Sarah is an accomplished performer and educator with a BA (Hons) in Acting/Musical Theatre and a distinction in her MA in Voice Pedagogy from The Voice Study Centre. Her extensive performance career includes work as an actor-musician at the Queen’s Theatre in Hornchurch and various theatre roles across the UK and internationally. She now runs a private voice studio and teaches in performing arts schools.
Sarah's most recent publication, "Acceptance and commitment coaching for Music Performance Anxiety: Piloting a 6-week group course with undergraduate dance and Musical Theatre Students" (2022), highlights an innovative approach to managing music performance anxiety (MPA). This research demonstrated that performing arts teachers, with brief training in Acceptance and Commitment Coaching (ACC), can effectively help students manage MPA within their training, often with better outcomes for shame reduction and symptom acceptance than individual psychotherapy. The study suggests a valuable non-clinical, integrated solution for a common issue in performer training.
Research papers:
Mahony, S. E., Juncos, D. G. and Winter, D. (2022) “Acceptance and commitment coaching for Music Performance Anxiety: Piloting a 6-week group course with undergraduate dance and Musical Theatre Students,” Frontiers in Psychology, 13.doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.830230.