Mind The Gap Symposium & Creative Workshops

Spiral Creative Arts Therapies welcomes you to two events as part of this years Scottish Mental Health Festival 2025!

📅 Friday, October 24, 2025

📍 Spiral Creative Arts Therapies, 1st Floor, 51 Cadogan Street, Glasgow, G2 7HF

🍽️ Lunch provided

🎟️ Tickets: £50 / £35 (students/unwaged)

👉Book your place:

Mind The Gap

Join Spiral Creative Arts Therapies for a Symposium exploring non-statutory mental health services for children & adolescents, with a panel, group discussions and a practical workshop. Lunch is provided. This Symposium is for anyone who works with or supports children and adolescents – therapists, psychologists, counsellors, educators, social workers, third sector workers/volunteers and policy makers.

Symposium Panel

Minding The Gap: Collective Action and Partnership in Practice

The panel will discuss dramatherapy, art therapy and music therapy services that have been set up in theatres, youth theatres, youth clubs and schools. They will consider the current landscape of non-statutory mental health services for children and adolescents in Scotland, and also how they sit in relation to CAMHS.

Chair: Annie Baikie, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist for Barnardos Adoption and Fostering Services. Tutor/ seminar leader/supervisor for Human Development Scotland. Private Supervisor for creative arts therapists/school counsellors. Previously worked for 25 years in CAMHS in Grampian and London.

Panellists:

Genevieve Smyth, Dramatherapist, freelanced during Northern Ireland's war, created Scotland's Dundee Rep Service and Place2Be mental health service hub in education, treated adolescent and older NHS patients and worked internationally.

Lynne Conway is a Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist and Dramatherapist, and has worked with children and young people, their families and carers for over 40 years. Lynne has a special interest in supporting creative therapies across Scotland.

Sarah Bradley is a Dramatherapist, formerly at Dundee Rep. Sarah has set up therapy services with youth theatres and youth clubs. She now runs a school-based service in Glasgow, supporting young people through creativity, emotional expression, and embodied storytelling.

Mags Coyle, retired primary school headteacher. Worked for 30 years in Glasgow schools as a class teacher, EAL and headteacher. Throughout her career, Mags developed nurturing strategies to meet the needs of all pupils. Latterly, she established supportive agencies working with her school, including Spiral. 

Laura Corrigan is a music therapist who has worked with children and young people within schools and a range of settings for the past ten years.  Her work has focused on supporting clients with a range of additional support needs.

What will happen on the day?

9.45am –10am: Registration

10am –10.15am: Welcome

10.15am – 11.15am: Panel & questions

11.15am – 11.30am: Tea break

11.30am – 12.15pm: Discussion Groups

12.15pm – 12.45pm: Feedback

12.45pm – 1pm: Summary

1pm - 2pm: Lunch catering by yogakitchen.co.uk

2pm - 4.30pm: Practical Workshop - Facilitated by Liz Young (Art Therapist) & Sarah Bradley (Dramatherapist)

4.30pm – 5 pm: Reflections on the day

Creative Workshops: Supporting Adolescent Identity & Expression

Join Spiral Creative Arts Therapies for two workshops aimed at those working with or supporting adolescents, drawing on Dramatherapy and Art Therapy. Participants will gain creative and trauma-informed tools. Attend one or both workshops. No art or drama experience required.

📅 Friday 24th October

📍 Same venue

🎟️ £85/£65 full day | £50/£35 per workshop

👉 Book workshop:

🧙 Myth & Masculinity

9.45am–12.45pm Facilitators: Sarah Bradley & Lauren Bianchi (Dramatherapists)

Using Greek mythology and dramatherapy, this workshop explores the roots and expressions of toxic masculinity in adolescent boys. Inspired by themes from the Netflix series Adolescence, we’ll examine how violent fantasies, emotional disconnection, and grandiose behaviours can reflect deeper experiences of shame, vulnerability, and identity loss. Grounded in James Gilligan’s theory that violence stems from unmet needs for love and respect, we will use symbolic language from ancient myths to process these dynamics. Participants will leave with creative, trauma-informed tools to support boys and young men in their development.

🌈 Soothing the Authentic Self

2.15pm–5.15pm Facilitators: Lauren Bianchi (Dramatherapist) & Corah Ambrose (Art Therapist)

In a time of growing uncertainty around LGBTQIA+ rights, many queer adolescents face increased fear and challenges around identity, safety, and self-expression. This experiential workshop explores how dramatherapy approaches - such as role, metaphor, character, and story - and art therapy methods, including collage and mixed media, can support connection with and expression of the authentic self. Through creative and reflective group work, participants will consider how embodied therapeutic methods can build resilience, foster trust, and offer psychological safety for LGBTQIA+ adolescents.

Facilitators:

Sarah Bradley is a Dramatherapist, formerly at Dundee Rep. Sarah has set up therapy services with youth theatres and youth clubs. She now runs a school-based service in Glasgow, supporting young people through creativity, emotional expression, and embodied storytelling.

Lauren Bianchi is a Dramatherapist working in Glasgow. Her practice builds on her rich experience as a storyteller and creative practitioner with disenfranchised groups and communities of young people and adults across the city.

Corah Ambrose (she/her) is a socially engaged Art Therapist interested in themes of identity and collective wellbeing. Corah works in schools and community contexts alongside CYP & people seeking asylum.

🔗 Reserve your tickets now

📧 For group bookings or accessibility questions, contact: liz@spiralartstherapies.org