Our Programs
We understand that high-quality theater starts from within. This is why we offer programs for all theater staff and production teams to promote healthy and equitable artistic environments.
Support for a Production
Support for a single production with strong emotional content
Includes:
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Prospective session with director — discuss mental health resources and participants’ relationship to material.
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Mental Health for Artists 101 Workshop for production team.
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Mental Health for Artists 101 Workshop for casts.
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Mental Health Intermission — check in mid-production.
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Production debrief for team and/or the cast. What’s important that we didn’t have
(or make) time to deal with during the run? How can space be made for it now? -
Participation in 1-2 public talkbacks (optional).
Support for an Organization
Support for an organization for three distinct purposes
Includes:
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Assessment: Culture audit with presentation and report.
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Remediation: Culture repair and team-building.
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Transition: Support theater staff through a leadership transition.
Support for a Season
Support and proactive resourcing for the full production season
Includes:
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Consultation and collaboration with production, administrative and executive staff to evaluate organization-wide needs.
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Mental Health workshop curriculum for creative communities. Workshops for each production team as well as the larger organizational staff, by department.
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Quarterly Play Session — 90 minute sessions open to anyone involved in a production.
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Production Role-ing and Derole-ing workshops for each show in a season.
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Additional emotional and technical support for sensitive topic productions.
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Crisis intervention and individual counseling support for all staff in all departments.
Individual Workshop
Three-hour workshops for teams on your choice of topics.
Includes:
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Crisis intervention (can be extended to additional time).
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Body image for actors, directors and costume designers.
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Burnout and self-care in the theater.
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Role-ing and De-role-ing for wellness.
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Supporting the whole house.
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Naming and framing the relationship to the material.
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Creating and maintaining mentally healthy creative cultures.
What Our Clients Say
Maria Manuela Goyanes, Artistic Director, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
“One of the most important people I met in my first year as Artistic Director at Woolly Mammoth was Sara Mindel. We had a mental health crisis occur during one of my first productions at the theatre, and a board member connected us to Sara and her work at Embodied Psychotherapy. Within 24 hours, Sara expertly helped us navigate a very hard situation with clarity and compassion, providing resources for those impacted and stabilizing the situation. When an artist has the flu, the theatre often sends them to the doctor to support their recovery. What I have learned in working with Sara is that those physiological needs absolutely extend to supporting an artist’s mental well-being. When I told other theatre leaders in DC about the resources Sara could provide, it became clear that this was a service that was desperately needed. Many theatres have subsequently called on her just as I have over the last five years. The work of the theatre is to make brave work onstage, and to bring vulnerability to the art. I can’t imagine running an organization anymore without a licensed trauma-informed somatic therapist as a resource for artists to bring their courageous selves to their work.”