In 2022, Joana Fojo Ferreira and I combined our two passions and created Dança Gestalt project. It is a dance therapy and personal development project that promotes dialogue between movement, dance and Gestalt psychotherapy.

In Dança Gestalt, we explore the Body as a Safe Space that Feels and Speaks about how we are and what we need, Here and Now.

We believe in the power of art, and in the possibilities of using dance in the process of personal and social integration and transformation.

We run workshops, body and sound expression workshops, and create projects.

In 2023 we created the HEAL in MOTION project (January - July 2023) which aimed to train professionals, technicians and volunteers who work with refugees and migrants to use Movement and Dance as a complement to their intervention with this population.

The project also included professionals who work with trauma and vulnerable populations, and who are interested in learning about different intervention techniques in trauma-informed Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) as a complement to their basic training, especially in the areas of therapy, education and social work.

DMT is a somatically informed therapeutic modality that uses body movements and symbolic cultural forms of art and dance to work with refugees and immigrants. The aim is to promote their resilience, identity reconstruction and social integration.

The DMT training was led by American psychologist and certified DMT therapist Dr. Ilene Serlin.

In addition to the training, we supervised the work carried out, with a focus on the professional's self-care.

These sessions took place twice a month, from April to the end of June, led by myself and Joana Fojo Ferreira, with online supervision by Ilene Serlin.

The HEAL IN MOTION project was funded through the US Embassy's Small Grants: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion program.

It integrated partnerships with Mouraria Innovation Center (CIM); Lisbon City Council (CML); Bairros - Local Development Network; High Commission for Migration (ACM).