Description of Programs: Ke Ansam

http://traumaresourcesinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/haitiprograms1.jpg

Description of programs: Ke Ansam Ke Ansam (“Hearts Together”): is TRI’s Emergency Response Program for Haiti. Set into motion on January 13, 2010, Ke Ansam supports these three longstanding, on-the-ground, local organizations in Haiti: IDEO (Institut de Development Personnel et Organisatinnel) is founded
 and directed by Port au Prince’ most respected and well-known psychologists, and has expertise in developing community-based mental health and psychosocial programming. In partnership with URAMEL (see below), and under the leadership of widely recognized Haitian trauma psychologist Dr. Roseline Benjamin, they have established Haiti’s first ever psycho trauma center (“Sant Siko Twauma”) to provide a full range of mental health services—from community based psych-social to professional clinical programs — throughout Haiti. URAMEL is Haiti’s only local NGO to provide training to mental health, medical and health care professionals who treat Haiti’s many victims of disaster, violence and torture. Staff includes medical, forensic and social work professionals who …

Posted in 2010-2015 | Comments Off on Description of Programs: Ke Ansam

In the presence of Love

Whales are everywhere, here: they literally punctuate the ocean with their movements. In the space of a few minutes, looking out over the horizon or around the sea our boat is gliding through, we see pairs and trios and pods of whales breaching, spy-hopping, tail slapping and diving. This is an annual pilgrimage site, for breeding and birthing. These prisms of gem-blue waters serve as a safe place for the whales to create new life and tend to their young before they begin their own journeys back to Antartica. This is big ocean. Tonga is in the middle of the South Pacific, and there is a lot of water. I am one of those unfortunate people who saw Jaws when it first came out, and am terrified of the deep. Having grown up near the ocean, and once been comfortable swimming long distances in it; I began to fear being …

Posted in 2010-2015, Blog | Comments Off on In the presence of Love

The Annual Expressive Arts Summit in New York City

Amber presents at The Annual Expressive Arts Summit in New York City on November 6, 2015. Summit information here: http://summit.expressivemedia.org/

Posted in 2010-2015, Events | Comments Off on The Annual Expressive Arts Summit in New York City

ADTA conference: celebrating 50 years of Dance Movement Therapy

October 22-25, 2015 is the annual ADTA conference; celebrating 50 years of Dance Movement Therapy. Check out Ambers workshops here: http://www.adta.org/2015-Conference

Posted in 2010-2015, Events | Comments Off on ADTA conference: celebrating 50 years of Dance Movement Therapy

Restoring Core Rhythmicity: The Art of Play and Social Engagement for Trauma Dance Movement Therapy Playshops

Restoring Core Rhythmicity: The Art of Play and Social Engagement for Trauma Dance Movement Therapy Playshops   With International presenter – Amber Gray December 4th, 5th and 6th, 2015, 9.45am registration for 10am-5pm. At Abbotsford Convent, Dorm 1, Rosina building, 1 St Helier Street, Abbotsford, Melbourne The playshops will simultaneously build on the Body as Voice: Restorative Movement Psychotherapy Trauma training the DTAA offered in 2013/2014, and new clinical insights and experiences to promote playful social engagement for work with adult and child survivors of trauma. Exposure to traumatic events literally and metaphorically “freezes” our bodies, minds and spirits in a “lock-down” of past memories. Current neuro-psychiatric research has shown that when someone is traumatized, a majority of traumatic memory is implicit— or sensory-motoric and image-based. Many of the researchers endorse the use of non-verbal therapies for survivors to fully integrate the past with the present and restore well-being and …

Posted in 2010-2015, Events | Comments Off on Restoring Core Rhythmicity: The Art of Play and Social Engagement for Trauma Dance Movement Therapy Playshops

Australia & Continuum, Earth, Sky & Body: Spring 2015

There are still places in this world where the sky is awash with stars. Tasmania is one of them. In this Australian island, just off this most ancient land, the night sky is aglow with the light that emanates from the space that still illuminates the death of these once bright cosmic bodies. To lie on the ground and look into the stars is to look into the mirror. There are numerous citations re: the relationship between humans, and stars. It’s carbon, apparently, that connect us; I am not a scientist but I have read numerous references to the relationship between us, and the stars. In essence, that we are stardust. After guiding a Continuum Movement Depths Retreat, “At the Crossroads: The Serpents Dream”, outside Sydney; my husband and I traveled to Tasmania to visit a dear friend and to spend a week in the many places alive with raw …

Posted in 2010-2015, Blog | Comments Off on Australia & Continuum, Earth, Sky & Body: Spring 2015

2014 Trauma Resources International (“TRI”) Annual Report

January 12, 2015 Today marks the five-year anniversary of the Haiti earthquake. I am acknowledging it today with my fellow Continuum Movement teachers. This is our first meeting since our founder and the creator of Continuum, Emilie Conrad, died. And this is the first time I have not been in Haiti for the anniversary of the earthquake. Emilie Conrad was, and is, one of the most recognized and celebrated pioneers of somatics and movement arts. After a devastating childhood of alienation, illness and abuse, she found dance, and dance became her refuge and her sanctuary. In 1955, after years of dancing with Katherine Dunham, she moved to Haiti. It was there, in this land that is both enchanted and shadow, enlightened and troubled, she began to innovate an exploration into movement as healing, as artistry, and as life practice. This movement practice is called Continuum Movement. Amber Gray, TRI’s Director, …

Posted in 2010-2015, Blog | Comments Off on 2014 Trauma Resources International (“TRI”) Annual Report

Lebanon 2014

I am sitting in my hotel room in a lovely suburb of Beirut; for the past 24 hours I have heard sirens almost non-stop. Three bombings in 6 days; one in eastern Lebanon on Friday and then two, in Beirut, in 36 hours. A car bomb went off two blocks from the office I work in late Monday night/Tuesday morning and they arrested a dozen ISIS members in Hamra, one of my favorite neighborhoods in Beirut. It is breaking my heart to see Lebanon crippled under the weight of over a million Syrian refugees, bracing for floods of Iraqi refugees and waves of this insurgent violence that seems to be mushrooming here. It’s growing tense here. I will be leaving tonight with a heavy heart, a sense of personal relief, and deep concern for the violence that seems to be spreading so quickly in the Middle East. Earlier today, as …

Posted in 2010-2015, Blog | Comments Off on Lebanon 2014

Australia 2014

I’m finishing a two week, door to door, trip to Australia. I taught two classes here, and after a year long run with quarterly trips to my favorite country on earth, I am somewhat numb to the reality that, trauma workshop series complete, I won’t be back for a year, give or take. Australia is under my skin. Every time I leave, I feel sad if I don’t know when I am returning. This is the saddest I’ve been, because changes in my professional life mean it will be quite some time, and a little harder, to spend the extended time I am accustomed to being here, 3-4 times a year. I am not going to write about the work this time, I am going to write about Australians. Every time I visit I meet a few remarkable people, and I am reminded why I wish I could just move …

Posted in 2010-2015, Blog | Comments Off on Australia 2014

Amber Gray & colleagues offer a 2 day workshop on Arts and Trauma

Amber Gray & colleagues offer a 2 day workshop on Arts and Trauma. Creative Arts Therapy Approaches for Therapists Working with Traumatized Populations: Our Clients, Ourselves Chelsea Studios, 151 West 26th Street, Manhattan, NY Saturday, June 28, 9:30-6:00 & Sunday, June 29, 9:30-3:30 See full flyer here

Posted in 2010-2015, Events | Comments Off on Amber Gray & colleagues offer a 2 day workshop on Arts and Trauma