Case studies: Dance movement psychotherapist: Davina

Davina is currently focusing on finding ways to integrate her teaching background and knowledge with her dance movement psychotherapy practice

As a primary teacher specialising in dance and drama, Davina noticed how the pupils labelled as having emotional and behavioural difficulties seemed to engage wholeheartedly in her sessions. Her work seemed to reach them in ways that the rest of the school curriculum did not.

This experience led her to take on a national role in her native New Zealand, working within a dance organisation to make links between schools and professional dance companies. These links helped support a new arts curriculum which was introduced with subjects such as dance, drama, art and music becoming compulsory as disciplines in their own right, rather than being part of the wider English and PE subject areas.

This was an exciting time for the arts in New Zealand, and Davina enjoyed helping school teachers meet the demands of the new agenda. She travelled the country working with all kinds of children in different types of schools.

Once again, she saw the benefits that dance can bring to young people, allowing them to find a focus. Pupils would often change substantially and begin to work hard even when their behaviour had previously been difficult to manage. For Davina, this proved to be the motivation for a new career challenge, and she enrolled on the postgraduate diploma course at Roehampton University.

The course has its own philosophy and style, covering different theories underpinning dance therapy. Davina suggests potential students need to think carefully about their personal learning style and preferences when considering study options, since independence and self-motivation are essential.

The students were supported in linking their previous experiences to their studies, with the aim of building new knowledge onto their existing frameworks. This approach suited Davina well, as she had previously worked in a forward-thinking school with social-constructivist principles, which emphasised the development of meaning through experience, relationships and social context.

Students also undertake intensive weekly personal therapy, which is essential for understanding and respecting one's own personal development and for being able to support clients' journeys while ensuring safety in practice. Overall, while Davina found her course challenging, this made it all the more rewarding.

For the required clinical placements, Davina was encouraged to take risks in order to make the best possible learning progress. She did this by transferring her knowledge into new settings, rather than focusing on more familiar client groups. In this way, she extended her comfort zone and built confidence while expanding her knowledge base and practice.

She has worked with clients of literally all ages, the youngest being nine weeks and the oldest ninety years. She found it inspiring to work with so many different types of people, some on their final chance, having exhausted all other social services and facing court proceedings.

The first placement involved working in an NHS setting with families, children and adolescents. Clients were frequently at crisis point, so the work was not easy. Davina's focus on development led to her setting up a new adolescent group. After the placement and volunteering her services, Davina succeeded in securing payment to continue her work and later took a year’s paid maternity cover post in the organisation.

Her second placement also focused on mental health, this time working within an older person's service. Once again, after establishing herself and the benefits of dance movement therapy, she was able to negotiate a contract. In both cases, she was not directly employed by the NHS but held private contracts with the trusts.

Davina emphasises the dedication and persistence required to arrange paid work. Self-sufficiency and independent thinking are essential in this field, not only for career development and security, but also because the nature of the work means therapists are always treading a new path with their clients.

Davina's current focus is on finding ways to integrate her teaching background and knowledge with her dance movement psychotherapy practice. With the advent of several new government projects aiming to foster closer working between education and mental health services, Davina hopes for new opportunities as society opens up to the positive contributions from the profession and as dance movement psychotherapy gains wider recognition. The long trek to this role has been her Everest, but now with the philosophy to frame what her intuition always said, Davina has found what she was searching for.