Body Awareness for Mental Health Online Course

In a post-COVID-19 education environment, it’s more important than ever to help staff, teachers, and students develop skills they can use to improve and maintain their mental health and wellness. That’s what makes the Body Awareness for Mental Health Online Course a great choice for K-12 school districts, health and physical educators, and dance educators who want to help their students become more aware of their bodies, how they move, and how the mind–body connection works.

Course Features
This web-based, five-module course features author Erica Hornthal, a licensed clinical professional counselor and board-certified dance and movement therapist. Hornthal introduces each module on video and provides the text, downloadable application activities, self-reflection or group-discussion prompts, and brief knowledge-check quizzes to provide evidence of learning. Assessments are automatically graded in HKPropel, and participants receive immediate feedback on whether each response is correct. Once teachers complete the interactive modules, they can take a course-ending exam and download a certificate of completion to submit to their administrators for professional development credit. The course is worth three contact hours.

The 30-minute modules focus on these topics:

• What a body scan is and how to make it a regular practice
• What body mapping is and how to deepen awareness of one’s emotions
• How emotions present themselves as felt sensation in the body
• What directions of movement are and how to explore connections with self, others, and the environment
• What a movement profile is and how to identify the qualities of movement
• How to reinforce the body–mind connection

The course comes with a digital facilitator guide that provides pacing and time requirements for each module, module-specific implementation tips, and prompts for discussion or other group work.

Course Delivery
The Body Awareness for Mental Health Online Course can be delivered in multiple ways—through a half-day professional development workshop facilitated by the school district or through self-paced and self-facilitated study by small groups or individuals. It provides easy-to-implement strategies to help staff, teachers, and students begin to recognize the ways that stress and tension show up in the body and how to better process stress and emotions through movement.

Virtual Visits
While the course is perfect for school districts that don’t have the budget or time for in-person professional development, districts also have the option of adding to their teachers’ learning experience by purchasing one or more virtual visit hours with Hornthal to hear and learn firsthand from the author.

Enhanced Mental Health
Through the Body Awareness for Mental Health Online Course, teachers can learn how to educate their students about body awareness, lead them toward enhanced mental health, and apply some of that knowledge to their own self-care, improving their own mental health in the process.

Audience

Professional development resource for K-12 district coordinators, health and PE coordinators, K-12 health and PE educators and specialists, and classroom teachers.

Facilitator Guide
Introduction
Module 1 The Body Scan
Module 2 Body Mapping
Module 3 Directions of Movement
Module 4 Your Movement Profile
Module 5 Movement Prescriptions
Wrap-Up
Comprehensive Quiz
Optional Survey to Complete
About the Author

Erica Hornthal, LCPC, BC-DMT, is a licensed clinical professional counselor and board-certified dance and movement therapist. Hornthal is the founder and CEO of Chicago Dance Therapy, a group practice founded in 2011. As an expert on the intersection of movement and mental health, Hornthal has appeared in publications, podcasts, live news, and radio, including WGN, NBC, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Tribune, Buzzfeed, Bustle, NBC News Better, Reader’s Digest, and Prevention, and she has been a columnist for Dance Informa magazine, 30 Seconds, and Thrive Global. Hornthal’s areas of expertise include cognitive and movement disorders, neurologic conditions, anxiety and depression, PTSD, trauma, eating disorders, loss, and phase-of-life issues, including caregiving. In addition to seeing clients, Hornthal is a passionate, seasoned public speaker with more than 12 years of experience in presenting talks and workshops to Fortune 500 companies, business organizations, women’s groups, professional associations, and educational institutions.

Video Demonstration Of Body Awareness For Mental Health Online Course