Experiential learning occurs when “a personally responsible participant cognitively, affectively, and behaviorally processes knowledge, skills, and/or attitudes in a learning situation by a high level of active involvement” (Hoover & Whitehead, 1975). A meta-analysis spanning 40-years demonstrated that student learning is nearly a half standard deviation higher when instructors employed experiential methodology (Burch et al., 2016). Yet, there is no standard experiential learning opportunity for undergraduate psychology students in the areas of mental health and clinical intervention (i.e., psychotherapy or family therapy). This is a natural yet unfortunate phenomenon, as it is not safe, realistic, or responsible to have undergraduates interacting with persons who suffer from mental illness and/or family dysfunction. Thus, many seek volunteer positions off campus with organizations to support their applications to “clinical” psychology or related professional programs. These volunteer experiences are not incorporated into core training, and students are left to decide whether to pursue professional work in mental health, having virtually no exposure to mental health services.
   
   Realistic Family Therapy Training (RFTT), which is an interdisciplinary pedagogical partnership between psychology and theatre, was developed to address these limitations in undergraduate psychology. The approach involves training student actors who theatrically form into a family and engage in therapy with a licensed therapist, who is also the course instructor, in front of the class. This provides experiential learning that circumvents risk of exposing junior trainees to high-stakes healthcare contexts. Moreover, student actors gain an unprecedented opportunity to engage with a mental health professional while honing character development and improvisation skills. The purpose of this presentation is to illustrate the collaborative process underlying RFTT, including lessons learned through implementation of this model, and tips for developing partnerships between theatre and health sciences (and other applied fields). Enhancements to student learning and improvements in experiential teaching methodology are discussed.

Keywords: Experiential Learning; Psychology; Theatre