Dr. Jason D. Butler is a Registered Drama Therapist, Board Certified Trainer and New York State Licensed Creative Arts Therapist. Jason is a former President of the North American Drama Therapy Association (NADTA) and previously served on the NADTA Board of Directors as President-Elect and Communications Chair. He is the training director for DvT Montreal, a satellite of the Institute for Developmental Transformations, and is the Assistant Editor for The Arts in Psychotherapy. Prior to joining Lesley University, for eight years he was a professor at Concordia University in the Creative Arts Therapies Department, most recently serving as the graduate program director for drama therapy and a member of the Arts in Health Research Collective.
Jason is an internationally known drama therapist, having presented on drama therapy in many countries including in the Czech Republic, China, South Africa, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. He has previously served as an adjunct faculty member at Lesley University and at New York University and was one of the first recipients of the NADTA Teaching Excellence Award in 2012. Prior to being a full-time professor, Jason was the director of Goddard Riverside Community Center’s The Other Place, a psychosocial program and drop-in center for homelessness and mental illness in New York City that incorporated the various creative arts therapies.
His publications include various articles and book chapters on drama therapy education, schizophrenia, developmental transformations and role theory. His current research includes exploration of the drama therapy student experience as well as the application of drama therapy theory to experiential learning. Prior to becoming a drama therapist, Jason spent several years as a high school theatre teacher.
Scholarship
Selected Publications
Butler, J. D. (2017). Re-examining Landy’s four-part model of drama therapy education. Drama Therapy Review, 3(1), 75–87.
Butler, J. D. (2017). The complex intersection of education and therapy in the drama therapy classroom. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 53(2017), 28–35.
Gaines, A. M. & Butler, J. D. (2016). North American Drama Therapy. In C. Holmwood & S. Jennings (Eds.) Routledge International Handbook of Drama Therapy. London, UK: Routledge.
Butler, J. D. (2015). Playing with reflection in drama therapy education. In E. Vettraino & W. Linds (Eds.), Playing in a House of Mirrors: Applied Theatre as Reflective Practice (pp. 109–122). Rotterdam, NL: Sense Publishers.
Butler, J. D. (2012). Playing with madness: Developmental Transformations and the treatment of schizophrenia. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 39(2), 87-94.
Landy, R. J., & Butler, J. D. (2012). Assessment through role theory. In D. R. Johnson, S. Pendzik & S. Snow (Eds.), Assessment in drama therapy (pp. 148-176). Springfield, Ill.: Charles C. Thomas Publisher.
Education
Ph.D., Interdisciplinary Studies, Concordia University
M.A., Educational Counseling, University of Phoenix
M.A., Drama Therapy from New York University
B.A., Theatre Education from Brigham Young University
Board Certified Registered Drama Therapist (RDT-BCT)
Licensed Creative Arts Therapist (LCAT)
