Dance/Movement Therapists as Change Agents in a World of Fractured Systems and Widespread Trauma BOOK LAUNCH

Time: 8:00 - 9:30am New York / 1:00 - 2:30pm UK / 8:00 - 9:30pm Perth AU

In this global webinar and book launch, presenters from 5 different countries, Israel, Germany, Australia, Canada, and USA, will share about their work as dance/movement therapists with clients who have experienced trauma, as highlighted in the recent book "Dance/Movement Therapy for Survivors of Trauma: Theoretical, Clinical, and Cultural Perspectives." The authors will address the interrelated global and fractured systems that engulf their clients and draw attention to how these systems affect and exacerbate traumatic experiences. They will present dance/movement therapy as a discipline that may foster restoration, wholeness, and healing in survivors of trauma and give personal accounts of their work with various populations. Lastly, presenters will reflect on their own processes of writing about psychological trauma during the global, traumatic COVID-19 pandemic.

The authors will represent three separate sections of the book: foundational concepts in dance/movement therapy and psychological trauma; clinical applications with various populations, and widening the scope of dance/movement therapy. More specifically, the webinar will begin with a presentation of the neurobiology of trauma emphasizing the effects of the global pandemic on the nervous system. Clinical examples will include dance/movement therapy in the criminal justice system in Australia and dance/movement therapy with refugees in Germany during the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, multigenerational trauma will be addressed through the example of Holocaust Descendants. The webinar will end with a recap of the responsibility of dance/movement therapists to be advocates for the healing power of movement and connection.