Mentor - East London Theatre Group
Theatre Troupe
As a volunteer mentor you will be working one to one with a child throughout your time with us. You will give focused artistic and emotional attention in the workshop and as a travel assistant to and from the workshop. This might be joining in drama games, taking part in art-work or sometimes just sitting with a child until they’re ready to join in. Workshops are on Wednesdays, from 3.30pm - 7.30pm.
Theatre Troupe works with children and young people with complex mental health problems as a result of adverse childhood experiences, through the radical nature of theatre. MAKING A DIFFERENCE Our volunteers are the single most important factor in our success with children. They come from a range of backgrounds: from the local or regional community, from professional backgrounds or as students, and they bring a wealth of knowledge, expertise and passion. Many come to us with lived experience of mental distress or neurodivergence. We represent many cultures, national backgrounds and ages. WHAT’S INVOLVED? As a volunteer mentor you will be working one to one with a child throughout your time with us. You will offer critical attachment and attunement opportunities in the workshop and as a travel assistant to and from the workshop. During workshop sessions, you will give focused artistic and emotional attention. This might be joining in drama games, taking part in art-work or sometimes just sitting with a child until they’re ready to join in. BENEFITS ● Make a real difference to a child in need of safety and joy ● Make friends and connections. ● Train in our specialist methodology – the Theatre Troupe Model – which draws on community theatre methods, attachment theory and regulation theory. ● Receive supervision from a qualified psychotherapist. ● Gain tools to use in further education, employment and training: Many of our volunteers draw directly on their time with us to move on in their career or education journey. We are currently recruiting for East London Youth Troupe on Wednesdays, from 3.30pm - 7.30pm. ABOUT THEATRE TROUPE Through community programmes and projects in schools, health and social care settings, our research-based work is designed to reduce distress, increase self-esteem, build safe and trusting relationships with adults and peers. When you join a troupe, you become part of a creative family, in which children, staff, and volunteer mentors work together to make a show. Every child has the chance to work in the art form they like best, whether this is drama and performance or the more backstage work of art and design, creative writing or music. Our work is based on a specialist methodology: the Theatre Troupe Model. Developed as a research project at Queen Mary University London, it draws on Attachment Theory, and neurobiological attunement. There are four “ingredients” that make our work effective: ● Being part of a family- like community which supports the building of positive relationships, the inter-connected experience of creating theatre together and a sense of belonging. ● A trauma-informed approach in which we recognise the dysregulation that comes from difficult experiences and work with it to reduce hyper-arousal and have a safe space to relax ● A process of attunement, particularly with individual mentors, in which children work alongside adults to create arts work together, and stand alongside each other in practical activities ● Taking part in a theatre production: Whether this is on the stage, or behind the scenes, children work together to build a production or film to share with important people in their life, building self-esteem, confidence and a chance to be proud. WHO WE WORK WITH We are committed to working with children who are often excluded from multiple opportunities due to behaviour or distressing emotions, or family circumstances preventing them from taking part, such as parental illness or parents’ working patterns. We work with children who: ● Have experienced abuse and neglect in the family home or community ● Have witnessed domestic violence ● Have experienced bullying ● Are young carers due to parental or sibling physical/mental illness or addiction ● Are Looked After ● Have experienced child criminal or sexual exploitation ● Have suffered distress due to being neurodiverse. Approximately 40% of all our participants have autism, ADHD, dyslexia or dyspraxia. Because we have high support – one-to-one mentoring and an art therapist on our team – we are able to offer intervention to those with acute and complex needs. This includes children who have low mood, anxiety, PTSD and other diagnosed conditions, self-harm, suicidal ideation and suicide attempts.
Art & Design,Befriending, Buddying & Mentoring,Youth Work
N/A
You don’t need theatre experience — just empathy, reliability and a willingness to show up.
● Being part of a family- like community which supports the building of positive relationships, the inter-connected experience of creating theatre together and a sense of belonging. ● A trauma-informed approach in which we recognise the dysregulation that comes from difficult experiences and work with it to reduce hyper-arousal and have a safe space to relax ● A process of attunement, particularly with individual mentors, in which children work alongside adults to create arts work together, and stand alongside each other in practical activities ● Taking part in a theatre production: Whether this is on the stage, or behind the scenes, children work together to build a production or film to share with important people in their life, building self-esteem, confidence and a chance to be proud.
Wednesdays during term time from 3.30pm - 7.30pm. We ask for a commitment of at least one school term as our work is based on consistent relationships and attachment-informed practice. If you can commit for 2 terms that would be even better!
E1 4NS
QMUL ArtsOne, Mile End Rd, Bethnal Green, London
Mile End Tube Station (Central Line; District & Circle Line) Stepney Green Tube station (District & Hammersmith & City Line) The university is very well served by bus routes, including the 277,D7, 309, 205 and 25
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