Exploring Mechanisms of Change in Dance/Movement Therapy

An Experiential, Professional Development Workshop with Susan Imus, MA, LCPC, BC-DMT, GL-CMA

Hosted by: DTAA

Date: Sunday, 1 February 2026

Time: 9.30am to 4.30pm 

Location: Jack Dyer Community Room, Cnr of Gleadell & Highett Streets, Richmond VIC 3121, Melbourne/Naarm.

Format: In-Person, Experiential, Movement-Based Workshop

Capacity: Limited places to ensure an embodied and relational learning environment

CPD: 6 Hours, Category A

ABOUT THIS WORKSHOP:

How does therapeutic change actually occur in Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT)?

What roles do aesthetic experience, mutual attunement, imagination, and improvisation play in supporting transformation?

Join internationally respected educator and scholar Susan Imus for an experiential professional development workshop exploring the fundamental mechanisms of change in Dance/Movement Therapy and Creative Arts Therapies.

Through experiential movement processes, relational inquiry, clinical examples, and reflective dialogue, participants will gain both a felt and theoretical understanding of how and why therapeutic change occurs through the body and aesthetic experience.

Grounded in emerging research—including De Witte et al. (2021), Imus & Young (2023), and Dieterich-Hartwell, Barnstaple & Fontanesi (2025)—this workshop bridges theory, embodied practice, and the Arts in Health landscape.

WHAT YOU'LL EXPLORE:

This workshop will introduce and deepen understanding of key mechanisms of change in DMT, including:

• Aesthetic Mutuality
The co-created aesthetic and relational field that supports attunement, expression, and transformation.
• Dynamic Concretization
How symbolic, imaginal, and embodied material becomes clinically meaningful through movement.
• Improvisation & Creative Play
Spontaneous creative processes that expand relational possibilities, support emotional expression, and facilitate therapeutic shifts.
• Embodied Pathways of Change
How change is experienced, expressed, and integrated through movement, rhythm, gesture, and relational engagement.

Participants will explore these concepts through:
-guided movement explorations
-aesthetic + sensory-based inquiry
-improvisation and embodied play
-clinical case studies from psychiatry, rehabilitation, and community health
-reflective discussion and integration

WHO THIS WORKSHOP IS FOR:

This workshop is ideal for:
-Dance/Movement Therapists
-Creative Arts Therapists
-Psychologists & Psychotherapists
-Arts in Health Practitioners
-Allied Health Professionals (OT, PT, Social Work, Mental Health)
-Educators and community practitioners
-Somatic and embodied relational practitioners
-Students & emerging professionals in the Creative Arts Therapies

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

The following questions will be explored and addressed during the course of the day:

-What are mechanisms of change, therapeutic factors, and active ingredients/components in creative arts therapies, and how do you experience them?
-What constitutes and is the importance of the aesthetic experience for you and your clients?
-What is the continuum of approaches in DMT and how does it relate to the arts in health discipline?

She received the first-ever ADTA Excellence in Education Award (2006) and has served in leadership roles within the American Dance Therapy Association.

Susan currently contributes to Arts in Health initiatives at Rush University Medical College and serves on the Advisory Committee for Healing Arts Chicago.

Her scholarship includes seminal work on Aesthetic Mutuality as a mechanism of change in the creative arts therapies.

TICKET PRICING-EVENT REGISTRATION
Early Registration is recommended!

EARLY REGISTRATION IS RECOMMENDED!

ALL YOU WILL NEED:

Comfortable clothes for moving in, a cushion or yoga mat, a water bottle.

BYO lunch or purchase from the many food outlets or cafes nearby.

TRANSPORT/PARKING:

Free street parking available. Trams and trains nearby.

ACCESSIBILITY:

We aim to make our events as accessible as possible.
Please contact us if you have access needs and we will do our best to support your participation.

RECOMMENDED READINGS:

1. Imus, S. (2021). Creating breeds creating in S. Chaiklin & H. Wengrower (Eds.), Dance and creativity within dance movement therapy: International perspectives (pp. 124-140). Routledge.

2. Imus, S. & Young, J. (2023). Aesthetic mutuality: A mechanism of change in the creative arts therapies as applied to dance/movement therapy. The arts in psychotherapy. Aesthetic mutuality: A mechanism of change in the creative arts therapies as applied to dance/movement therapy - ScienceDirect

3. Dietrich-Hartwell, R., Barnstaple, R. & Fontanesi, C. (2025). Mechanisms of change in dance/movement therapy and their neural correlates: A theoretical framework. The arts in psychotherapy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2025.102389

CONTACTS

Event Organiser: Mien Tan
mienderful@gmail.com
Mobile: 0451 068 280

DTAA CANCELLATION POLICY

To qualify for a refund, event cancellations must be made in writing (via email) as follows: 7 or more days prior to event date = 100% refund. Cancellations made 3-6 days prior to the event date = 50% refund. No refund is due for cancellation received within 48 hours of the event. If there are extenuating circumstances, please email the event contact person. All refunds will be processed no more than 14 days after the event. Email: admin@dtaa.org.au Subject: Cancellation Request.