Marylhurst faculty Maria Brignola and Dawn Iwamasa will present at the annual Creative Arts Therapies Association PDX conference, to be held on the Marylhurst University campus on November 6.

Body, Brain & Bonding: The Body's Neuropsychological Role in Development, Relationship & Healing

Maria Brignola will lead workshop participants in an active journey into the processes of neurobiology. Through somatic awareness and movement, they will create a subjective experience of neural circuitry, mirror neurons and the body-brain connection. This neuropsychological experience will reflect how individuals in dance/movement therapy process and express affective states, interact with others in dynamic reciprocity and tap into body wisdom to heal.

Maria Brignola, (MA, BC-DMT, NCC) is a board certified dance movement therapist and a national certified counselor. She is Clinical Manager of the Counseling and Therapy Department at Portland Adventist Medical Center, faculty member at Marylhurst University and book reviewer for The Arts in Psychotherapy journal. As a dance therapy pioneer in the Pacific Northwest, Maria has been educating, supervising and providing dance movement therapy for the past two decades. The foundation of her work is developmental and object relational, while her assessments are rooted in psychoanalysis, Laban movement analysis and Kestenberg movement profiling. Maria's philosophical framework is Jungian with a Buddhist Psychology flavor.

What is Neurologic Music Therapy?
Facilitated by Jodi Winnwalker with panelists Lillieth Grand, Emily D. Murer, Angie Kopshy & Dawn Iwamasa

The brain that engages in music is changed, according to proponents of Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT). NMT uses research-based techniques to treat the brain using therapeutic applications of music and rhythm techniques to achieve non-musical goals in areas such as speech, physical movement, cognition and more. Dawn Iwamasa will join a panel discussing the use of NMT to benefit individuals living with neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's, cerebral palsy and autism spectrum disorders.

Dawn Iwamasa (MA, CCLS, MT-BC, Neurologic Music Therapist) is currently a music therapist with the Children's Cancer Association and adjunct professor with Marylhurst University's music therapy program. She has advanced training in Neurologic Music Therapy and is also a Certified Child Life Specialist. Dawn's passion and specialty is working in the pediatric medical settings and provides services at the Randall Children's Hospital at Legacy Emanuel, Doernbecher Children's Hospital and Shriners Hospital in Portland through the Children's Cancer Association.

The Portland Creative Arts Therapies Association (CATA) aims to foster connections among Creative Arts Therapists and to integrate and promote Creative Arts Therapies within the greater Portland area. Formed in 2008 as a vehicle for political action to educate Oregon state legislators about the effectiveness of creative arts therapies and the work of practitioners, the Portland CAT Association has grown into an organization for networking and sharing approaches, political advocacy and educating health and education professionals about the benefits of creative arts therapies.

More about the Creative Arts Therapies Association Conference