Earn 2 New York State LCAT, LCSW, LMHC or LMSW Continuing Education Credits
From the comfort of your own home on your own schedule!
Course Description:
Within the context of themes related to end-of-life, movement analysis from David Bowie’s music video, Blackstar (2015), is used to provide knowledge and understanding for a dance/movement therapist that works with patients who are terminal. Utilizing this analysis and applying Rudolf Laban’s theory about trace-forms, movement stages are considered during one’s final dying trace-form while on the journey of transcending into the unknown. This will be discussed from the perspective of dance/movement therapy practice, the therapeutic relationship, use of creative arts in supporting this process, and how these approaches assist patients moving from living trace-forms to a dying trace-form.
Learning Objectives Include:
1. Examine relevant topics related to “successful dying” and how this concept has evolved historically from hospice care to death with dignity.
2. Define concepts of presenter’s understanding and development of terms “living trace-form” and “dying trace-form” and its use in creating a holding space for the therapeutic relationship while working with those who are at end-of-life.
3. Explore key components to the presenter’s questions: “What are people going through as they begin to embark upon the unknown”; “How can the dance/movement therapy process and therapeutic relationship support those going through this transition, including therapist’s process during and after death”.
4. Discuss the importance of the creative process in working with those who are terminally ill and processing concepts of death, particularly with children
Course Curriculum
Hi, I’m Jenn!
Jennifer Whitley, M.S., BC-DMT, LCAT, CMA is a board certified Dance/Movement Therapist and Licensed Creative Arts Therapist who received her master’s degree, with honors, in Dance Therapy at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. She is trained through the Ways of Seeing program at Dancing Dialogue and Certified as a Laban Movement Analyst from the Laban Institute of Movement Studies. She has been a DMT at Dancing Dialogue since 2014 working with children and families using Dr. Tortora’s Ways of Seeing psychotherapeutic multi-arts approach. Ms. Whitley’s experience also includes medical DMT at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, joining the Integrative Medicine Services team in 2012, with a focus in pediatric oncology alongside Dr. Tortora. Additionally, she works with children who have special needs facilitating group DMT sessions in the public school setting since 2013. She taught as interim instructor in The New School’s Creative Arts Therapy Certification Program, worked as DMT/Choreographer for Angelight Films, and presents workshops locally, nationally, and internationally.