This 15-hour Alternate Route approved course, taught by Dr. Amber Gray provides a theoretical, neurophysiological, contemplative introduction to the use of dance movement therapy with survivors of trauma, and as a practice of self-compassion and self-respect for therapists.
The emphasis of this class is client-therapist co-regulation as both a self-care and a clinical skill, that supports dance therapy’s ability to help clients through their own restorative process. Drawing from an embodied, contemplative human rights framework (“Restorative Movement Psychotherapy”), empowerment and developing a reciprocal alliance are primary themes of this course. This equally experiential and theoretical class also provides participants with a practical and applicable introduction and overview to using dance therapy in work with survivors of trauma, as well as for therapists’ own resilience and well-being. The course teaches dance therapy practices to support safety and stability in the reciprocal therapeutic relationship. A contemporary phasic approach to working with complex trauma provides the foundation for course material.
This event is presented by the National Centre for Dance Therapy, with the support of external funding. It is dedicated to all the dance therapists and students in dance therapy working, or considering working, with trauma.
We are only accepting a small number of participants. Please reserve your spot below and, if you cannot make it, let us know in advance, so we can free your space for someone on the waiting list.
The training is complete. If you wish to attend, please sign up to the waiting list and we will contact you if a place becomes available.
This course is equivalent to one Alternate Route credit. In order to obtain the credit, students must:
Dr. Amber Gray is a Human Rights Psychotherapist and a Somatic and Dance/Movement Therapist who has worked with survivors of interpersonal, collective and intergenerational trauma, particularly torture, war, and human rights abuses, for 25 years. Amber provides clinical and transformational training in her Right to Embody trainings, integrating refugee mental health and torture treatment with creative arts, mindfulness, and body-based therapies for programs serving survivors worldwide. She, with her clients, created a resiliency-based framework and clinical approach (Restorative Movement Psychotherapy) for somatic and movement therapies with survivors of trauma in multi-cultural contexts; they also co-created Polyvagal-Informed Somatic and Dance/Movement Therapy, based on 24 years of immersion in Polyvagal Theory. The latter is the subject of her upcoming book, Roots, Rhythm and Reciprocity (to be published by Norton). She regularly facilitates WildZeNess Eco-Somatic Body of Change retreats for survivors, caregivers and practitioners, serving communities affected by injustice, oppression and trauma.
