Financements cat: Programs

In 2023 and 2024, as part of the Transition from School to Adult Life (TEVA-DP) program of the Physical Disability Deputy Directorate of the CIUSSS Centre-Sud-de-l’Ile-De-Montréal, the REA Foundation supported a project by Cirque Hors Piste thanks to a dedicated donation from Cirkaskina.

Firstly, this donation funded the purchase of circus equipment in 2023, thus strengthening the resources of Cirque Hors Piste. Subsequently, in 2024, this funding made it possible to organize an out-of-province exchange between participants from the Montreal social circus (accompanied by facilitators) and another social circus organization in Toronto. This exchange helped to promote social circus and its values on a broader scale.

Social circus is an innovative approach that combines artistic expression with social intervention. By offering workshops adapted to people with disabilities, for example, the social circus approach uses circus arts to promote the development of autonomy, communication, and interpersonal skills among participants, while also encouraging self-improvement.

The REA Foundation is funding the development of a clinical implementation and intervention guide for the Social Circus for People with Physical Disabilities.

The project involves producing a guide that describes the clinical intervention approach in the Social Circus for People with Physical Disabilities, in order to ensure the continued existence of this service at the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal (CCSMTL), and expand this innovative practice among young adults with physical disabilities who are transitioning from school to active adult life.

Dance therapy is a program offered to people with a physical disability. The REA foundation is providing financial support for the implementation of training tools that will enable practitioners at the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal (CCSMTL) and other facilities to offer this type of program.

An innovative dance therapy option is now being offered to patients in the CCSMTL’s physical disability programs. Led by rehabilitation professionals, this therapy combines body expression and dance improvisation with rehabilitation principles. Since 2009, physical disability dance therapy (DTDP) has been helping adults with various profiles: amputation, stroke sequelae, spinal cord injury, neurodegenerative disease, etc. Dance allows them to reclaim their bodies and explore a broad range of movements in a context of acceptance.

To understand what they gain from it, watch this short documentary from AMI Télé:

Paving the way for knowledge transfer

The REA Foundation recently allocated $28,655 to produce a guide for dance therapists as well as various training tools for the CCSMTL. This assistance will also enable other organizations to offer this therapy to more people with physical disabilities.

Combining expertise

DTDP was initiated by Brigitte Lachance, a physiotherapist and choreographer. Other practitioners, including occupational therapists Chloé Proulx-Goulet and Maude Guérette, have contributed to evolving this approach. Support from managers like Marie-Ève Demers, head of the Amputés-BOG program, was decisive in integrating dance therapy into the service offer at the CCSMTL. The important scientific component of the project is led by researchers Bonnie Swaine and Frédérique Poncet of the Centre de recherche interdisciplinaire en réadaptation du Montréal métropolitain. Manon Parisien, of the Institut universitaire sur la réadaptation en déficience physique de Montréal, has been working to help establish DTDP as a leading-edge practice.

To learn more about DTDP:

• Description of the DTDP service offering at the CCSMTL (Lachance and collaborators, 2018)
• Scientific article from a recent study on DTDP (Lachance and collaborators, 2020)