I've been contacted by the owner of a family therapy center who is looking to add a dance therapy program to her practice. I am very interested in doing something like this, but I am not certified. Do you have to be? Has anyone ever taken on a position like this? Looking for any info you can provide!

Google for more info, read up, check state website for licensing requirements. Might be too new to come under licensing - and if all else fails, ask the ones who called you for a job description.

During my education for dance teacher, we had a teacher for 'body development' and 'child psychology' who knew a lot about the work of a dance therapist (she also worked in a center, with a dance therapist as a collegue).

She made clear to us that the work of a dance therapist is about the opposite from the work of a dance teacher.
As a teacher you tell people how to move, and you correct them. It's about technique and for stage about fake feelings.
As a therapist you give people all freedom to move, and do not correct them. Everything they do is right, because they show their feelings. It's about personal expression and inner feelings. You observe them and use what you saw in your therapy with this patient.

This teacher told us that we, trained as teachers, would feel conflicts inside our selves because as therapists we have to accept everything the patient does.
We can tell our students 'shut up and dance', and being used to that, it would be hard to accept the whining (sorry, don't want to be mean) of patients while seeing bad dance (technique).



Besides this, she also told us that dance therapy would be NOT be the best for us (dance teachers) personally. Because we know too well how to hide our feelings while dancing.
Meaning: dance therapy is best for people not used to dance.
Meaning: as a dance therapist you work with complete beginners in dance.

I don't know if you need a certificate in the USA. In Holland you need to be a therapist in the first place, because you work with patients.


Charlotte Querido developped dance therapy here. This is some English information I found about her. Maybe useful background information to start with.

www.danstherapeutischcentrum.nl . . .

There is a lot of work involved in becoming a dance therapist. You should have an MA and be licensed, the problem is you really can just open up a dance class and claim to do "dance therapy" there. I would be very surprised if she wanted you to teach without being licensed. Maybe she doesn't know what qualifications are needed? I almost got my MA in dance therapy but the tuition was just too much for me at the time, so I have done a lot of research and visited several schools if you need more info. you can PM me.

www.adta.org

Hmmm...will pass this along to Daughter2 who is working on masters in psychology for LPC; this would be a nice adjunct.

Speaking as a dance therapist. Under no circumstances can you claim to be offering dmt without actually being qualified. You are setting yourself up for a huge liability, not only from the families that you are working with, but also from the ADTA. I would check out adta.org to educate yourself about the field and refer your contact to do the same. If the website does not help, Gloria at the National office will be happy to help find an appropriate referral.

FYI. Becoming a dance therapist requires a master's and two years post graduate supervised practice. Most have an NCC, LPC, or LCAT in addition to the DMT-BC.

ThinkingMover wrote:



FYI. Becoming a dance therapist requires a master's and two years post graduate supervised practice. Most have an NCC, LPC, or LCAT in addition to the DMT-BC.

That makes sense. Not covered by most insurance so you need to make the majority of your income otherwise.

The supervision - you do mean the supervision required for the LPC, etc. licensure, not additional supervised hours, right?

Daughter2's plan is to have a wellness center (counseling, massage therapy, yoga, etc.) so dance therapy would fit in with her holistic plans.

2 years post grad supervised hours can be used for LPC as well but are required to become a D/mt-BC.

ThinkingMover wrote:

2 years post grad supervised hours can be used for LPC as well but are required to become a D/mt-BC.

Thanks for the clarification.

She has her internship set up already and will later be under the same psychologist for her required supervised hours.