End of Summer

Hello loyal readers!

Hope you enjoyed your summers, it certainly went by fast. I was fortunate enough to return to Canada for almost 7 weeks and was able to enjoy lots of family time including a week at a cottage.

I realized over this time that I was home how much inspiration I receive from nature. It was during the silent moments of sitting on the dock at the lake watching the stillness of the water, the sun rising and setting or just watching the family of loons and ducks go about their days that I felt grounded in time. I had images come to me and movement choirs erupt within.

Again today I ventured out into a outdoor museum and it was walking through the grass that I couldn't help but dance!

Classes and internship start next week for me so I am taking the long weekend to settle into my new apartment and then getting myself geared up for what lay ahead this year.

Only 9 months left until I will be graduating and returning to Canada...but who's counting?!

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

This poem seems to be a re-occurring theme in my life right now so thought I'd share.
Taken from her collection of poems entitled "Wild Geese"

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

Tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.

by Mary Oliver

More Certification?

I just had my last weekend for my Body-Oriented Psychotherapy class. I am still as much in love with Bioenergetic work as I was after the first weekend.

I started looking into becoming certified in it once I return to Canada. Funny thing is that none of the association's in Canada have contact emails that actually work. All my emails seem to keep bouncing back to me. My professor recommended reaching out to the international association which I did today and hopefully I hear back from them soon as to how to reach someone in Canada.

I think that it may be something I would like to do once I am working in the field and can integrate it into my work once I have established my own style within the DMT framework.

I feel as doors are just starting to be opened and I am beginning to realize how many options there are in this line of work! Exciting things on the horizon!

Standards and Ethics

If I'm being honest, I walked into this weekend intensive dreading it and thinking this topic was going to be a dry one. Boy was I wrong! The professor is amazing and is really able to keep us engaged as a class. She incorporated a lot of experientials which was nice and broke up the material.

I'd like to say a lot of this course is common sense; confidentiality, misconduct, code of ethics etc. However, I am realizing how many grey areas there are and how it is hard to make blanket statements as every situation and client will be different.

It has also been interesting to reflect on questions such as
- Are there any populations you would not be able to work with?
-What/Are there any personal values that may prevent you from providing the best care for your client?
- What happens when the law and your association's code of ethics say different things? Which do you follow?

This course has allowed me to realize that it's not all common sense and realistically, I (and probably you) at some point will make mistakes. Supervision is so incredibly important for new professionals and is a process that continues to be throughout one's career.

After learning about the laws for the U.S. I am already starting to think of where I could do a refresher course in Canada once I return after graduation and what associations I want to be a member of and code of ethics I want to follow apart from the American Dance Therapy Association.

Processing with Art

Part of my processing from last week

Please do not use any of these images without permission. Artwork and photos credited to myself.

Let the summer begin...sort of!

Well it's been over a month since my last post. Three of those weeks I was back home in Canada on "vacation" which really means I'm just as busy there as I am when I'm in school. Just a different kind of busy, less stressful!

Summer classes started last week so I am already back to the grind. Last week I had Group Process in DMT which was a week long intensive class. The professor was amazing and although it was a draining week, I learned a lot about myself and how I am in groups as a member, witness and a leader.

This past weekend I had my first of two weekends for the course Body Oriented Psychotherapy. Wow was my mind blown in that course! I was expecting it to be similar to dance therapy and I was very wrong. It's a completely different field, using touch mostly, based in psychoanalysis and I have fallen in love with it. The professor is amazing and in two weeks when we meet for our last weekend together I plan on finding out how I can become certified in this work!

This upcoming weekend I have my first weekend of Standards and Ethics which I think will be a heavy course full of rich discussions. Already have a couple of assignments due the first class on Friday which I am trying to work my way through. I think after the week intensive followed by the weekend intensive my mind is resistant to getting work done.

Instead I have been catching up with friends, knocking things off my "To-Do" list and trying to get back into my Pilates workout routine (and trying to find a new place to live!). Don't get me wrong, I have been doing some work obviously but it's hard to give it my full attention when the sun is shining and technically it should be summer break.

I am noticing that I have been finding it hard to devote as much time as I would like to this blog and am finding some blocks when I do go to write. Any feedback from the readers?

Finals

Yikes! It's been a while since my last post but school has been busy to say the least. Stress levels have been high resulting in me catching a lovely virus (and having to pay $20 to go to the doctor, still can't get used to the having to pay for health care thing). Finally starting to feel back to normal, well normal with allergies, just in time for the last week of classes.

I presented a duet with a classmate this morning and just finished writing my final for my psychopathology class. As part of the final I just completed I had to pick a memoir to read from someone who had/has suffered from mental illness (who hasn't to some degree?!). I chose My Stroke of Insight by Jill Taylor.
For those of you who have not read this book, I strongly suggest adding it to your "To Read" list. It is a shorter book and although there is some terminology involved the book, she included diagrams and her aim is to reach the masses by keeping it "user-friendly". She shares her experience of going through a stroke and how it has changed her life. She suggests what is helpful and what maybe isn't so much when working with someone who has suffered a stroke. I won't share too much so you can enjoy the read for yourselves!