Since September 2007, PASMI has been working in the Pudahuel Adolescent Day Hospital, Santiago, with young people being treated for diverse psychiatric problems. Our workshops are part of the Hospital’s weekly activities. This is a new opportunity to develop our community theatre practice, and allows us to discover and develop the role that theatre can play in the treatment of these young people.

The service operates under the wing of the Christian Humanist University Academy, and the professionals employ an approach based on institutional psychotherapy, with a permanent daily program that includes diverse group activities, as well as individual sessions. We hope that this artistic-theatrical process might provide a bridge between the participants and social inclusion. At the same time, we hope to create greater social awareness about this community.

PASMI is empirically developing a working methodology, based on constructivist theory and confrontational pedagogy, and supported by our vast experience of work with specific communities.

Activities:

- Weekly theatre and radio play workshops
- Coordination of interviews with musicians and people involved in arts and mental health on the internal radio station “Voice from the moon”
- Workshops with invited artists (national and international)
- Participation in seminars: “Mad to talk”, IV Psychiatric Disability Seminar. May 2008

International Collaborations:

Since 2008, we have been developing links and collaborative projects with other theatre companies or artists outside Chile that work in mental health or community theatre, for example:

- “Locos por el Teatro”, work with schizophrenics. Workshops, exchange sessions, conferences. Alicante, Spain
March 2008 (photo above): more…
October 2008: more…
- “Acteurs de l’Ombre”, theatre action company. Two day theatre workshop with schizophrenics, as part of the Festival International du Théâtre Action FITA and in collaboration with “Locos por el Teatro”. October 2008. Liège, Belgium.
more…
- Coordination of the Chilean visit of Alberto Celdrán, Director, “Locos por el Teatro”. Workshops, interviews and conferences. Participation in International Community Theatre Festival ENTEPOLA. Jan-Feb 2009