Welcome to Nepal. How did I get here?

Welcome to my blog following my experience as a Dance Movement Psychotherapist and Promethean Spark Life Coach in a sex trafficking shelter in Nepal.

A  quick introduction here to explain a bit about what's going on.  As many of you may know, I recently graduated with my MA in Dance Movement Psychotherapy.  My research focused on the facilitation of embodied agency in trauma survivors who have experienced external control.  The idea of using the body and its movements to reclaim a sense of ownership over the body that was forcefully taken by another seems to me an obvious approach to trauma work.  While certainly not a new idea - Bessel van der Kolk, Babette Rothschild, Amber Elizabeth Gray, David Alan Harris and Sabine Koch to name a few therapists who have published work embracing the body's role in trauma and trauma treatment - it is still gaining momentum.  (CBT is still one of the two most common approaches to trauma treatment according to the NICE Guidelines). 

With this in mind, I have endeavored to implement this approach with those who would not otherwise receive this kind of support.  My previous work with Promethean Spark International (PSI), a nonprofit organisation that uses dance and the performing arts to teach essential life skills to impoverished youth around the world, led me to a Nepali trafficking shelter, Raksha Nepal (RN).  PSI recently piloted their life coaching methodology at RN, and it was met with great enthusiasm.  PSI has sent me as their first representative to offer life coaching through dance for an extended period of time.  In addition to the PSI program, I will be able to offer Dance Movement Psychotherapy on a regular basis to further support the girls in their healing from psychological trauma as a result of sex trafficking, forced prostitution, sexual assault and rape, and sexual abuse.  Because of the nature of therapeutic process and the development of a therapeutic relationship, especially between a therapist and clients of completely different cultures, I felt it was important to extend the normal stay of a PSI volunteer from 3 months to 5.  During this time, I will be living in the safe home with the girls, eating with them at mealtimes, and embracing their day-to-day routine.

As of now, I've just arrived and am acclimating to the time and culture change as I prepare to begin the therapy and coaching programs.  Keep updated with my progress by following this blog.  Photos shared on it will be carefully selected, and at times sparse, in order to protect the identities of my clients.

This project is completely voluntary, and absent of any scholarships, grants, stipends or outside funding of any kind.  I have begun a fundraising campaign to which you can contribute here.  Please donate if you can, and share this blog and the fundraising page far and wide.  Let's work together to raise awareness about sexual violence and trafficking, and support the use of dance, movement and the body to help treat the trauma experienced by its survivors.