A free gender-based violence recovery program, called Transformation Through Movement, is being offered in the Cowichan Valley.
Transformation Through Movement is a trauma-informed movement program for self-identified women and gender-diverse survivors of relationship abuse and/or sexualized violence.
The program combines mindfulness practices with dynamic movement resulting in an exhilarating and liberating approach to healing, according to a press release from Warmland Women’s Support Services Society, a sexual assault advocacy centre in the region.
Regardless of age and ability, self-paced movement is an invitation for women to explore some of the stresses associated with the impact of abuse and reset their nervous system from chronic anxiety.
A therapeutic somatic approach transforms shame into resilience, cultivates dignity by celebrating women’s resistance to oppression and abuse, creates positive experiences and feelings associated with trauma recovery, and allows women to imagine more for themselves through body-based intuition.
A workout for body and soul, Transformation Through Movement takes survivors from depression to expression, contraction to expansion, fragmentation to wholeness, moving them beyond self-imposed limitations and isolation into new depths of connection with themselves and their bodies, says a press release for the program.
“This could not come at a more welcome time,” said Kendra Thomas, program coordinator for Warmland Women’s Support Services Society.
“Given the past two years of COVID-19 restrictions on movement, reduced access to supports, and isolation, community members are more than ready to reconnect and express.”
Registration for the program is free thanks to funding from Island Health’s Community Wellness Grants.
Registration is open for May through September on Sunday afternoons at Providence Farm.
Contact Thomas at kthomas@warmlandwomen.org, or call 250-710-8177 for registration details.