4th-17th April 2026
A once-in-a-lifetime experience
Limited availability
First-come, first-served
You can attain the NDP Diploma (Basic, Advanced or Trainers Certificate)
N.B. The jungle can be a dangerous place

What is neuro-dramatic-play?

Neuro-Dramatic-Play® was originated and developed by innovative international arts practitioner Dr Sue Jennings since 1998. It is an attachment-based intervention that focuses on the early playful relationship between ‘mother and unborn child - mother and newborn child’. Through play and drama, it emphasises a combination of basic trust, security and ritual, with stimulation, exploration and risk. Ritual and risk form the basis of children feeling safe in the world.as well as a desire to explore it. Neuro-Dramatic-Play® enables people to become more playful and to think ‘outside the box’. It encourages people to be more independent and self-reliant. It affirms people’s identity and self-esteem, and the building of social relationships. It is an ideal approach for working with children who have been traumatised, neglected or abused. It is now available through courses and workshops for clinicians, educators and parents, who work with children, teenagers and adults.

what is NDP in the jungle

Actionwork® Theatre and NDP Ltd have teamed up together to provide you with the ultimate NDP training programme. You will spend 2-weeks in Malaysia with us that includes 1-week in the jungle working with a tribe of people called the Temiar. The Temiar are known to be amongst the most peacful people in the world. They are an oppressed people, with logging companies and oil palm plantation corporates cutting down the forest and taking their ancestral land. The Temiar are in the midst of a 15-year struggle to try and claim back some of their ancestral land by peaceful blockades and advocacy.

We have succesfully run Social Theatre and NDP training programmes in the jungle. Please see these short films for examples of previous NDP in the Jungle training programmes:

Neuro Dramatic Play in the Jungle: Two week training:

You will spend two weeks in Malaysia including a week in the jungle learning from one of the most peacful groups of people in the world; the Temiar Orang Asli People.

This two-week programme will extend your NDP and Social Theatre knowledge through direct contact with an aboriginal community. Participants will get first hand experience of the way of life of the Temiar, their culture, child rearing, attachment theories and practices, confict resolution strategies, dreams, rituals and many other facets.

What is included in the programme:

  • Neuro-Dramatic-Play training and practice (Basic, Advanced or Trainer’s Certificate levels available)

  • Introduction to a range of Social Theatre techniques and practice

  • Direct training with Dr Sue Jennings (NDP founder and Dramatherapy pioneer)

  • Perform in the jungle and in the city

  • Temiar language and cultural support

  • Work with the Jungle School

  • Relaxation and meditation activities

  • Fully guided activities and non-traditional tourist locations

  • 4 nights’ accommodation and breakfasts in Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (3 star or better)

  • 2 nights’ accommodation and breakfasts in Cameron Highlands or similar

  • Transport from Kuala Lumpur in and out of the jungle

  • 6 nights’ accommodation in Temiar jungle houses

  • 7 days’ meals in jungle with Temiar families

  • 1 all-night sing, dance and trance ritual with Temiar in the jungle

  • Learn how to shoot a Temiar blowpipe

  • Observe and interact with Temiar children and families

  • Temiar craft-making session and jungle trek

  • Make a Temiar bamboo raft and punt it down the river

  • Swim in a jungle river

  • Storytelling with Temiar people

  • Cook a Temiar traditional meal

  • Visit to a Chinese night market and a live butterfly farm

  • Visit to a Malaysian Mosque

  • Visit to a Malaysian tea plantation (tea is extra!)

  • Other amazing activities to be included

  • NDP certification on satisfactory completion

  • Suggested packing list

  • And of course you will make friends for life ...

 What is not included:

  • Travel and flights to or from Malaysia

  • Health or Travel insurance

  • Travel to and from airports

  • Meals in Kuala Lumpur or Cameron Highlands unless otherwise stated

You will also be given a suggested packing list and items to bring as presents for indigenous families you may stay with.

You will have your training delivered by the founder of NDP Dr Sue Jennings and Social Theatre practitioner Dr Andy Hickson.

Professor Dr Sue Jennings

Sue Jennings is an anthropologist, therapist, performer, and author. She is Visiting Professor at the University of Derby, Honorary Fellow of the University of Roehampton, and Professor of Play - awarded by the European Federation of Dramatherapy. She has been a pioneer of Dramatherapy and Play Therapy in the UK and overseas, establishing training programmes in UK, Greece, Romania, Czech Republic and Israel. Professor Jennings' paradigm ‘embodiment-projection-role’ is integrated into education and therapy world-wide. Having worked as a clinician in psychiatry, forensic settings and special education, she has focussed her recent practice and research on early years development and developed ‘Neuro-Dramatic-Play’ as a basis for attachment and empathy. She emphasises the importance of ‘play from conception’ for healthy emotional and social growth. Her doctoral fieldwork was with a tribal community in the Malaysian rain forest, which she believes underpins all her childhood theory and therapy. Sue is a prolific author with over fifty publications on theory and application to her name. She believes passionately in ‘playing for peace’ with a rule of ‘no guns in the playroom’.

Dr Andy Hickson

Dr Andy Hickson has a broad education that includes a PhD in Education, a Masters (MA) in Social Anthropology, a Diploma in Neuro Dramatic Play and a Diploma in Policy Studies. He is a theatre director, Social Theatre practitioner, actor, counsellor and explorer. He was also Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Communication at HELP University in Malaysia and CEO of Actionwork Worldwide (UK). In addition he has spent many years working and living in the jungle of Malaysia. He is also a published author, playwright, academic assessor and researcher. Dr Andy was awarded the International FLAME Award in 2013 for his contribution to helping people all over the UK and abroad in dealing with bullying. As a Social Theatre Director he has have worked with a wide variety of people including those within the criminal justice system, mental health institutions, local authority care, special schools and mainstream education.

Costs

£1835 per person. 25% non-refundable deposit payable on booking. Remaining amount payable by 31st December 2025.

Please note that there is limited availability on the this amzing programme. We will be a small group.

To begin your booking enquiry, please click on the button below to send an email to our colleagues at Actionwork: