Fort Lauderdale, FL -- Salah Foundation Children's Hospital is pleased to announce the addition of dance/movement therapy to our Child Life Program -- the first hospital-based dance/movement program for pediatric patients in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. The program teaches children to use dance/movement as a psychotherapeutic tool in order to reduce stress related to hospitalization by furthering their emotional, cognitive, physical and social integration.
Our new certified dance/movement therapist brings nearly 30 years of experience to the program and is currently working with patients in the hospital’s hematology/oncology program and general pediatric units.
“We are thrilled to launch our dance/movement therapy program,” said Rita Frantz, Administrator, Salah Foundation Children’s Hospital at Broward Health Medical Center. “It’s an exciting time for us as we continue to grow both in size and in the scope of the services and programs we offer to our pediatric patients.”
The therapist works with children in playrooms and patient rooms, both individually and in groups. Dance/movement therapy is aimed at stress management, as well as enhancing the patient’s physician well-being, body image and their expression of feelings. Movements are generated through interaction and are improvisational, based upon the interests and movement of the patients. Family members are also invited to participate.
Dance/movement therapy was introduced into western medicine in the 1940s and was founded on the premise that the mind, body and spirit are connected and that the body can heal itself through movement.
“With increased movement comes increased language,” Lori Baudino, PsyD, BC-DMT, a licensed clinical psychologist and board certified dance/movement therapist, said in an interview for the March/April 2017 edition of Oncology Nurse Advisor. “Once you have that full range of movement, you have this way of feeling regulated and supported. Then you can articulate it, use that executive functioning and communicate more.”
In addition to dance/movement therapy, Salah Foundation Children’s Hospital also offers pediatric patients other forms of therapy proven to help children cope with stress and anxiety, including humor, pet-assisted, music and art therapies.