Photo Credit : Jade Beall

I am super excited to share with the world this wonderful news. I have been awarded a fellowship to work with a population that is near and dear to my heart women, children and their family. Check out the press release below.

University of Otago Arts Fellowships for 2015 announced

In my last blog post, The Uzo Method Project- A Public Health Solution- Community Based Resource Center for PMAD, I shared some research data that shows the importance of music and dance on energy and stress levels. This curiosity about music and dance continues as I continue to tie my graduate studies work to the power of music and dance. I am striving to build the relationship between being a health care provider in public health nursing and my gift and passion for dance, it is a no brainer to explore and study the best way to merge the two disciplines and worlds.

I was fortunate to be awarded this fellowship at the University of Otago. Yes!!!!! I am going to Aeotoera (New Zealand) as the 2015 Caroline Plummer Dance Fellow. I get to live my dreams combining dance with Maternal and Child Health nursing. This opportunity involves working with the community members of Dunedin NZ as well as the health care providers exploring the culture and perceptions around pre-natal and post-partum mood disorders (PPMD). This would lead to an informed community dance experience and a performance/arts installation at the end.The goal of my Maternal-Child Dance project is to share cultural ideologies around PPMD and engage in community awareness of the benefits of music and dance as a support for the mother, babies and their families and communities as a whole as members experience disturbances due to PPMD.

My dream…..

I wonder what it would be like if nurses, nurse home visitors, nurse midwives, doulas, lactation consultants, OB/GYNs, mental health providers, and family members used music and movement as a part of relieving the anxiety, preventing further depression, decreasing stress, building community, developing positive pathways in the brain, building relationships, improving caregiver child interaction, and improving communication through everyday practice.

Uzo Nwankpa

Founder Uzo Method Project