Heal From Trauma Through Movement Therapy with Movement Therapist Erica Hornthal

A Fine Time for Healing

Today's special guest, Erica Hornthal, is a board certified dance/movement therapist and licensed clinical professional counselor based in Chicago. Erica is also author of Body Aware, a book devoted to movement, and Founder of Chicago Dance Therapy where she assists clients in moving their bodies to move their minds. When she found herself in the thick of crisis counseling after the horrific July 4th, 2022 shooting at the parade in downtown Highland Park, IL, it became clear to her that people seeking emotional support, as well as the volunteers, had one thing in common that nobody was addressing- their nervous systems were in utter distress. As a movement therapist, this realization was nothing new. However, in this moment, she found herself wishing she had a body-based emotional first-aid kit to guide these survivors out of their heads and back into their bodies and the idea for The Movement Therapy Deck was born. Now, her 52 Movement Therapy cards with embodied practices to relieve stress/anxiety, heal from trauma and find emotional balance are available to the public via Target, Amazon and her website. They offer perfect prompts to acknowledge, move through and release emotions and are accessible to everyone no matter age or physical ability.