In 2014, I took a hiatus from the professional dance world in New York City to volunteer as a life coach in India for Promethean Spark International. I used dance to teach life skills to leprosy-affected children and led therapeutic dance and movement sessions in leprosy colonies near Chennai. It was an incredible and life changing experience.
One year after my return to New York, I set off again – this time to London to pursue my Master’s in Dance Movement Psychotherapy at the University of Roehampton, to complement my 2007 BA in Psychology from Columbia University. At Roehampton, my MA research project involved the facilitation of embodied agency in trauma survivors. I feel passionately about the use of dance, movement and the body to reclaim and empower individuals, and I have continued to seek out opportunities to do this as a therapist. This has led me to my current work in Nepal as a Dance Movement Psychotherapist and Promethean Spark Life Coach in a sex trafficking shelter.
Because of the unfortunate lack of funding for mental health support around the world, particularly arts-based mental health support, I have taken on this project strictly as a volunteer because I feel it is so important. Everything from my flights and transportation to my visa fees, my supplies, and the cost of professional supervision to hold my therapeutic work is self-funded. Please help me fund this project by donating here.
Professional photography by Billy B Photography