Mental Health Awareness Week 2025: Building Community through Dramatherapy

This year’s Mental Health Awareness Week theme is community, a powerful reminder that we all need places and people where we feel we truly belong. For children and young people, that sense of connection is vital to their emotional wellbeing.

Dramatherapy helps children explore what community means to them, not through pressure to speak, but through stories, play, and creative expression. It gives them a safe space to express feelings, try out roles, and discover how they fit within a group. For many, this is the first step towards feeling seen, heard, and valued.

Here are some Dramatherapy-inspired activities to try this week that are successful with the children and young people I work with:

1. The Feelings Character Game: Create a character who feels left out or not included. What do they need to feel welcome? Use puppets, drawings, or props to bring them to life and tell their story.

We are Bettertogether

2. Community Story Circle: Start a group tale: “Once there was a village where everyone felt safe…” Let each child add a sentence. This helps develop imagination, teamwork, and empathy.

3. Movement Map of Belonging: Draw a “community map” on paper or outdoors with chalk. Let children travel through it with movement, showing how they feel in each space, joyful, curious, anxious, calm.

These creative activities support emotional growth, empathy, and social skills in safe, accessible ways.

For additional support and guidance, visit trusted resources like Anna Freud Centre and Mentally Healthy Schools.

Let’s use this week to champion inclusion, creativity, and togetherness — and remind every child that they matter.

Tag a friend, teacher or parent who helps build community for young people — and share your favourite way to connect creatively! #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek #Dramatherapy #BetterTogetherTherapy #CommunityMatters #CreativeWellbeing #ChildMentalHealth #YouAreNotAlone