Child and Family Dance/Movement Therapy Sessions
Hancock Center's Child, Adolescent and Family Dance/Movement Therapy Services - Dance/Movement Therapy is a dynamic way to provide psychotherapy services for children, adolescents and families as movement is the first and primary language of children. Dance/movement therapy uses the creative process to support the physical expression and integration of the issues that bring young people and their families to seek psychological services. It is based on the integration of body and mind.
Through dance and other movement experiences, licensed dance/movement therapists work with children and teens in order to help them: express feelings in safe ways, learn to put words to feeling expression (rather than to act out on their feelings or to hold feelings inside, leading to self-harming behaviors), cultivate communication and relationship skills, learn self-settling approaches and experience a more positive self-concept.
At Hancock Center we offer therapy services for individual children and teens, as well as family-based dance/movement therapy. An intake process is used to determine appropriate placement in therapy services. The intake session provides the time for children to develop a comfort level with the environment and therapist, for the parent to actively participate and experience the process of dance/movement therapy, and for the therapist to gather background information on the child and her/his needs.
Final determination on services occurs by the parent(s) and therapist following the intake process. Hancock Center has an experienced therapy staff who have worked extensively with children/teens with trauma backgrounds, attachment disorders, developmental issues, (including those on the autism spectrum), physical challenges, and with a variety of mental health diagnoses, including: depression, anxiety disorders, bi-polar disorder and eating disorders. Hancock Center therapists often provide treatment for children and teens as a part of a comprehensive team through the Children Come First services of Community Partnerships and Dane County Department of Human Services.
When working with independent clients we also collaborate with a wide variety of community organizations and mental health providers to advocate and provide support for our clients; with any given client this may include consultation with school staff, other therapists and prescribing psychiatrists. Hancock Center therapy staff also provides on-going consultation with parents of child and teen clients through phone and e-mail contact as needed. Referrals for dance/movement therapy services at Hancock Center may be made by parents, doctors, other therapists, social workers and mental health workers in community agencies.