Empowerment Through Theatre TRAINING PROGRAM 

LEARN SKILLS IN BEING PRESENT, ACTIVE LISTENING, ACTIVE EMPATHY 
Empowerment Through Theatre® is a training program to help parents, teachers and medical professionals to better communicate and connect with children and families. The Empowerment Through Theatre® training program is uniquely based in both the fields of theatre and psychology; The program's creator, Marjorie Heymann, PhD, is both a trained psychologist and former theatre director. As such, this training is unlike other lecture-based or professional actor-based communication skills training.

Empowerment Through Theatre® was designed specifically for parents, teachers, and medical professionals to improve communication within the home, classroom, and treatment settings.  The program builds sequentially, and teaches skills including: 

Being Present.  In this step, you learn to experience and internalize your own needs or wants and be 'in a space in the moment' with another person; key to being able to actively listen to others.  

Active Listening.  Through theatre techniques, Empowerment Through Theatre® participants learn skills to better hear the needs beneath the words of those in their care.  

Active Empathy.  Using scripts and role plays, Empowerment Through Theatre® participants learn to live in the lives of many different characters, see things from their perspective, and understand the needs of others while dealing with conflict.

Final Role Play.  In this last training component, participants practice their real-life roles (e.g. medical professionals, teachers, or parents), using all the skills learned above; participants experience how they have grown in their ability to become caring and effective communicators. 

Center for educational innovation in NYC honors Dr. Heymann's work 

On Monday, December 2, 2019, the Center for Educational Innovation honored Dr. Marjorie Heymann for her significant contributions to transforming the lives of children and families through her Empowerment through Theatre® work in the education system. Watch the video below to learn more. 

New ETT Teacher Training Video 

Click here to watch a short video on how ETT can help teachers improve communication with students in the classroom and with parents / caregivers of their students. 

DR. HEYMANN on BLogtalk radio 

Dr. Marjorie Heymann was featured on Columbia Psychiatry's BlogTalk Radio discussing how ETT training can improve the communication skills of medical professionals.

see ETT™ skills in action:

click on The videos below to watch parents, teachers, and medical professionals practicE ETT™ Skills:

active listening and being present
active empathy (medical professionals)
active empathy (parents)
final role play
(Videos are best viewed small rather than full screen).
Empowerment Through Theatre® ​is a registered servicemark and may not be used without express written consent.