Dance Therapy Program

Trauma and the Moving Body

A Survivor-Centered, Polyvagal-Informed Approach to Dance/Movement Therapy

Our bodies are a sea change of movement, and this movement is a map that reflects our past and can guide emergent possibility.

This 15-hour alternate route approved course provides a theoretical, neuro-physiological, 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 DMT’s ability to support clients through their own restorative process. Drawing from an embodied, contemplative human rights framework (Polyvagal-informed Dance/Movement Therapy©), 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 DMT in work with survivors of trauma, as well as for therapists own resilience and well-being. The course teaches DMT 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.

For further information contact: “ dmtcoordinator92y [at] gmail [dot] com”

Please register early as there is a limit on the number of students.

Upon completion of the course, students who do the required assignments will be eligible to receive 15 hours of Alternate Route credit toward the R-DMT. In addition, 15 hours of CEs from the ADTA are available.

Sat, Jan 25: 3-7 pm (1 hour break)
Sun, Jan 26: 9-6 pm (1 hour break)

$350 until Dec 1 / $400 after

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This program is part of the Harkness Dance Center, which recognizes the ongoing generosity of the Harkness Foundation for Dance.

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Online programs:
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Instructor

Dr. Amber E.L. Gray, PH.D

Amber Gray

Dr. Amber Elizabeth Lynn Gray, PhD, BC-DMT, LPCC, MA & MPH, is the Executive Director of Restorative Resources LLC, The Kint Institute and her own planetary rights non-profit, Trauma Resources International. She is an award winning dance movement therapist, a human rights psychotherapist, and an authorized Continuum teacher. Amber has worked for 24 years with people who have survived human rights abuses, war and torture. She originated Restorative Movement Psychotherapy, a framework for dance, movement, mindfulness and creative arts therapies with refugees and survivors of torture, and Polyvagal-informed Dance/Movement and Somatic Therapies for trauma, based on a deep immersion into Polyvagal Theory. Amber provides training and consultation nationally and internationally on restorative treatment for survivors of relational, social, collective and ancestral trauma. Her expertise is the integration of creative arts and body-based psychotherapy into “mainstream”, multi-cultural, clinical, psychotherapeutic and healing practices, often in low resource contexts. She is a regular conference presenter and keynote speaker, and has authored many peer-reviewed publications on movement therapies and trauma. She regularly leads eco-somatic, “wild-zeness” retreats for survivors of trauma.