Newsletter No.45 - NDIS and updates

Hello, everyone. It has been a long time since I sent you my last newsletter. I can now feel in the air that the season is changing. As I grew up in Japan, my association with March and April feels different. In Japan, it is a season of graduation and starting a new academic year with blooming cherry blossoms in the background. People are busy with tax return and often relocate for a new work opportunity to start. Here in Adelaide, I feel that I am getting into the everyday busy routines. It feels quite different!

Dance Movement Therapy as an Evidence-based Therapy for People with Disability

I usually do not work for about a month between mid-December and mid-January. But this summer was different. After Christmas, I started to write a summary of efficacy of dance movement therapy (DMT) for people with disabilities. It was because the Government asked the DTAA (Dance Movement Therapy Association of Australasia) around mid-December 2024 to submit evidence of DMT’s efficacy for people with disabilities. The Government announced a plan of reviewing creative arts therapies in November 2024 (read more about it in the Newsletter No.43) and this request is in line with the upcoming review.

The DTAA has been proactively advocating a recognition of our profession in the NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) context to the government since 2021 and I have been leading this project since then. I created a working group among DTAA registered members after Christmas and a few of us tirelessly kept writing and editing the document throughout the holidays. This was the biggest document I have written for the DTAA within the shortest amount of time! I must say that I enjoyed writing this document and learnt a lot about why research is so critical. I was left with enormous gratitude for our pathfinders and current researchers in this field. I also learnt a lot about the language we use in the disability sector. For this document, we follow person-first language while respecting some people prefer identity-first language.  

This document is now published at the DTAA’s website, and it is FREE for downloading.

Somatic Body Mapping Intensive + Reflective Practice

Somatic Body Mapping is becoming quite instrumental for my practice. This year I am taking this practice into another professional level so that participants can reflect on the theories and its practices. Participants can obtain reading materials and attend a post-intensive reflective session, so that they can take knowledge and skills with them for their practice. In the beginning of March, I facilitated an intensive for three women; as always, it is a learning space for me to learn from the women. The collective nonverbal space was powerful and touching as I witnessed various expressions through movements, gestures, objects and artmaking. Over the two days, the maps kept evolving as if they were given birth. The maps had its voices, expressions, stories, and movements. I felt very honoured to hear personal insights and witness the developments. Now the registration is open for the September and November intensives (The information can be found here). This is a PACFA-endorsed program and you can earn 14 hours of CPD. Please register yourself to secure a spot.  

Embodied Group Supervision and Individual Supervision

I continue to offer embodied group supervision and individual supervision. This year I introduce more structured learning space for groups and individuals who would like to explore clinical experiences in an embodied way. This is based on a bodily knowing (Bacon, 2012) where we trust the body and allow it to guide us as practitioners. You will gain skills of Movement Response and Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) that dance movement therapists usually employ for their practice. I offer embodied knowledge and skills to those who are not trained in DMT and are interested in incorporating the body and movement into their practice. I will begin another group in-person (Adelaide) from July onwards on a Tuesday morning. Please let me know if you are interested. The outline of learning can be found here.  

As we experience changes of the weather, look after your body and mind. Please let me know where you are also up to.

Best wishes, Mioi

Picture: DTAA