Dance/Movement Therapy
Dance/Movement Therapy is a psychotherapeutic approach to helping patients process trauma, regulate & express emotion, gain a sense of safety, and improve overall wellness.
What is dance/movement therapy?
Dance/Movement Therapy uses movement to help people:
Improve their mental, emotional, physical, and cognitive health
Heal from trauma
Have positive, pro-social experiences
When you partner with CARTSS, a master-level, board-certified dance therapist will lead group and individual movement therapy.
Dance/Movement Therapy is known to uplift the spirits of patients experiencing a wide range of conditions from schizophrenia to body image issues to chronic pain.
What happens in dance/movement therapy sessions?
Sessions may include:
Using movement to express challenging emotions in a healthy way
Learning how certain movements can calm the nervous system & help regulate emotion
Building patients’ sense of safety by helping them connect to their bodies
Creating positive social experiences and connections through dance & movement
Using props to help patients stay grounded in the present and encouraging them to interact with their environment
How does dance support health?
Dance is healthy for everybody. It is a natural mood booster that relieves both pain and stress. Dance can help people develop a positive body image, physical wellness, and improved cognition and brain health.
For this reason, though hospitals usually bring us on for patient care, they’ve been known to ask us to lead dance/movement therapy sessions for the staff as well!
But dance/movement therapy is far more than a dance class or workout session.
How does dance/movement therapy benefit your patients?
Dance/Movement Therapy is beneficial for patients of all ages experiencing mental illness, intellectual disabilities, chronic pain, or other life challenges.
As an often non-verbal modality, dance/movement therapy is especially effective for treating trauma- a root cause of many conditions that disrupt patients’ health. Since traumatic memories may not be stored in the verbal processing centers of the brain, traditional talk therapy is inadequate for helping patients to heal from the pain they do not have the language to express.
In an inpatient treatment setting, it is likely that your patients are suffering from unprocessed trauma. There is a high degree of correlation between traumatic experiences and serious mental health conditions. A review of epidemiologic survey responses showed that the vast majority of people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) met the criteria for at least one other psychiatric disorder.
Another study found that 91% of hospitalized psychiatric patients had experienced at least one form of trauma. For this reason, dance/movement therapy is an especially helpful treatment for hospitalized patients.
When therapy addresses the root cause rather than focusing solely on symptoms, it inspires patients to invest more deeply in their long-term mental health. Further, it fosters greater trust and cooperation with their healthcare providers.
Dance/Movement Therapy has been shown to help patients experiencing:
Dance/Movement Therapy has also been used for violence prevention, therapy for veterans, refugees & survivors of torture, and much more.
Elevated Care
Each CARTSS contract brings a regular rotation of certified creative arts therapists to your interdisciplinary patient care team. As experienced therapists, the CARTSS team does far more than lead fun activities.
We can take on:
Individual and group therapy
Psychosocials
Documentation
Patient assessments
Short and long-term therapeutic goal-setting
Not only does this ease the burden on your in-house social workers and nursing staff, but patients also benefit from regular, reliable therapy and increased levels of attention.
Different patients have different therapeutic needs, so a CARTSS contract allows you to treat a broad spectrum of patients far more effectively than is possible with a single in-house recreational therapist. Instead of being limited to one specialty, you get many.
Access to Highly Educated & Experienced Therapists
CARTSS’ dance therapists are master-level, board-certified therapists. Between them, they have more than 50 years of Dance/Movement Therapy practice and expertise. You can learn more about the CARTSS therapists here.
Skilled Group Therapy for People Experiencing a Wide Range of Acute Mental Health Conditions
CARTSS dance/movement therapists are adept at providing compassionate group therapy to a room that may include people in the midst of active psychosis alongside people undergoing substance withdrawal, and those experiencing acute symptoms from mood and eating disorders.
Even many medical professionals feel overwhelmed and avoidant when confronted with such a challenging group dynamic, but our therapists excel at providing a safe, empathetic treatment environment for all patients.
How does dance/movement therapy benefit your hospital, clinic, or community program?
CARTSS contracts provide a much higher degree of stability than the traditional model of a single in-house activity therapist.
This consistent, dependable level of long-term patient care benefits everyone: from your patients to your nursing staff, to your social workers, to your HR department. It also benefits your bottom line.
Why Partner With CARTSS
For more than 30 years, CARTSS has been supporting patients and hospitals with its unique, highly-effective creative arts therapy treatment model.
We have led more than 80,000 group therapy sessions in 10 different hospital and community organization settings.
Our mission is to provide a dynamic solution for mental health programs so that the restorative nature of the creative arts cultivates stability within individuals and communities. You can learn more about us here.
Contact us
Contact us
Ready to bring effective, stable group therapy to your organization? Please reach out.