{"id":47739,"date":"2022-03-08T09:24:03","date_gmt":"2022-03-08T09:24:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=47739"},"modified":"2022-03-08T09:24:03","modified_gmt":"2022-03-08T09:24:03","slug":"interview-sheikha-intisar-alsabah-on-drama-therapy-female-empowerment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=47739","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Sheikha Intisar AlSabah on drama therapy, female empowerment\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nIn an interview with Arab News, Sheikha Intisar AlSabah discusses the ground actions being taken to alleviate the impact of conflict on women in the Middle East and the importance of drama therapy as a tool for this end.<\/p>\n

\nInternational organizations providing support to groups impacted by conflict tend to focus mostly on children and on providing basic needs, without factoring in the necessity of psychological support. This oversight is due to many factors, including a lack of cultural awareness of the importance of psychological care.<\/p>\n

\nThe Intisar Foundation has been active in providing support to women in the region through several initiatives, including the 1 Million Arab Women initiative, a 30-year plan to alleviate psychological trauma in 1 million Arab women through drama therapy.<\/p>\n

\n\"\"<\/p>\n

\nWomen in business and politics<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\nContinuing the legacy of her predecessors who laid the ground for women in the Kuwaiti and regional private sectors in business and entrepreneurship, Sheikha Intisar advocates for gender equality in business. \u201cBalance comes from women\u2019s participation,\u201d she said, highlighting the value added from women\u2019s input in strategy and operations across sectors.<\/p>\n

\nSheikha Intisar also advocates for women\u2019s participation in politics, as they often bring a different mindset and approach to conflict resolution by being more collaborative than their male counterparts.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cI am not into politics; I am into the betterment of people. Having only men make and implement laws is not for the betterment of society,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n\"\"<\/p>\n

\nThe Intisar Foundation<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\nThe Intisar Foundation was established in 2017 to address the insufficient focus on mental health and lack of psychological support for women. \u201cMost humanitarian organizations don\u2019t think about women, and women don\u2019t allow themselves to come as a priority,\u201d Sheikha Intisar said.<\/p>\n

\nThe foundation was the result of field research conducted in Jordan and Lebanon \u2014 two countries hosting the highest number of refugees in the region \u2014 to assess the supply of psychological interventions for women affected by war.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWhat was offered was very limited,\u201d said Sheikha Intisar, adding that women were not taking advantage of services because of the stigma associated with seeking psychological help. There was a need to raise awareness and acceptance of mental health issues in the region.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cEven if women don\u2019t care about society\u2019s perception, their families do, making it harder for them to get the psychological support they need,\u201d added Sheikha Intisar.<\/p>\n

\nBeing a victim of war and understanding its implications, Sheikha Intisar sought a creative solution, turning to the arts. \u201cArt is a form of social interaction, an activity rather than a one-on-one seated session with a psychologist.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nDrama therapy could serve women this way, bringing them together in a safe environment and enabling impactful psychological care, \u201cwith a sugar coating of being fun,\u201d Sheikha Intisar said, that is accepted by society.<\/p>\n

\nWomen were shown to gain harmony within themselves and within the group, sharing their stories after realizing that they were not alone and that everyone else had a unique story.<\/p>\n

\nParticipants\u2019 testimonials and available statistics measure the impact of drama therapy, backed by continuous research to \u201csupport women in the Arab world and to support the peace process\u201d \u2014 the foundation\u2019s goal.<\/p>\n

\n\"\"<\/p>\n

\nDrama therapy, as a field of research<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\nDrama therapy sheds light on the importance of culturally appropriate psychological support programs.<\/p>\n

\nTo this end, the Intisar Foundation signed a memorandum of understanding with the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik in Lebanon, the only university in the Arab world offering a master\u2019s program in drama therapy, with a target to provide support for graduates opting for the curriculum.<\/p>\n

\nThe foundation engages theater troops around the Arab world and works with specialists in the field to tailor a training program that can be used to support women.<\/p>\n

\nTheater troops\u2019 activities will extend to a minimum of six Arab countries, including Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

\nThe foundation, a British registered nongovernmental organization, collaborates with local NGOs to reach the intended communities and invite women to participate in workshops.<\/p>\n

\nThe role of drama therapy<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\nOne of the key findings of the research conducted suggests that women who released their trauma became more peaceful, which was reflected in a change of attitude in the household and enhanced communication within the family and the larger community. In a domino effect, allowing the mother to express herself also encouraged her children to reciprocate. With a drama therapy workshop including 20 women on average, each participant impacts the life of six indirect beneficiaries.<\/p>\n

\nTo date, the Intisar Foundation has reached around 500 women, completing 3500+ hours of fieldwork. With the pandemic, much of the foundation\u2019s initiatives were carried out online to maintain and expand its reach in the Arab world.<\/p>\n

\nThe latest findings of a survey carried out among participants from Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Palestine following a drama therapy program in Lebanon registered a reduction in depression (64 percent) and anxiety (53 percent), and an increase in self-esteem (68 percent).<\/p>\n

\n\u201cDrama therapy allows women not only to express what they are thinking and feeling but also to be aware of their feelings,\u201d Sheikha Intisar said.<\/p>\n

\nAs a means of communication that goes beyond words and involves physical action, adopting different roles and achieving resolution, theater enables participants to express themselves in new, stimulating ways. Women are offered the chance to safely enact scenes portraying family experiences, such as early marriages, divorce and domestic violence, allowing them to work through their own traumas.<\/p>\n

\nThe theater activities focus on building women\u2019s confidence, empowering them to be seen and heard, which then reflects on the way they manage their immediate environments. A more confident and assertive woman will in turn fight for her daughter to obtain access to education, thus curbing marriages at a younger age and impacting generations of girls and women to come.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an interview with Arab News, Sheikha Intisar AlSabah discusses the ground actions being taken to alleviate the impact of conflict on women in the Middle East and the importance of drama therapy as a tool for this end. International organizations providing support to groups impacted by conflict tend to focus mostly on children and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spotlight_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47739\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}