Psychology Consultation for Theatre & Film

Supporting artistic work with therapeutic and psychological expertise

The arts provide real therapeutic value to society every day.
Let’s embrace it. Celebrate it. And improve our understanding of it.

Connected Futures Psychology was founded to support mental health and well-being. Nothing does that in the same way as the arts. That’s why I offer bespoke consultation services for arts organisations, theatre, and film companies.

I have worked professionally in film and theatre for 14 years and have developed an understanding of the creative process of story-telling.

I appreciate the deep and profound impact that being involved in the arts can have on someone’s life. It allows for a deeper connection with others, enhances our understanding of ourselves and who we are as human beings. This helps us understand society as a whole, and allows us to develop our emotional intelligence and compassion for ourselves and others.

This is why I work to support best practices in the arts in relation to mental health and well-being. It is too important not to be an after-thought.

Let’s put it centre-stage.

Contact Dr. Wassall

Enhancing Community Wellbeing and Mental Health Awareness

My mission with Connected Futures Psychology Arts Consultation is two-fold:

The first is to support theatre companies working with communities. I provide professional consulting services that support and inform the research & development phase of work, right through to the practical delivery.

Theatre companies are creating fantastic community outreach programmes, and as a Clinical Psychologist, I see how valuable this work is.

I support companies to utilise and instill psychological knowledge and therapeutic practices in their work. This creates a richer and more varied artistic approach and offers valuable knowledge for funding applications and project evaluations.

The second is to provide consultation services for theatrical and film productions that address mental health issues.

I believe in the power of theatre and film to destigmatise mental health and improve the well-being of society. I offer script consultation to ensure portrayals of mental health are accurate, compassionate, and informative.

Latest Consultation Projects

I worked with the Unicorn Theatre Company to consult on The New Readings of Philip Pullman's Grimm Tales - Teacher Resources Pack’ - a transition project for year 7 pupils exploring the fairytales, and pupil's emotional wellbeing. The process included initial therapeutic consultation for their R&D process, training company members for a better therapeutic understanding of their work and offering reviews and edits of their schools resource packs. I then co-facilitated the Theatre's CPD sessions for teachers of the year 7 pupils to support their delivery of the packs in schools.

You can read more about the psychological design of the resources here.

I supported Elephant Talk Theatre with the R&D phase of their production ‘Finding Percy Erebus’. The work is centred around childhood bereavement. I worked with the company to provide training in grief processes and models, as well as continued consultation on the work as it was devised.

The company reported that working with Connected Futures Psychology Ltd. was inspiring and gave them the confidence to handle such sensitive topics.

The project was produced in conjunction with Applecart Arts and is funded by Arts Council England.

Consultation for Greenback Music and Arts Festival - Accessibility Consultant

I am consulting with the production and artistic team of an upcoming music festival.

Helping them to provide a more accessible festival experience for people with mental health issues, and neuro-divergent audiences.

I work with Samwell, an online platform that provides mental health and peer support for groups of performance artists.

As one of their community experts, I have been supporting Samwell to develop their resources and performers' access to expert guidance on maintaining their emotional wellbeing.

Dr. Wassall is accredited by the HCPC and DDP

Testimonials for Connected Futures Arts Consultation Work

“Working with Dr. Wassall has fundamentally changed my practice”

- Rachel Bagshaw, Associate Director at The Unicorn Theatre

“The compassionate approach to learning has been a really effective way to start building emotional literacy and awareness and something that my colleagues and I are expanding as we explore ways to mental health and wellbeing education into our Drama schemes of work."

― Teacher - Grimm Fairy Tales Package (Unicorn Theatre) ―

“As a project I think it has been brilliantly planned.”

― Teacher - Grimm Fairy Tales Package (Unicorn Theatre) ―

“We all needed something like this which allowed us to be kind to ourselves.”

― Teacher - Grimm Fairy Tales Package (Unicorn Theatre) ―

“There was a subtle balance of helpful, centring activities and moments of explicit discussion of emotion and dealing with challenges. The students have enjoyed it and have seemed comfortable and engaged throughout.”

― Teacher - Grimm Fairy Tales Package (Unicorn Theatre) ―

Work with Connected Futures

If you’re a theatre company, film production company, script-writer, or independent artist and you feel working with me would support your practice – I’d love to hear from you!

Please get in touch to find out more about how my expertise can enhance your community work and add value to your artistic practice. I would love to talk to you about how we can collaborate to destigmatise mental health and improve the psychological well-being of communities through the applied knowledge of psychology and therapy in the arts.

You can email me at cfp@drwassall.com and I’ll be happy to help.