Playing with, through and around absence: A clinical commentary on cross-cultural encounter in individual Developmental Transformations (DvT) sessions with refugee children

Refugees are a growing critical clinical population globally. There is a need for more research and discussion on how drama therapy can be used with refugees, particularly as many interventions will take place in the country of re-settlement where the therapist and client may come from different cultural backgrounds. This clinical commentary discusses the author’s experience of cross-cultural encounter in Developmental Transformations (DvT) individual session with refugee children ages 8–13, and the drama therapist’s embodied experience of cultural difference that emerged within the DvT session. The clinical commentary includes a fictionalized vignette of a DvT play session with a refugee child from Afghanistan, as well as vignettes from the author’s own supervisory DvT sessions.