were so good and so well behaved that teachers used to comment on it. There was something unsettling about having such good, well-behaved children.

Shyness followed me into my early twenties until I got to the point where I knew I had to do something about it.

Through a series of coincidences I became involved in drama at university where I discovered that theatre was naturally therapeutic and gradually I began to emerge from my shell.

When people meet me these days, they find it hard to believe I was once a shy introvert. In fact the first thing they say to me is “You’re never an introvert” – because I appear to be more outgoing than most, very comfortable on stage and in front of an audience, and somewhat of a free spirit.  And then they wonder how on earth I managed to effect such a thorough transformation. Since being an introvert is something that you’re supposed to be stuck with. There’s no cure for being an introvert!

Well I am still an introvert, and very happy that I am – and I wouldn’t want to stop being one, because there are many wonderful things about being introverted.

I now feel I have the best of both worlds – the ability to go within and think and experience things deeply, and the ability also to be outgoing, expressive and social.

HOW I DID IT
Well it didn’t happen overnight…. it happened over a period of time. And it didn’t happen because I had any special gifts or abilities. In fact I was for most of the time stumbling blindly in the dark. Drama enabled me to come out of my introverted hidey hole and undo the negative programming that had kept me locked away.

And for most part it was relatively easy and highly enjoyable

I found myself pursuing a career in the theatre.  In the course of this, I came across the improvisation techniques of Keith Johnstone and Viola Spolin. On top of the discovery that improvisation was nothing like I thought it was, improvisation released creativity in me that I never knew I had. Along with this my social anxieties disappeared, and my whole life, confidence in myself and what I could achieve began to open up. In my theatre career every acting role enabled me to explore and develop new aspects of myself and that was empowering. It enabled me too to free up parts of myself that I had supressed for years. And it was fun.

And I discovered much to my amazement that there were so many gifts locked away inside me – gifts I never knew I had.

Because as an introvert these gifts were all held within and there they would have stayed, if I hadn’t have found a way of getting them out

BECOMING A PLAYWRIGHT
Sometimes after this, I started writing my first play. Suddenly I could write with ease, even though for years I had been blocked. I got up early every morning and wrote for a couple of hours. I didn’t know what the play was about but I knew somehow I was accessing my unconscious. The play was writing itself.

I realised that all the improvisation work, had freed me from the self imposed restrictions of a lifetime and I could finally let my ideas flow.

Later on this play, CORYVRECKAN, was produced at the Old Red Lion Theatre in London, an extraordinary experience for me, not only did I see my play enacted by a talented and committed cast, also on the last night I had two agents who wanted to represent me, one was Margaret Ramsay, the most famous agent for stage writers. The play went onto to be nominated for three awards in the London Fringe Awards, and Julia Tarnoky won Best Actress (pictured above with the award and publicity) and she still considers CORRVRECKAN the best work of her career.

Much later when I trained to become a drama therapist, all these experiences began to make sense and I was able to bring them all under one roof. My love of theatre had set me free to express myself in the world, and the extensive personal development work I had participated in had brought me insight and understanding.

I founded Making Moves in 1997 and this over time developed into myth-a-drama, and I have been helping inhibited and quiet people find freedom ever since.The improvisation work underpins my approach – the belief that we are all innately creative. I seek to create a safe place in which people can rediscover these natural skills.

THE POWER OF ACHIEVEMENT
It is powerful to achieve things. It builds self respect and confidence and brings with it expansion. Because the fact is we live in an extraverted world and that isn’t easy for most introverts. I have achieved all kinds of thing which I never would have thought possible if I hadn’t discovered drama. On top of the things already mentioned I have also been featured in women’s magazines and on the radio for my solo fire-eating act La Dame de Flamme, the fire-eating ballerina and performed at a Royal Function attended by H.M. the Queen. I won an Arts Council award for Corryvreckan, and had other plays performed. I’ve given presentations at big events including the Women’s International Networking Conference in Rome, and run powerful programmes in business for advertising professionals, CEO’s, Organizational Development Consultants and Innovators etc.

HOW I WORK

welcome

My style is open and encouraging, allowing each individual to flower at their own pace and in their own way. Laughter and humour is an important part of the process. I share openly about my own life and experiences: as one who has been through dark places and come out the other side stronger and with renewed zest for life.

I continue to pursue my own growth bringing back what I have learned to the groups and individuals I work with. I work intuitively, sensing the energies that are present, feeding back that awareness so that negativity can be shifted and transformed.

These are some of the things people have said about the way I work, which at one time I would have been too embarrassed to put on my web site!

Here’s some more detail about my training, qualifications and background.

If you are resonating with my story or drawn to discover this for yourself, if you haven’t already done so, I suggest you subscribe to one of my free tools.

Or learn more about the people who’s lives have been transformed by this approach.

My very warmest wishes
Claire Schrader