‘Douglas the Dragon’
by
William Forde
© William Forde (February, 2012)
Illustrations by Dave Bradbury
Copyright February 2012 by William Forde
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An Anger-Management play written by the founder of Anger-Management courses in Great Britain in 1971, and based upon William Forde’s ‘Douglas the Dragon’ stories and adapted from those books.
First published by M.A.M.A. (September 1st, 2006) as a musical play.
© William Forde, September 1st, 2006.
Cover and inner illustrations by Dave Bradbury of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.
A video 2- hour performance of the musical play by the children of Emley First School, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire can be obtained from
[email protected] or telephone: 01484 865282.
An MP3 file containing all five original songs and backing tracks to accompany the play will shortly be available for free download from www.fordefables.co.uk
All play text, characters, reproduction, manufacturing, exploitation and artwork copyright reserved by William Forde.
Song Lyrics and copyright of ‘Our World’ reserved by William Forde
Song Lyrics and copyright of ‘Follow Your Heart’ reserved by Stuart Merry
Song Lyrics and copyright of ‘Spiky Cheer Up’ reserved by Stuart Merry
Song Lyrics and copyright of ‘You on my Mind’ reserved by Stuart Merry
Song Lyrics and copyright of ‘Let it All Out’ reserved by Stuart Merry
Author’s Foreword
As so often in life, learning best comes from our most traumatic experiences. Over fifty years ago as a young boy of twelve, I was run over by a large wagon and received multiple injuries. My parents were told that I’d never walk again. For three years following my accident, a spinal injury prevented me from feeling any signs of life below my waist. The predominant emotions I experienced during this period were ‘Anger’ and ‘Fear’: intense ‘Anger’ at what had happened to me and ‘Fear’ of the inevitable consequences of never walking again. In time, ‘Anger and Fear’ consumed me. I stopped loving myself and felt unable to ‘Love’ others.
During the remainder of my teenage years, and aided by prayer and the practising of numerous eastern disciplines, my ability to walk returned. While being unable to pin point the precise cause of this seemingly miraculous recovery, I had, nevertheless, stumbled across the bodily correlation between ‘Fear, Anger and Love’ without realising it at the time.
In later life, as a Probation Officer serving in West Yorkshire, I found that my professional training left me ill-equipped to help many recidivists change their offending behaviour. After analysing the behavioural response patterns of 600 offenders, I found that the three human emotions of ‘Fear, Anger and Love’, and in particular, the inability to appropriately express these emotions, constituted the core of their general unhappiness, dissatisfaction and offending behaviour.
Remembering my own childhood experiences, I rediscovered the behavioural correlation between ‘Fear, Anger and Love.’ I abandoned the traditional Probation Officer method of working with offenders, and, instead, constructed a group programme of work that I used thereafter. For the following 24 years, I operated hundreds of these group programmes with all ages of mixed sex in Probation Offices, Hostels, Prisons, Hospitals, Educational Establishments and Community Halls. These were the very first ‘Anger Management’ programmes operated in Great Britain. I’m proud to say that many similar group programmes have mushroomed in Europe, America and across the English speaking world ever since.
The principle of all successful Anger Management work has three essential stages at the heart of its process; a process of which I am the original founder, and which I freely gave to the world in 1971:
(1) Learn how to face and confront our ‘Fears.’
(2) Learn how to ‘Love’ ourselves so that we can be enabled to ‘Love’ others.
(3) Learn how to manage and appropriately express our ‘Anger.’
The process of work relating to all ‘Anger Management’ needs to be followed sequentially in the three stages identified above ‘for change to occur and to be reinforced and maintained within the future behavioural response pattern.’ If this process is not strictly followed, ‘any change produced will be partial at best and will not be sustained within the behavioural pattern.’ Thus the old behaviour pattern of responses will gradually return.
One first deals with all work pertaining to reducing ‘Fears’ to a manageable level ‘before’ engaging in work to promote self-enhancement. Once the Fears have been rationalised and reduced to a manageable level, only then should a process of self-enhancement be pursued and reinforced. The person requiring ‘Anger Management’ then has to learn how to increase their self- regard. This involves learning ‘how to love themselves’ in order that ‘they may love others also.’ It is only when this second phase of the change process has been reached that the individual seeking behavioural change will possess sufficient self- belief and positivism to enable change in their ‘Anger’ pattern to occur and be withstood.
The most profound truth is often the easiest to understand: before one can rid one’s heart of ‘Anger,’ one must first put some ‘Love’ in!
From the many books I’ve had published for children since 1990, the most popular story has been the ‘Douglas the Dragon’ stories. These four stories deal with the underlying principles of ’Anger Management’ and have since been used by many Child Psychologists in West Yorkshire to help abused and traumatised victims express their repressed Anger.
In writing my ‘Douglas the Dragon Play’, which is adapted from my four ‘Douglas Dragon stories,’ I hope to bring to the wider audience of child, young person and adult, the essential ingredients of ‘Anger Management’ through the medium of word, song and stage, by the telling of a story about an angry dragon.
William Forde: February 2012.
‘Douglas the Dragon’
By
William Forde