Dance/movement therapy with clergy in crisis: A (group) case study

Abstract

The article describes dance/movement therapy with Roman Catholic clergy in a therapeutic facility associated with a monastery in Germany. The facility offers nuns, monks, and priests in need of rest the possibility to recollect, recuperate, and reorient in a three-month spiritual and therapeutic program. Dance/movement therapy was offered as one therapeutic modality integrated into a broader concept of psychotherapeutic and bodywork. The article describes a weekend intensive with a group of eighteen participants. A single case of an abused nun is elaborated in the context of the description of the bodywork with the entire group. © American Dance Therapy Association 2008.