Our Recognitions

Recognition of the quality and effectiveness of ENACT’s programs has come from a diverse group of SEL/drama therapy practitioners, non-profit institutions, educators, researchers, and political leaders, including the New York City Department of Education, The United Way, The New York City Council, The American Group Psychotherapy Association, and Ford Foundation. This is truly an extraordinary achievement for an organization that began more than 20 years ago with only an idea, $15, and two Teaching Artists.

AWARDS

  • ENACT was awarded The National Association of Drama Therapy’s Research Award in November, 2010.
  • ENACT received the American Group Psychotherapy Association’s Aaron Stein Memorial Award in 2005.
  • ENACT was recognized by the United Way of New York City for exemplary achievement in improving public school attendance in 2005.

CONFERENCES

  • Presented ENACT’s research and methodology, “ENACT: A New Kind of Homeroom in School” at the Center for School Mental Health Conference, Minneapolis, MN, (October 2009), sponsored by the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
  • ENACT presented at the National Association for Drama Therapy (NADT) November annual conference, White Plains, New York (November 2009).
  • ENACT presented The ENACT Model and the Ford Foundation funded research evaluation of ENACT’s methodology at the Center for School Mental Health Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico (October 2010).
  • ENACT sat on a panel at NADT Annual Conference in Chicago, Illinois (November 2010).
  • ENACT presented at the Search Institute’s Big Tent annual conference in Houston, Texas (November 2010).
  • ENACT presented at Face-to-Face New York Arts and Education Roundtable, New York, NY (February 2010).

PUBLICATIONS

  • ENACT’s unique method was recently published in the textbook Current Approaches in Drama Therapy Second Edition (Johnson & Emunah, 2009) in a chapter co-written by Diana Feldman, MA, LCAT, RDT-BCT, ENACT President/CEO and Founder, Emilie Ward, L-CAT, ENACT Director of Research & Training, and Fara Sussman Jones titled, “The ENACT Method of Employing Drama Therapy in Schools.” The chapter outlines ENACT’s contribution to drama therapy work in schools, including creating an empathetic connection, externalizing the unspoken, and using theater to gauge the students’ feelings.
  • The ENACT program was analyzed in the chapter,"Designing leadership development programs that work: Individual transformation by design" written by Tom Diamante in the upcoming textbook Handbook of Lifelong Learning, London, M. (Ed.) Oxford Library of Psychology, UK: Oxford University Press (2011).

RESEARCH

The ENACT method has been recognized as both unique and effective in a three-year evaluation conducted by research experts from Columbia University Teachers College, under a grant from the Ford Foundation. The final research report, "Social and Emotional Development and Theater Skills in ENACT Workshops: Context, Conditions, Process and Outcomes," indicates that students in ENACT's Partnership Programs demonstrate statistically significant gains in social and emotional development. Read the Executive Summary of the Ford Foundation's final research report on ENACT»