Abstract

This qualitative research delineates the recovery journey of four persons with severe mental illness that experiment, from within, with the healing potential of creating, playing and acting a clown character in a context often drama therapy group sessions. The analysis of the therapeutic process of the group is viewed through the lens of Renee Emunah's Integrative Five Phase Model while each participant's journey is analysed by using the Recovery Model in Mental Health proposed by Nora Jacobson and Dorothy Greenley. The results reveal that playing and acting as a clown character enabled participants to laugh at themselves and, together, express significant issues from the personal struggle of living with a mental illness. The results also expose the beneficial effects of the intervention on each individual's recovery journey, highlighting the fact that drama therapy is a recovery-oriented approach as it can enhance hope, healing, empowerment and connection. Despite the limitations of this qualitative case study, the author believes that the drama therapist should embrace the Recovery Model in Mental Health. Supported by the use of humor in research, joy and laughter as an applied therapeutic intervention has shown cognitive, physiologic, social and emotional benefits; since clown figures have long been associated with psychological healing, the author argues that therapeutic clown training should be included in the drama therapy university curriculum.