ABSTRACT
For therapists who work with traumatized clients, the concept of creating a safe space infuses the therapeutic process, regardless of one’s orientation. However, when we, as therapists, are also experiencing the trauma with which our clients are struggling, and the treatment takes place in a city shrouded in danger, the ability to feel truly safe is tested. While therapists working in war-torn countries have long understood and grappled with this treatment dilemma-the challenge of finding safety when surrounded by danger-it hit home for American mental health professionals following the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. on September 11, 2001. This article will examine our shared process, that of two drama therapists struggling to make sense of the attacks on the World Trade Center while called upon to help heal young clients in the New York City area.
