Faculty

Drama Therapy Faculty

PAMELA DUNNE, PH.D., RDT/BCT, NT 

Founder and Director, DRAMA THERAPY INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES

Licensure Clinical Psychologist, Board of Psychology

Ph.D. Clinical Psychology, Cambridge Graduate School  |  Ph.D Florida State University, Theatre Arts: Focus Therapeutic Drama.

M.A. Clinical Psychology, International College  |  M.A Child Drama, University of Washington. | B.A. Film, University of California, LA

BCT Registration as Board Certified Trainer (NADTA) and RDT Registration as a Drama Therapist (NADTA)

Pam Dunne is a Registered Drama Therapist and Board-Certified Trainer with the North American Drama Therapy Association.  She is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Professor Emeritus of Theatre Arts and Dance at California State University Los Angeles.  She has authored 9 books, directed multiple plays, and either directed or appeared in many educational films.  Dr. Dunne has served as Keynote speaker, workshop leader, and is an International leader and trainer in the field of Drama Therapy.  She is currently conducting a training program for Narradrama both at the Facilitator and Trainer level. Her work has garnered her both the 2014 Teaching Excellence Award from the NADTA and the 2016 Gertrud Schattner Award for Distinguished Contribution to Drama Therapy.

 

KAMRAN AFARY, PH.D, RDT, NT, ASSOCIATE Director Drama Therapy Institute of Los Angeles

PhD in Performance Studies, Northwestern University  |  MA in Communication Studies, Cal State LA

BCT- Registration as Board Certified Trainer (NADTA)  |  RDT Registration as a Drama Therapist (NADTA)

Kamran Afary is an Associate Professor of Intersectional Identities and Relationships and a recipient of the 2016 Outstanding Lecturer Award at Cal State LA. He teaches interpersonal and health communication to student-prisoners in Lancaster California, and has worked extensively with Middle Eastern and South Asian refugee-immigrant populations He is a Narradrama Trainer and has recently presented Narradrama training in China. His publications include: Iranian Diaspora Identities: Stories and Songs (Hamilton 2020) and Communication Research on Expressive Arts as Forms of Healing (Lexington 2020); and Performance and Activism: Grassroots Discourse after the Los Angeles Rebellion of 1992 (Lexington 2009).

 

Renda Dionne Madrigal, Ph.D., RDT, NT

Licensed Clinical Psychologist

Ph.D. California School of Professional Psychology, San Diego  |  MA, Clinical Psychology, California School of Professional Psychology, San Diego  | BA Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles

RDT, North American Drama Therapy Association

Renda Dionne Madrigal, Ph.D. RDT. NT, is a Turtle Mountain Chippewa Licensed Clinical
Psychologist, Registered Drama Therapist, Narradrama Trainer, Somatic Experiencing
Practitioner, and Author. She was featured on the cover of the February 2018 edition of Mindful
Magazine and is featured as a 2022 Powerful Woman of Mindfulness (August edition). She has
served as a mentor for the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior,
Mindfulness Awareness Research Center Teacher Training Program, and Stanford Certified
Applied Compassion Educator/Consultant. She also has an MFA in Creative Writing from the
Institute of American Indian Arts and is faculty at the Drama Therapy Institute of Los Angeles
and California Indian Nations College, and President of Mindful Practice Inc. and works with
story medicine (embodied mindfulness, narrative and drama/creative arts).  Dr. Dionne Madrigal
has been a Licensed Clinical Psychologist for over twenty years. She combines mindfulness,
somatic (body-based) therapies, and story in much of the work she does. Her heritage informs
her work. She is involved in healing theatre and has appeared in indigenous plays written by her
daughters, Menil and Her Heart and Wildflower: Indigenous Spirit and Dragonfly. And consults
with Indigenous communities on bringing stories alive for healing. In her spare time, she enjoys
writing fiction featuring Indigenous female protagonists who save the world. Her book
The Mindful Family Guidebook is available through Parallax Press and Penguin Random House
and was listed as a Best Book of Mindfulness 2021 by Mindful Magazine. Look for her book
Silenced, coming soon.

 

RACHEL BROUSSEAU, LMFT, RDT/BCT, NT

Copyright JennKL Photography

Board Certified Trainer: (NADTA)

Master of Science, Counseling Psychology degree with MFT emphasis, Mount St. Mary’s University, Los Angeles, CA.

RDT (NADTA)

Rachel Brousseau walks alongside clients of all ages to honor their process of healing and personal growth through the use of creative arts therapy. Rachel is particularly passionate about working with new mothers to help them feel more supported and connected with greater self-compassion. Rachel believes that therapy is a collaborative process to help in healing the whole person, connecting the mind, body, and spirit in order to help those who are struggling to live brighter, fuller lives with deeper meaning and connection. Past drama therapy experience includes working with adults and adolescents struggling with eating disorders as well as working with children, adolescents, adults, and families in underserved communities to assist in decreasing depression, anxiety, and attachment issues. Rachel is currently serving as a Narradrama Trainer.

 

PAM PAULSON, MA, LMFT/RDT, NT

MA Counseling Psychology, Pacifica Graduate Institute

Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist

Registered Drama Therapist (NADTA)

Authentic Movement Certificate- Authentic Movement Institute, Berkeley

Pam Paulson, MA, LMFT/RDT/NT currently trains Drama Therapists at the Drama Therapy
Institute of Los Angeles and the Apollo School in Beijing, China. She has co-led several
workshops nationally and internationally with Dr. Pam Dunne often focused on Narradrama
practices. For 28 years Pam worked for Orange County Children & Family Services as a senior
social worker/supervisor specializing in: childhood trauma, intimate partner violence, substance
abuse and adoptions. Pam worked with community partnerships to create a Parent Mentor
Program and a Strengthening Marriage Workshop for active duty and veteran families. As a co-
writer and director, she created “The Job Interview”, a training about White Privilege, and co-
founded of PAX (Personal Art eXchange) a community-based art group. She teaches Authentic
Movement and holds a certificate from the Authentic Movement Institute in Berkeley,
California. She is an advisory board member for the non-profit Project Satori which provides
therapeutic services to Trafficking Survivors. She also enjoys being a resident artist of Panndora
Productions, a theater company base in Long Beach, as an actor, director, and producer. She is
co-author along with Pam Dunne, and Kamran Afary for the Narradrama chapter for the third
edition of the Current Approach in Drama Therapy.

 

CREATIVE ARTS THERAPY FACULTY

TERHI K. KORKIAKANGAS Ph.D, Cl.Hyp

Ph.D. Psychology, Roehampton University (UK)  |  MSc Applied Psychological Research, Roehampton University (UK)  |  BSc Psychology, Roehampton University (UK)  |  Cl. Hyp, Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist 

Terhi Korkiakangas is a research psychologist, educator, poet, and writer who explores
the social world and how we connect with ourselves, our bodies, and others. She
teaches across developmental psychology, communication, and social interaction. Over
the past 15 years, Terhi has held research and teaching positions in the UK and the
U.S., and has published extensively in peer-reviewed clinical and social science
journals. Her book, Communication, Gaze, and Autism (Routledge, 2018), provides
insights into how eye contact influences interpersonal experiences in autism. Her career
has shifted from studying communication in high-risk healthcare settings to exploring
the stories our bodies carry beyond words. Currently, she incorporates somatic
practices and poetry to integrate the body, self-expression, and lived experience. Since
becoming a mom, Terhi has immersed herself in the worlds of children and parents,
captivated by the implicit, preverbal memories stored in the body and the influence of
birth as the opening experience that shapes how we engage with the world. At the other
end of the human lifespan, she aims to understand the realities faced by older adults
living with memory loss and their caregivers. When the mind can no longer hold the full
story, poetic expression can help process experiences and find meaning during
profound life transitions.

 

GEORGIE LANDY, LCAT, ATR-BC

DRAMA THERAPY FIELD REPRESENTATIVES AND ADJUNCT FACULTY

 

CYNTHIA KELVIN PsyD, RDT

Psy.D. Clinical Psychology from Ryokan College

RDT/BCT (NADTA) 

Cynthia has taught psychology courses at the college level, as well as workshops in the community for social advocacy and personal growth and transformation. She has worked in community mental health settings as well as in private rehabilitation with people in all stages of life and recovery. Her work is based on the belief that by exploring parts of self through creative activity participants can overcome barriers, foster mindfulness, and cultivate personal strengths. She works to facilitate creative support groups with the overall goal of helping clients lead a healthy, creative, and playfully inspired life. Cynthia has expanded her focus on healing and transformation through utilizing the power of poetry and is completing her CPT (Certified Poetry Therapy) from the International Association for Bibliotherapy and/Poetry Therapy. 

 

DIMITRA STAVROU, PSYCHOLOGIST, MA, RDT

MA in Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Rouen-France and Panteion University-Athens

Post-graduated specialization in ethnographic research (University of Ioannina) and in Performance Art (University of Athens).

Dimitra Stavrou is a licensed psychologist with a Master’s in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the University of Rouen (France) and Panteion University (Athens). She is also a licensed drama therapist in Europe and has post-graduate specialization in ethnographic research (University of Ioannina) and Performance Art (University of Athens). Dimitra is trained in various artistic forms and other psychotherapeutic approaches. With over 30 years of therapeutic experience, she has worked with individuals and groups in drama therapy, and she supervises and teaches drama therapy methods both in Greece and abroad. Dimitra has collaborated extensively with universities and research institutes on mental health projects, including programs for the social inclusion of individuals with drug addiction, refugees, detainees, and high-risk teens. She has been responsible for city hall programs and organizations providing art therapies in the community. She also works with private companies as a drama therapy trainer, focusing on team-building and support.

In 2016, she co-created the Developmental Ritualistic Model of Interconnected Drama Therapy with F. Trigazi. Dimitra is the founder of the performance group “Liminals” and the author of numerous articles. She is also a co-editor of a drama therapy book, and is a member of the Greek Association of Drama and Play.

 

KSENIA ILINSKAYA, MA, NT

Ksenia Ilinskaya is a psychology professor at the University of Higher Economics in Moscow and specializes in narrative therapy and Narradrama. She is a Narradrama trainer (NT) who utilizes drama therapy and the creative arts in both her teaching and in therapeutic work with clients. Ksenia is pioneering Narradrama in Russia through running workshops, conferences and training for professionals and educators. In addition, through her teaching, clinical, and translation works, she is making a significant contribution in her country during a time of extreme turmoil by persisting in offering trainings, therapy, and support groups to bring hope in a time of darkness. She also teaches for the Narradrama certification program in China sponsored by DTILA and Apollo.

 

CASSANDRA AMBE, MS

MS California State University of North Ridge |  Narradrama Facilitator 

As an AMFT, working in a residential treatment setting, Cassandra Ambe (MS, NF) uses creative, trauma-informed approaches to integrate externalization, visual art-making and Narradrama approaches to provide a non-verbal outlet for processing emotions, enhancing self-awareness, and emotional expression. Clients reframe their stories and increase engagement in 12-step recovery while cultivating self-reflection, connection, and community. Witnessing clients reclaim their narratives and build coping skills through creativity has reinforced my belief in the power of experiential, strengths-based interventions in recovery as well as the importance of holistic, trauma-informed care.

LYNN BAKER-NAUMAN

MA from CIIS  |  LMFT, RDT

Lynn is a Marriage and Family Therapist and Registered Drama Therapist and received her Master’s in Counseling Psychology and Drama Therapy at CIIS in San Francisco. Lynn is a social justice advocate and believes in our ability to re-story and connect with our power to heal through theatre. In her private practice, she works with individuals and couples with a focus on trauma work.

Lynn is an Adjunct Professor of Social Work/Human Services and Theatre at Folsom Lake College for the Prison Re-entry Education Program and for Cal State Dominguez Hills MA program for Humanities in CDCR prisons. She taught and directed Shakespeare to groups in multiple prisons in Northern California.

Her publications include:

NADTA: Drama Therapy Review, a collaborative article The Healing Art of Performing and Witnessing Shakespeare: Transferring drama therapy skills to the theatre classroom inside prison and beyond (2022), and co-authored a chapter in INTO ABOLITIONIST THEATRE: A Guidebook for Liberatory Theatre-making, published April 2024.

 

Special Thanks

A special thanks to former DTILA faculty, Laura Kanofsky Mt-BC, LCSW, Music Therapy, Angelique Poisson, LMFT, ATR GL-CMA, Clare Wren-Russ, MA, LMFT, RDT, Danielle Levanas, MA, RDT, Deva Connett, LPCC, BC-DMT, GL-CMA, Hiroko Saeki, MA,  LMFT, RDT,  Jen Faith Brown, MA, RDT,  Alexis Maron, MA, RDT-BCT, RADT, and Trisha Jauchler, MS, MA, RDT/BCT, CBF, CT, CDP for their contribution and service to DTILA.