Clinical Mental Health Counseling: Dance/Movement Therapy

Valerie Blanc, PhD, LMHC, BC-DMT, CMA, has been a part of the Lesley dance/movement therapy specialization faculty since 2011 and as a core faculty since 2018. She is currently the Coordinator of the Dance/Movement Therapy specialization working with a vibrant team of innovative educators. She teaches in both the on campus and hybrid low residency distance learning programs and was a part of the design team to create the low residency curriculum. Her teaching work includes the DMT Theories courses, Clinical Applications and Supervision, and the span of Body Movement Observation courses. She has been an integral part of curricular redesign in these courses, with a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion within the dance/movement therapy pedagogy both at Lesley and nationally.  

Currently, Valerie is a dance/movement therapist in private practice specializing in work with young children and their families as well as and clinical supervision. Her clinical experience has centered around work with children with a focus on work with attachment patterns and sensory integration work- especially with the deaf population. She has extensive experience in inpatient psychiatric work with children and adolescents as well as community mental health support. She worked for 13 years with the Boston Children’s Foundation implementing the Rainbowdance and CBI programs in acute trauma response and resiliency building utilizing the expressive therapies. She acted as a lead trainer in the Rainbowdance and CBI programs, traveling to Taiwan, Mississippi, and New Jersey in response to acute natural disasters in these areas.  

Valerie’s research interests center around the pedagogical practices of dance/movement therapy and building pedagogical theory in the field. Her recent research studies have explored the dance/movement therapy hybrid low residency student’s sense of embodied presence in their core courses as well as pedagogical practices of dance/movement therapy educators in ADTA approved programs. She was also part of the planning committee for the 2020 international Pathways to Practice: Conversations in Arts Therapies Education conference, as well as co-leading ongoing departmental workshops exploring pedagogical themes in the expressive therapies at Lesley. In collaboration with music therapy colleague she has also explored a critical perspective of the histories of dance/movement therapy and music therapy through a duo-ethnographic and arts based lens.  

With national and local leadership in professional organizations, she has acted on the American Dance Therapy Association’s Committee on Approval, collaborating with educators across the United States to assure educational standards for DMT education. She is also an active member of the ADTA Education Committee where she currently asks on several task forces addressing educational standards revision, critical examination of movement observation lenses in DMT, and revision of the application process for board certification in the field.  

Valerie grew up in Massachusetts where she now lives with her husband, two children, and pug. She is active in the arts community in Cambridge and dances with the Guardians of Isadora dance group who perform the repertoire of Isadora Duncan.   

As a dance/movement therapist, consultant, Certified Movement Analyst, and educator, Dr. Nancy Beardall's work focuses on dance, dance therapy, and cognitive, social/emotional and relational development using dance/movement and the expressive arts in the public schools with students K-12 of all populations. 

Nancy has developed numerous curricula for middle and high school students promoting wellness, decision-making skills, healthy relationships, and making a difference in the school community. Her community-building programs through the arts have involved students, parents and community members. 

Nancy's research studies have spanned a range of topics from the influence of creative dance on self-esteem in early adolescence to the effectiveness of bullying prevention and mentoring programs through the arts promoting gender respect and the prevention of sexual harassment and dating abuse. Her school-based programs have received federal, state and local grants.
 

Wendy Allen PhD, LPC, BC-DMT (she/her) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Graduate Expressive Therapies, Dance/Movement Therapy program.

Prior to coming to Lesley, Wendy was chair of the Somatic Counseling Department at Naropa University where she was a core faculty member from 2011-2022. From 2014-2021, Wendy was also the director of the Dance/ Movement Therapy program at Naropa. Wendy has taught at Illinois State University, Middle Tennessee State University, Santa Barbara Graduate Institute, and Metropolitan State College of Denver.

Wendy completed her PhD at Lesley University in 2019. Her current research explores the themes of power, oppression, and privilege by examining the somatic aspects of internalized domination and white body supremacy and their impact on empathy and attunement in the therapeutic movement relationship. As a clinician Wendy has worked with a variety of populations in state mental health facilities, residential treatment centers, and outpatient facilities. She specializes in group work with adolescents and recently co-authored two chapters on adolescents, dance/movement therapy, and social justice.

Wendy has served on the American Dance Therapy Association’s Committee on Approval and Education Committee since 2009. As a member of the Education Committee, Wendy has co-created and co-presented several seminars for educators on inclusivity and social justice in dance/movement therapy pedagogy at the annual ADTA Conference.

Wendy is deeply committed to the ongoing practice of examining and interrogating her privileged and marginalized identities and social locations. She is grateful to walk this path with others and is passionate about continuing to learn and grow while supporting students to become effective and ethical socially-just clinicians.

Meg Chang, EdD, BC-DMT, LCAT, NCC, is a board-certified and New York State licensed dance/movement therapist. Core faculty in the Lesley University Expressive Therapy Division, Meg coordinated the Dance/Movement Therapy program from 1993-1996. Recently she was adjunct faculty and in 2018-2019 was a visiting scholar in the Dance/Movement Therapy program. A certified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction teacher, she teaches Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Hospital Center For Mindfulness, in Worcester, MA for people with a range of medical and psychological concerns.

In addition to her clinical practice, Meg served as National Treasurer of the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) for two terms and is a founding member of the Multicultural and Diversity Committee of the ADTA Board of Directors. She is a frequent presenter at the ADTA Annual conference where she was invited to present pre-conference training seminars. In 2018 she was the keynote speaker for the New England ADTA conference Traversing Cultural Differences and Challenges. A member of the NYC CATS of Color (New York City Creative Arts Therapists of Color), and Task Force member of the Critical Pedagogy in Arts Therapy (CPAT), she is also a lifelong dancer. She takes a creative dance class with Jack Wiener in New York City whenever she can and is collaborating on a retrospective interview series about her friend and mentor, the late Elaine Summers from the Judson Church movement.

She has taught in the dance/movement therapy program at Pratt Institute and The New School, both in NYC and served as Chair of the Somatic Psychology program and faculty at California Institute of Integral Studies. Publications include “Dance/Movement Therapists of Color in the ADTA: The First 50 Years,” in the American Journal of Dance Therapy (2016); and “Cultural Consciousness and the Global Context of Dance/Movement Therapy,” in The Art and Science of Dance/Movement Therapy: Life is Dance, 2^nd edition (2016), Chaiklin & Wengrower, (Eds); she co-authored “Mobilizing Battered Women: A Creative Step Forward,” in F. Levy, (Ed.) Dance and Other Expressive Art Therapies: When Words Are Not Enough. New York: Routledge, 59 – 82; 1995.