by Jean-Michel Laberge

Concordia has become the only institution in Canada to offer an accredited Master’s program in Drama Therapy. Department Director Stephen Snow made a trip to San Francisco for the announcement, which makes Concordia the third site in North America to be recognized by the National Association for Drama Therapy (NADT), along with New York University (NYU) and the California Institute of Integral Studies (C.I.I.S) in San Francisco.

“It’s a great victory for the department to receive official approval from the NADT,” said Professor Snow. “With our new status, we can advance the development of this therapeutic approach here in Quebec and in the rest of Canada, and make progress in both clinical applications and research activities.”

NADT president Alice M. Forrester expressed delight at Concordia’s accreditation. She noted that the partnership will deepen and enrich the quantity and quality of information exchanged between the Concordia department and the two institutes in the U.S.

“Since ours is the newest field in creative arts therapies, our development inevitably involves the type of co-operative work that is now being initiated with Concordia,” she said.

The National Association for Drama Therapy (NADT) was incorporated in Washington in 1979 to establish and uphold high standards of professional competence and ethics among drama therapists and develop criteria for training and registration, as well as standards for clinical services of high quality provided by graduates.

Concordia’s MA Creative Arts (Drama Therapies Option), set up in 1997, has already attracted students from every province in Canada, as well as from the United States and several other countries.