The PARTE™ Method

What it looks like: The PARTE™ Training Method encompasses 16 hours of hands on intensive training over one weekend. PT’s, OT’s, SLP’s, movement specialists and trainers are immersed in and experience first-hand, the PARTE Method. Local PwP are recruited to serve as actors and mentors for “trainers in training” as THEY are the experts on PD. The PARTE™ system includes a portable “how to” manual and a supplemental kit of PD specific exercises. The kit is user-friendly. It includes 100+ color-coded index cards with categorized PD-specific acting, movement and vocal exercises. PARTE™ instructor training, the manual and supplemental kit enable persons working within the PD community to facilitate, reach, educate and support PwP in diverse and undeserved communities.

During PARTE™ training, trainers learn how to facilitate exercises which will help PwP harness their creativity and explore their physicality and emotions by utilizing larger-than-life, broad, intentional movements and vocal exercises borrowed from the theatre. Participants engage in spontaneous movement and develop spatial awareness. They practice grand entrances and exits, navigate around other actors, and learn to plan and sequence improvised scenes.

By incorporating tools such as visualizations and mental rehearsal PwP are challenged cognitively. The PD journey, PTSD and peer support are often expressed through art and expressed memories. Articulation exercises develop vocal expressiveness via spoken word, rhythm and rhyme. Breathing and mindfulness exercises decrease anxiety by focusing on the here and now. The collaborative process of PARTE™ promotes psychological expression, compromise and cooperation, role play, discrimination and a shared experience among cohorts. Participants are challenged to think in the abstract, to follow directions, to take on leadership roles and problem-solve, all the while accessing the creative centers of the brain and rewiring neuropathways.