When I think of Karen DeHaven, the image that comes to mind is someone dancing through life. Movement was part of her life from an early age, as she acknowledges that if her parents were still alive – they would say she was a ‘tenacious mover’ who woke up happy and tumbled all day.
DeHaven shares, “I loved being upside down, flipping, spinning, and running. (Truth: In large crowds, I was a “leash kid” because of it!) Begining at age 3, my parents started me with lessons in swimming, gymnastics, horseback riding, ice skating and skiing. Eventually a series of knee injuries took me out of gymnastics and that is when I began dancing – ballet, jazz, and eventually cheering in high school.”
DeHaven’s motto: “If it involves moving, I always say Yes!”
She was drawn to the therapeutic arts because, “Since I was a kid, people have trusted me with their most difficult and painful truths. I think it’s because I’m an empath so others can feel that without me really having to say or do anything to earn their trust. Somehow, they knew their stories were safe with me.”
As she matured both in life and her therapy practices, she noticed that the stories she heard from clients “got more rooted in trauma – I found it weighed on me to know people I knew had gone through such painful experiences and it hurt me – physically as well as emotionally.”
Once again, she returned to her go-to modality of dance.
“Dance always helped me move those stories out of my physical body. I always felt better after dancing. When I dance, the world makes more sense to me because it is a Flow State where problems are worked out without having to force it through a mental process.”
When she was in her 20s, studying at the Trinity/La Mama Theater & Dance program in New York City for her junior year semester abroad, an extraordinary contact improv teacher named Nina Martin, asked her, “Have you ever thought of becoming a dance movement therapist? You should!”
“And that was the seed that led me here.”
It was a pivotal and ultimately life changing moment for DeHaven as she became a therapist “who integrates the arts into every healing process to help people overcome painful life experiences, rise above limiting beliefs, and move beyond trauma, loss, and neurodevelopmental challenges.”
DeHaven found that therapies such as dance, music, yoga, drumming, and graphic arts break through emotional blocks where talk therapy may not be enough.
“The arts allow us access to creative processes that words can get in the way of. When we learn to trust our creative ideas and drives, we begin to develop trust in our bodies in ways that can override negative beliefs and judgements that may be undermining our ability to see ourselves as whole, valuable, and worthy of a better life.”
READ: Bucks County Changemakers Interview with LisaBeth Weber: Using Creativity in Service to the World
She notes that “Talk therapy is good and valuable. When we bring creative process into the healing work with kids and adults alike, breakthroughs often happen more quickly, AHA! moments become more freely accessible, and then … the real work begins. Taking those moments of creative clarity and turning them into fuel to change our beliefs that shift our thoughts, and our feeling states end up changing the way we see ourselves in relation to our past experiences and that is what can change our actions in the present moment.”
AHA!, which is located in Silverdale, “is a therapy collective of licensed therapists who work with kids, women, and families. Their clinical team specializes in treating people struggling to cope with anxiety, behavioral and sensory dysregulation issues, grief, and trauma.”
Outside the day-to-day activities of running her thriving practice, DeHaven shares that “AHA! has been offering sensory tents at local events such as the Gallery of The Arts in Sellersville and the Perkasie Fall Festival.”
Bullying has long been a social ill but even more so with the advent of the internet and social media and as a result DeHaven works with those who have been bullied to help repair the damage done.
AHA! is relaunching their social skills therapy groups in 2025 that will focus on social anxiety coping skills to aid kids in responding to bullying in prosocial ways. They focus on emotional awareness and self-regulation skills as well as learning and practicing attunement, empathy, and boundary setting in social settings at home, school and in the community.
DeHaven offers her strong contention that “bullying prevention programs belong in every school and after school program. Preventing bullying begins with awareness of what bullying is and isn’t, followed by how to respond with clear boundaries and creative thinking.”
During the pandemic, children lost ground developmentally. She explains what contributed to the delays and the ways in which they could be reversed.
She says, “The lack of typical social interactions paired with the overuse of technology during the pandemic has affected everything from focus and duration of attention to social attunement and repair skills due to the decrease in hours spent ‘hanging out’ in social situations during structured (after school classes), semi-structured (parent-structured play dates), and free play hangouts with friends.”
The work that DeHaven and her colleagues do helps clients of all ages with emotional regulation. They create self care toolkits so that the clients address their emotions.
From DeHaven’s experience. “When we feel calm, focused, and connected, we feel capable and confident. And when we feel capable and confident, our interactions with others flow better. Better flow leads to better connections. And a connected world naturally allows us to be active creators of a happier, healthier, and kinder world. That’s the kind of world we’re here helping to create.”
There are two programs AHA! is offering beginning in 2025.
For women – a New Wise Woman’s Way – FB group “A Sacred Pause.” This 10-day online mindfulness movement practice will help you awaken your body through breathwork, guided meditations, & movement practices to help you tap into lucid dream space during this Wintering time.
For Kids – ages 7-12 – Social skills groups launching mid-January 2025.
Contact by email to inquire at info(at)ahastudiotherapy.com.
