BAPAM community drop-in: The 5 drivers in psychology for performing artists

Healthy Practice Community Drop In: Peer support and training for performance health and wellbeing

BAPAM deliver expert health and wellbeing services in the performing arts. Our events give artists, creators, technicians, teachers, and organisers the knowledge they need to improve health and enjoy sustainable careers.

Join our free online Community Drop In and:

• Embed health and wellbeing strategies into your creative toolkit
• Learn new skills with guest coaches and speakers.
• Set goals
• Take part in peer discussion and support in a safe space facilitated by an experienced BAPAM clinician

Our Community Drop In is hosted and facilitated by BAPAM GP, Dr Pippa Wheble, who specialises in performance and mental health and is also a violinist and singer.

WHAT ARE DRIVERS?

Drivers (Taibi Kahler, 1975) are ways that we have learned to adapt to our environment when we were young. They are developed at an age when we can understand what is approved of and disapproved of by the grownups around us and we attempt to adapt to them to feel ok about ourselves. Some of the messages we would have picked up from verbal response and some from non-verbal responses to us.

Self-awareness has been found to help us increase our self-esteem, improve relationships, manage stress and increase the quality of our lives. Understanding our own and others’ Drivers can give us insight into our own and others’ processes that can be useful in every area of our life. It is a concept that is easy to understand and to use.

Kahler, who developed this theory, noticed in his research that there were five distinctive sets of behaviours that people consistently displayed. These were divided up into five categories which he called Drivers:

BE STRONG

BE PERFECT

TRY HARD

HURRY UP

PLEASE OTHERS

Fiona will take us through the Drivers and the behaviour patterns behind them before taking us through the Allowers which can help to counter our thoughts with positive reinforcements and strategies.

Guest Speaker: Fiona Mackenzie

Following graduation from Central School I spent many years working in TiE (Theatre in Education). I also worked in repertory theatre, TV, commercials and extensively as a voice-over artist. I continued to work in the profession until 2011 when I began training as a psychotherapist.

I have been working with actors, dancers, musicians, writers and artists, together with production staff and technical crew, for many years. I enjoy this work immensely and it has become a special interest of mine; identifying the common issues among artists and how I might best use my own experience of the profession and my experience of counselling and psychotherapy to assist them. I have developed this knowledge and experience over the years to include “Know-How” and “Wellbeing” workshops, the most recent of which being “Understanding and Managing Performance and Audition Anxiety”.

Over the years I have been presented with issues including self-confidence, procrastination, self-esteem, perfectionism, unemployment, issues around success and failure, writer’s block, performance and audition anxieties, phobias, criticism, managing injury, issues around ageing, career change and career development. However, in my experience, not all clients present with issues relating to their career.

I have particular experience in working with performance and audition anxiety, and anxiety, depression and panic attacks in general.

More information for clients in London: www.fjmtherapy.co.uk

Clients in Liverpool, Manchester and Cheshire: www.fionamackenzie.co.uk