Dance Movement Therapy in Scotland

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Dance movement psychotherapy1 (DMP) in Scotland is a budding yet still emerging field, .... therapy and music therapy “was unable to include [DMP] on their ...
Dance Movement Psychotherapy in Scotland Report for the ADTA International Panel 2013 Thania Acarón, BC-DMT R-DMP Dance movement psychotherapy1 (DMP) in Scotland is a budding yet still emerging field, with new opportunities, as well as many challenges in its development. Similarly as other countries, Scotland dance movement psychotherapists have battled through: isolation of resources, funding challenges and the pressure of the process of national and cross-national certification. Still, professionals and students have been able to find internships and job opportunities in a variety of settings, and research and professional development continue to grow. The author came to Scotland as a BC-DMT two years ago in order to pursue her doctoral studies, and was granted a post as a lecturer for the dance movement psychotherapy program at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh. Since her immersion within the DMP arena is relatively recent, she designed an online questionnaire for professionals and students residing in Scotland in order to compile this report for the ADTA. The survey was not designed for qualitative research purposes, but rather to capture the voices of the achievements and struggles dance movement psychotherapists are currently facing. Twenty people responded to the survey, 11 DMP students and 9 professionals, encapsulating most of the practitioners and students currently residing in the area. Since some participants chose for their names to remain anonymous, all comments will be included between quotations throughout the report without identifying the source. Within the next section of the report, the survey results will be summarized in order to paint a panorama of the current situation in terms of practice, achievements and challenges. DMP Practitioners and Students DMP practitioners in Scotland are an international community, with one-third English, onethird Scottish, and the rest encompassing about 10 nationalities. The backgrounds before coming into DMP practice or studies span a diversity of fields: education, psychology, business, professional dance, theatre & scenography, visual art, cultural studies, social sciences, language studies, architecture, and tourism. The DMP population is distributed amongst its two largest cities (Edinburgh & Glasgow), but some dance movement psychotherapists are practicing work in smaller areas, such as Aberdeen, Dumfries and Galloway, Inverness, and other rural areas in the west of Scotland. Despite it being a large country in area (30,265 square miles), Scotland has a population of 5.3 million2, almost a tenth of the population of the whole United Kingdom. Conversely, the practitioners surveyed (and an additional 4 practitioners who were unable to fill out the survey) encompass a similar proportion within the ADMP UK membership 3 . Dance                                                                                                                 1

The term dance movement psychotherapy will be utilized throughout the report, since this is the term for the profession within the United Kingdom. US spelling however, will be used throughout the report in accordance with ADTA guidelines. 2 Statistics and geographical area from Encyclopaedia Britannica (2003), found at: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/529440/Scotland 3 Number was calculated according to the number of members listed in the ADMP-UK organization website (approximately 232).

movement psychotherapists in Scotland are subject to DMP certification via the Association of Dance Movement Psychotherapy UK (ADMP UK), and have representation in the ADMP UK council. This report, however, will focus specifically on Scotland’s developments separately from those in England and Northern Ireland, even though we share many resources, collaborations and practitioners working across different parts of the UK. The scope of work encompasses a high proportion of practitioners working in educational settings, community settings and the public health sector, especially with children, and adults with mental health issues. Additional DMP work is done in forensic settings, chronic pain management clinics, rural settings, and addiction rehabilitation centers. Other interesting populations that are served are: the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community, and work with dancers. Most of the DMP practitioners have international teaching experience, encompassing Croatia, Finland, Greece, Israel, Latvia, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Russia and Spain. Student internships cover a wide variety of settings, ranging from community health, schools, cardiac rehabilitation, forensic settings and care homes. According to Dr. Vicky Karkou (2013, personal communication), last academic year’s 2012 statistics indicate that 18 out of the 21 graduates from the DMP program have found paid employment within 6 months of graduating. An additional 14 students (out of which 12 were international) graduated this past July, and one has already found a related job as a dance development officer in the north of Scotland. However, some practitioners have reported that funding challenges and getting paid work is a real challenge since the profession is still not widely known. Some of the students also have difficulty transitioning from voluntary work in their placements to paid work. One respondent commented on this: “[…]I set up a D MP service that was in the supervisor's words “valued and trusted by service users and referrers and which we would all like to see continue". Sadly it didn't, due to resources and deadlocks in knowing where to go for them.”4 A third of the DMP practitioners reported doing voluntary work as well as paid work. One of the biggest developments has been the assignment of work posts within National Health Service (NHS) Scotland to dance movement psychotherapists, and the developing of student internships within these settings, since these are unusually difficult to obtain. Scotland has, as does the UK, a national health care system in which services are free to all residents. One of the practitioners “[established] a funded outcome based project within the NHS”5, which is a great achievement. This continues to be an area for development, since integration within the offered mental health services is crucial for the field. Challenges DMP suffered a huge roadblock in the past years, since the Health and Care Professionals Council (HPC), one of the health certification bodies which had included art therapy, drama therapy and music therapy “was unable to include [DMP] on their professional register due to government changes to their procedures” 6. This also affects the recognition of DMP versus other creative arts therapies that are certified. The ADMP UK is now working towards the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) certification, which is being processed currently, but is taking some time and much effort and commitment. This certification will potentially provide a national registration body under which DMP practitioners can operate and be protected under.                                                                                                                 4

Anonymous respondent 17 (2013) Anonymous respondent 13 (2013) 6 Anonymous respondent 16 (2013) 5

The DMP program, which has been running for 5 years has been a hub for many international students to come and develop their practice. Unfortunately, the administration at Queen Margaret University this year has decided not to run another cohort, the end of the program stated to be July 2014, and stated financial reasons for their decision. This has had an enormous impact on the local and international DMP community, since the program was well into development with a lot of potential in research and international recognition. More opportunities could have been gained from this academic center. Several of the practitioners and students surveyed commented on the negative impact of this closure. Isolation was one of the main themes repeated across the survey. This was the case especially in terms of supervision. Although students within the DMP program receive supervision as part of their program, there are few practitioners on the supervisory register7 for those who are not students. Since Skype supervision is discouraged within ADMP UK regulations, access continues to be a challenge. Some dance movement psychotherapists also practice in rural areas in Scotland, therefore having little contact with other professionals. Achievements Scotland is a beautiful country of green landscapes, rich history and colourful traditions, especially those expressed through dance. Its Scottish Dance scene is very much preserved, which include Highland Dancing8 and Scottish Country dancing. Highland dancing is a formal competitive style of Scottish dance. Scottish Country dancing is celebrated in what is called a Ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee), a wonderfully vibrant community gathering (from Gaelic tradition) with live music performances, in which group dances are ‘called out’ (as in the style of American country dancing). Veterans and newcomers alike can delight in learning these group dances within their community. Scotland also boasts a booming professional dance scene encompassing many genres, mostly supported by the arts council, Creative Scotland. Scotland also hosts world’s biggest arts festival, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, drawing hundreds of thousands of people to its capital city. Within the performance arena, two graduates from the QMU program have developed their final clinical projects into an evening-length choreographic project to be performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The author has also been awarded funding to develop choreographic performance projects that have been shown in Scotland and one of which will be presented at the upcoming ADTA conference in Brooklyn. Within the work arena, three practitioners have founded charity organizations that provide therapeutic services and training. One has “established a new social enterprise (soon to become a charity) to develop movement awareness, movement therapy and trauma services in Scotland and Europe” 9 , and two other practitioners co-founded a service-providing organisation. Two graduates have developed practicums doing DMP work in Uganda and India, and another developed a company which provides funding to students of DMP and related work. Edinburgh is also a site for international professional development workshops, Authentic Movement groups and is the hub for LMA certification. The promotion of DMP and awareness of its on-going developments has been a source of                                                                                                                 7

ADMP UK has separate registers for private practice and supervision, which has substituted the Senior Registered Dance Movement Psychotherapist title. 8 For more information, visit the Scottish Official Highland Dancing Association: www.sohda.org.uk. 9 Anonymous respondent 16 (2013)

focus in Scotland, in order to keep opportunities evolving. Two videos have been developed about the work in care homes and collaboration with music therapy (see links below). Also, in order to promote their work throughout the course and for potential employers, videos of graduate clinical projects have been disseminated through social networks. Despite its big challenges, the DMP Scottish community remains active and resilient, and have managed to develop many work opportunities in the health sector, which as described above is very difficult to penetrate. The community continues to broadcast their work, and remain active in evidence-based practice. Thania Acarón is a certified dance movement psychotherapist (US & UK), clinical supervisor, lecturer and active choreographer, originally from Puerto Rico but residing in Scotland while pursuing her PhD at the University of Aberdeen. Useful Electronic Links: Association for Dance Movement Psychotherapy, United Kingdom (ADMP UK): www.admt.org.uk Queen Margaret University Dance Movement Psychotherapy Program & Links to student work: http://www.qmu.ac.uk/at/dance_movement_psychotherapy.htm Links to graduate students clinical projects: •

‘A Sense of Holding’ by Julie Joseph 2011



‘Moving Away from Harm’ by Caroline Galon



‘Hide and Seek’ by Chloe Smithson-Wisdom

Video link for DMP in Care Homes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iElEV_7n6MA Video link for “Synergies: Dance Movement Psychotherapy and Music Therapy at Queen Margaret University” (collaborative work): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq1AVJ9vJ-I Edinburgh Fringe Festival: https://www.edfringe.com