Norma Canner
“I’ve always believed that having a life you treat with respect and joy is the only honorable way to live.”
MEET GENERATIONS DANCE PSYCHOTHERAPY, PLLC
Hello and welcome! I'm Caitlyn, and I run Generations Dance Psychotherapy.
I'm glad you're here.
Pronouns: she/her/hers
ABOUT ME
While there's more to my work than what I can verbalize, here is a taste of what I offer.
What I Do
Simply put, I work with you to understand your current state. I will then sit with you (and/or your family) and help you sift through where you can shift unconscious reactions into conscious responses to increase feelings of a strong sense of self, interdependence, and connection to both self and others.
The lens through which I view your current state is intergenerational trauma, or the epigenetics theory that many previous generations' experiences influence our DNA and, therefore, our natural predispositions and reactions. Trauma is not always one singular, "big T trauma" event; it is often small, everyday "little t trauma" events that build and become complex and can affect many aspects of our mental models of the world and our relationships with others. These can show up in our friendships, in our interactions with our children, and in our reactions to our partners or spouses. To quote Resmaa Menakem, “Trauma decontextualized in a person looks like personality. Trauma decontextualized in a family looks like family traits. Trauma in a people looks like culture." (My Grandmother's Hands, 2017)
How I Do It
I often struggle with effective verbal communication, searching for the right things to say. I often talk a lot, yes, but much of what I say is filler as I try to find the words to convey a multidimensional sensation or experience. Words can be so hard! The body is my primary form of communication.
Everything that I do is informed by my knowledge of and trust in the body. I believe that the body has wisdom and that is has its own innate capacity for creative expression and communication. Dance and movement therapy is my primary therapeutic modality of choice to help you find your body's own creativity as well as connect with your body's innate wisdom. I also feel that this modality enhances our therapeutic relationship to each other. Dance and movement drop us into a non-verbal state and connect us with memories from a time before we learned to speak, which can be pleasant and unpleasant. I feel the therapeutic work can be the most beneficial in this non-verbal, creative, highly relational, and often playful place, though there are many other helpful applications of this expressive and somatic-based modality that we can experiment with together.
Congruent with this approach is my person-centered nature. This means that I treat you as the expert on your experiences and will follow your lead as it pertains to your comfort level incorporating the various aspects of this modality into our work together. I also work with a bioecological attachment-based focus, which means that I am evaluating your internal state against that of the relationships you have with the various "layers" of people in your life, such as family, friends, coworkers, your community at large - even your relationship with yourself.
Education, Licensure, and Affiliations
MA - Clinical Mental Health Counseling with a specialization in Dance/Movement Therapy, Lesley University
BA - Psychology and Dance Studies double major, University of Rochester
LMHCA License (Washington State): MHCA.MC.61185045
R-DMT credential
Active member of the national American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA)