"Since the start of my BBAT practice, I've been hoping to encourage other physiotherapists in my country to acquire this training and no longer be the only one using this very useful method for many health problems. We had started to organize it for autumn 2020, but the pandemic put a stop to that project..
However, we didn't give up, and the project finally came to light, thanks to Anne Marie, who was eager to take up the challenge, and also thanks to allies among my friends and colleagues. We couldn't have succeeded without this formidable team.
I'm very happy and even moved to see the reception and comments from the participating physiotherapists. My intuition was right... BBAT meets a real need for a comprehensive, structured, effective and global easy-to-use approach. A fine first step which, I hope, is just the beginning!"
Dannie Cormier, Physiotherapist Canada
Between October 23rd and November 3rd, NIBK was the organizer of two BBAT1 courses in Quebec in Canada. A total of 22 physiotherapists participated in the two courses, each of which lasted 5 days. The courses were lead by BBAT teacher Anne Marie Böhme Hetlevik from Norway and Dannie Cormier from Quebec who is her teacher candidate. Dannie is the first physiotherapist in Canada with clinical competence in BBAT, educated in Bergen in 2017. She is connected to NIBK and will be supervised by Anne Marie since there is no BBAT teacher in Canada yet.
The courses were situated in beautiful Cap Chat, a small village in eastern Quebec, the French-speaking part of Canada. The place had a peaceful and lovely location on the St.Lawrence river, by an old lighthouse. There are large distances in Canada, and many participants had driven far to be part of the courses; for example 8 hours from Montreal.
As there were few participants who had personal experience with BBAT, we were not sure how the approach would be received. It went beyond all expectations. The focus in BBAT1 is personal experience, and the participants were ready to take part in this with great curiosity. The groups were inspiring to work with - lots of vitality and willingness to try out movements in new ways and with different focuses, and share reflections. We worked mostly with movement practice in lying, sitting standing and walking, use of voice and relational movements, and had some theory each day. Close to the end the participants presented their own understanding of “What is BBAT?” in groups, and we must say we really enjoyed the creativity and involvement in these presentations.
In the evaluation, they wrote both about their own personal benefit and the professional benefit of the course. Here are some quotes describing own personal benefits; "...explore my own body with safety and respect", "I learned a lot about myself, my breathing, how to calm down", "increased mobility", "less pain", "For me it is a before and after BBAT1!" , «Thank you for this wonderful gift!”
In the second group we had some participants that teach at university level and this helped to provide good reflections also connected to theory, especially in relation to the connection between BBAT practice and recent research in neurology. Something we will follow up.
This has been - and is - fantastic to be a part of. We have now started a training that will make these participants the first physiotherapists educated in Canada, even North America, with clinical competence in Basic Body Awareness Therapy. The vast majority have reported that they want to attend BBAT2 next year, the course which focuses on individual treatment. We are so grateful for this reception and look forward to the continuation.
Anne Marie
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