The Parent Should Go First: A Dance/Movement Therapy Exploration in Child Loss

Using artistic inquiry, a heuristic approach, the researcher explored working with parents bereaved by child loss and its
effects on the therapist. The researcher worked with bereaved parents for 7 weeks using various dance/movement therapy and
counseling techniques, kept a journal about the parents’ reactions and the impact the stories had on the researcher. The review
of literature covers parental responses to child loss, various cultural views on child death, grieving, and bereavement. The
process led to a greater understanding on a body-based level of what happens to bereaved parents and gave the researcher a
fuller understanding of the experience of loss.