Chicago Dance Therapy
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About
Chicago Dance Therapy (CDT) is the premier dance/movement therapy practice in Chicagoland. CDT’s mission is to provide accessible and affordable movement therapy and holistic counseling to individuals of all ages. Movement therapy is the psychotherapeutic use of movement to integrate the individual’s body, mind, and spirit. By focusing on the mind/body connection, the practitioners at CDT use movement to support the individual, validate the individual’s experience, and to facilitate healing and change.
Treatment Modalities
CDT focuses on dance/movement therapy and counseling techniques to facilitate healing. Our practitioners offer a variety of body movement experiences and modalities such as Laban Movement Assessment, authentic movement, mindfulness, and meditation to name a few.
Experience
CDT has worked with many individuals who have survived physical and emotional abuse as well as neglect. Often times our clients have presented with psychosomatic symptoms, or psychological issues manifested as physical ailments. Through the use of movement therapy and verbal processing we have been able to help our client’s identify residual trauma that has been held somewhere in the body. Physical expression allows for this to be accepted and released.
Our Approach to Trauma-Informed Care
It means recognizing, understanding, and responding to the effects of trauma on the body and psyche. It also means finding ways for the survivors to take back a sense of control and empowering their own healing.
How Our Practice Holistically Addresses the Impacts of Sexual Trauma
CDT focuses on the mind/body connection. Our therapists assess and observe the individual’s behavior through the use of dance, movement, gesture, as well as postural changes. Individuals are able to physically express and experience the psychological processes through the body without having to relive the traumatic event. Through somatic experiences, survivors are able to understand the triggers and emotions that can suddenly arise and feel so stifling and overwhelming.
Modifications for Survivors
Our practitioners are constantly resourcing their own bodies as well as that of the client’s to ensure that the client is feeling physically and emotionally safe. We are trained to take the movement cues from the client in order to build trust within the therapeutic relationship. Clients are encouraged to challenge themselves emotionally, but never forced into experiencing or processing a feeling that they are not ready to explore. Individuals often think they are ready to explore an issue, but as movement therapists we can often see a mind/body disconnect where the body might be showing signs that it’s not ready to explore the underlying issues. This is often an opportunity to explore self awareness with our client’s by pointing out their own body prejudice and how the body holds its emotions.
About The Breathe Network
Users of The Breathe Network’s resources assume responsibility for evaluating and selecting the providers included in our network. Please discuss your specific needs with the provider to determine whether they have the skills to assist you in your healing.
The Breathe Network, Inc. is organized as a public charity under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, therefore the full amount of contributions made to our organization are deductible for federal income tax purposes.
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