However, my road, as the first student to undergo the Lesley University & Tamalpa Institute graduate school program, appears to need to be carved out with machetes. There's an overgrown forest and I'm fighting to blaze my own trail, it's not only less traveled, as Mr. Frost would say, it's never been traveled. And I'm not so sure I would recommend this path to you. There have been some major scares, terrors, mis-communications, and redundancies. You can read more about me in my previous blog posts.
In addition to my graduate school work, I have signed up for CMERs program to become certified as DTR (dance therapist registered), so that I'm credentialed with the American Dance Therapy Association. And I'm halfway through my 700 hour internship doing dance/movement therapy at a hospital in Berkeley. Bring it on! I want to be a dance therapist!!!
But first there was a hiccup in my proposed thesis research involving human subjects, and now I have just received news that CMERs program is not happening due to low enrollment. C'mon Northern California, wake up and join the dance! Thus, I will now be commuting to Southern California to attend the alternate route courses there one weekend a month for the next 18 months.
Like a whirling dervish who can't seem to become enlightened, there are so many pieces and components to this degree and the process of becoming certified with the ADTA, so much money and time and energy spent, it is literally dizzying. It seems as though this road will never end.
But amidst all this frustration and difficulty, I choose to dance. I will be dancing across the forest of the great state of California to live my dream of becoming a dance therapist. Won't you join me?
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Blair,
ReplyDeleteI know well the frustration of which you speak. I can feel it in my muscles and bones as your words trigger somatic memory reponse in my own body. I, too, pursued a road never traveled... a different path, but still - I was the solo venturer down that particular path. I achieved my DTR after almost five years of alternate route study (including time earning my graduate degree from UCLA.)
Achieving registry as a DTR via the alternate route IS difficult. It IS challenging. It IS harrowing at times. It can be lonely. Pursuing the alternate route is a long road and it takes longer than just simply going to a 2 yr grad school. In some ways, I think it captures the struggling aspect of the pioneering spirit of the 1st and 2nd generation DMTs who were striving to define the work and develop the educational programs.
I, too, do not know that I would recommend the alternate route to people - if they have the possibility of attending a 2 yr program.
That being said, I would ABSOLUTELY recommend the alternate route over the alternative of NOT pursuing DMT as a profession. Because it is a path. Not the easy path. Not the comfortable path. But it is a path. And it will get you to your final destination. And I promise you, you will be stronger for it. You will meet future professional challenges with greater strength for having "machete-d" your way through this jungle.
Don't lose hope. When you are tired, frustrated... remember to take it to your dance. Above all, remember to dance and let your own dance provide you with catharsis and direction. Honor your struggle. But honor the dancing warrior healer that you are - honor the inner voice that first drew you to this field.
You will find your way. And those of us who traveled our own roads "never before traveled" will be waiting for you with open arms and hearts and smiles. And we will dance in celebration of your victory.
You are not alone.