Developing Health Equity Leaders Through Embodied Learning

Theatre of the Oppressed Workshop with Dell Medical School Students

Helping healthcare professionals practice the relational skills needed to lead through complexity. #

The Opportunity #

Healthcare professionals regularly navigate situations shaped by power, identity, trauma, and uncertainty.

Whether caring for transgender patients, responding to trauma, or addressing health inequities, clinicians are asked to lead conversations where there may be no perfect answer.

Traditional professional education excels at teaching clinical knowledge but often offers fewer opportunities to practice the relational skills needed to build trust, navigate conflict, and respond thoughtfully in complex situations.

The question wasn't simply "What should healthcare professionals know?"

It was: How can healthcare professionals rehearse responding to difficult situations before they encounter them with patients?

Theatre of the Oppressed Workshop with Dell Medical School Students

How We Got There #

I designed and facilitated workshops using Theatre of the Oppressed to help participants investigate challenging clinical interactions through embodied learning.

Rather than presenting ideal responses, participants explored real scenarios together, experimenting with different choices and reflecting on how power, identity, institutional culture, and communication shaped each interaction.

The workshops created space for participants to slow down moments that often happen too quickly in practice and collectively imagine new possibilities.

Theatre of the Oppressed Workshop with Dell Medical School Students

Practice difficult conversations #

Participants worked with realistic clinical scenarios involving trauma-informed care and gender-affirming care.

Instead of discussing these situations abstractly, participants stepped into them through Image Theatre and Forum Theatre, experimenting with different responses while learning from one another's perspectives.

Embodied rehearsal allowed participants to explore not only what they might do differently, but why different approaches changed the dynamics of the interaction.

Theatre of the Oppressed Workshop with Dell Medical School Students

Investigate systems, not just individuals #

Many communication challenges in healthcare are treated as individual shortcomings.

These workshops invited participants to examine how institutional norms, professional identities, and power relationships shape clinical encounters.

By making these systems visible, participants could move beyond self-blame and begin imagining changes at both the interpersonal and organizational levels.

Theatre of the Oppressed Workshop with Dell Medical School Students

Learn through collective reflection #

Rather than relying solely on expert instruction, participants became co-investigators.

Each activity ended with facilitated reflection where participants connected their embodied experiences with broader questions of leadership, equity, and patient care.

The goal wasn't consensus.

It was developing the capacity to respond with curiosity, empathy, and intention in situations where uncertainty is inevitable.

Theatre of the Oppressed Workshop with Dell Medical School Students

Outcomes #

These workshops supported healthcare professionals in developing practical skills for navigating difficult conversations while strengthening empathy, confidence, and reflective leadership.

More broadly, the project reinforced an approach to professional learning that I've since adapted across science communication, higher education, and community organizing.

While the settings have changed, the core insight has remained the same:

People become better leaders by practicing together—not simply by receiving more information.

Theatre of the Oppressed Workshop with Dell Medical School Students
Theatre of the Oppressed Workshop with Dell Medical School Students Theatre of the Oppressed Workshop with Dell Medical School Students Theatre of the Oppressed Workshop with Dell Medical School Students Theatre of the Oppressed Workshop with Dell Medical School Students Theatre of the Oppressed Workshop with Dell Medical School Students Theatre of the Oppressed Workshop with Dell Medical School Students

Project Details & Resources #

Looking for something similar? #

Whether you're preparing healthcare professionals, educators, researchers, or nonprofit leaders, I design participatory learning experiences that help people practice the conversations, relationships, and leadership skills their work demands.

Schedule a conversation →

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