New Thought Vermont

The Heart of Voice Movement Therapy: The Work and Its Application

8:30 AM – 4:30 PM on Friday, October 23, 2015 at the Weston Playhouse

An experiential and informational day for therapists, case managers, parents, shared living (home) providers and other care providers.

Workshop Sessions

Workshop A: Using VMT with Individuals with Cognitive and Other Developmental Delays, or Differences, to Improve Communication and Self-Awareness

Workshop B: VMT Work with Individuals Experiencing Mental Health and Substance Use Issues

Workshop C: Retreat for Parents and Home Providers—Using Voice and Movement for Self-Renewal

Schedule

8:30—9:15   Registration and Gathering Time at the Weston Playhouse

9:15—9:45   Welcome and Brief Introduction to the Work of VMT

9:45               Transition to Workshop Sessions

10—12:15    Morning Sessions A, B, or C

12:15-1:30   Lunch on Your Own

1:30—3:45   Afternoon Sessions A, B, or C

3:45               Transition to the Weston Playhouse

4-4:30           Closure

Cost: $35 for the day; $15 for parents and home providers attending the retreat. Fee includes workshop sessions and light refreshments—lunch is on your own. Note: No admission possible without prior registration due to space constraints, and registrations will be taken on a first-come, first-served basis.

Please mail this registration form with payment (in the form of a check) to: New Thought Vermont, PO Box 185, Weston, VT 05161
Download Registration Brochure

Workshop Session A

Using Voice Movement Therapy with Individuals with Cognitive and Other Developmental Delays, or Differences, to Improve Communications and Self-Awareness, presented by Anne Brownell and Deirdre Brownell

Recent technological developments notwithstanding the sounding voice is still the main mode of expression and communication between human beings.  Whether an individual has substantial, limited or no apparent ability to use words meaningfully, helping a person to make their voice more flexible, durable and versatile by grounding it in the body is useful for several reasons:

• For those with little or no capacity for words, it can help them to develop an affective or feeling language that allows them to express needs, wants and desires;
• For those with more language facility but with physical, emotional or psychological issues that get in the way of expressing themselves appropriately, it can help them better access and combine the two channels of vocal communication – the cognitive or meaning message encoded in the words they speak and the affective or feeling message communicated by the tone and quality in which those words are spoken;
• Being able to combine these two vocal channels enables a person to make them more congruent so that what one says is clearer and less likely to be misunderstood. In both cases, having and owning one’s own voice increases self-esteem and the ability both to express feelings and to communicate more effectively.

The purpose of this workshop is two-fold:

1. To help those who work with individuals experiencing cognitive and physical and/or emotional barriers to relate to them more effectively through voice and movement. The morning will consist of simple experiences designed to help practitioners feel what it is like to try to communicate vocally under such circumstances;
2. To provide various kinds of practitioners with some specific voice and movement principles and strategies they might find useful in working with their clients. The afternoon will be devoted to exploring and discussing participants’ questions and concerns about individuals or groups with whom they work in the light of some of the principles and practices they have experienced in the morning.

Please wear comfortable clothes, as we will be standing and moving (not necessarily beyond a walk) and please bring a bottle of water.

Workshop Session B

VMT with Individuals Experiencing Mental Health and Substance Use Issues, presented by Christine Isherwood

This day-long workshop will constitute an exploration into the possible uses of Voice Movement Therapy with clients experiencing mental health and/or substance use Issues.

Within the morning session we will take a journey with some of the core components of VMT, in order to experience some of the different possibilities which can exist within ourselves and the myriad ways of expression through voice and movement.

In the afternoon session, we will discuss case studies, engage creatively with scenarios which may have been troubling or inconclusive, and express safely that which may have been left unvoiced.  Through self-reflection, observation, vocal and somatic experience and expression, and discussion, we will encounter and inspire new and different ways of working.

Workshop Session C

Retreat for Parents and Home Providers—Using Voice and Movement for Self-Renewal, presented by William Charles Freeman, Ph.D., BC-DMT and Helen White, CPRP, VMTR

Please dress comfortably.

In the field of human services, there are often demands that each of us do more and be more for those whom we serve, and sometimes we find that our reserves can run near empty.  This can be especially true for parents and home providers of individuals with significant disabling conditions, and this day of retreat is a time to come together for refreshment and renewal.

From identifying the challenges of our day-to-day roles as parents and providers to discovering the opportunities to live life differently, allowing us time for resilience and recovery, we will find our way toward developing new strategies for coping with the stresses we face.  Unwinding thought, increasing awareness, releasing tension and allowing expression through movement and voice offer us new ways of looking at, being with and responding to the vicissitudes of life.  Individually and together as a group, in a safe and supportive environment, we will explore spontaneity, authenticity and simplicity in creative expression.

Letting go enables natural movement and interactive play to come forth, while stress fades away and well-being is experienced.  Through creative and physical expression, reflection and integration, a sense of discovery and enjoyment in the process can be experienced individually and as a community.  It is anticipated that participants will leave this day renewed, supported, better equipped to face our daily responsibilities with greater ease and with a plan for improved self-care.