Sherry W. Goodill, PhD, is clinical professor emerita and previously the chair of the Department of Creative Arts Therapies at Drexel University. She is a board-certified dance/movement therapist and a licensed professional counselor (PA). She taught in the Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling MA program as well as the PhD program in Creative Arts Therapies, and her courses focused on research, assessment and medical dance/movement therapy. She is a past-president of the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) and served on the board of directors of the ADTA for 19 years. Goodill has been working as a dance/movement therapist and educator since 1980, including international teaching engagements and collaborations in Israel, South Korea, England, Australia, Germany and Belgium. Her 2005 book, An Introduction to Medical Dance/Movement Therapy: Health Care in Motion (Hatchette), has supported the application and global growth of dance/movement therapy programming for people living with primary medical conditions. Goodill also serves on the editorial board of the journal Arts in Psychotherapy and as an occasional consultant to the National Endowment for the Arts Creative Forces program.

Academic Distinctions

• Phi Beta Kappa, member, inducted 1978
• Alpha Eta Society, member, inducted 1995
• Psi Chi (National Honor Society for Psychology), inducted 1978
• 1995 Educators Recognition Award, American Dance Therapy Association.
• 2016 Honorary Lecturer for the Marian Chace Foundation of the American Dance Therapy Association.
• 2018 President’s Award. American Dance Therapy Association. Recognizing lead role in the ADTA Practice Analysis and Member Survey project.

Faculty Fellowships

1998 Interdisciplinary Mind/Body Research Fellowship, Center for Mind/Body Studies, Allegheny University of the Health Sciences, Center Director: Christine Maguth Nezu, Ph.D.

2021-2022 SRH University, Heidelberg, Germany. Visiting Professor. Funded by the DAAD.

Professional Society

Selected Publications

Goodill, S. (2018). Accumulating Evidence for Dance/Movement Therapy in Cancer Care. Frontiers in Psychology: Research Topic: The State of the Art in Creative Arts Therapies.

Goodill, S. (2017). The essentialness of improvisation. Dance Therapy Collections 4. Dance Therapy Association of Australasia.

Goodill, S. (2017). Movement, Metaphor, and Money. American Journal of Dance Therapy. DOI: 10.1007/s10465-017-9244-6

Shim, M., Johnson, R. B., Gasson, S., Goodill, S., Jermyn, R., Bradt, J. (2017). A model of dance/movement therapy for resilience-building in people living with chronic pain. European Journal of Integrative Medicine, 9, 27-40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eujim.2017.01.011

Bradt, J, Shim, M, Goodill, S W. (2015). Dance/movement therapy for improving psychological and physical outcomes in cancer patients. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2015, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD007103. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD007103.pub3.

Grant participation:

Consultant to NIH R34 Study (PI: Minjung Shim) Mindfulness-based Dance/Movement Therapy for Chronic Low Back Pain, Funder: NIH National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health

Editorial review board membership:

Journal of Arts in Psychotherapy

Research Interests

Medical Dance/Movement Therapy, Building evidence for the creative arts therapies, mind/body dynamics, clinical assessment

Specialization

Dance/movement therapy

PhD in Medical Psychology with a concentration in Mind/Body Studies.
Union Institute and University, Cincinnati, OH.

MCAT Master of Creative Arts in Therapy with a concentration in Dance/Movement Therapy.
Hahnemann University, Philadelphia, PA

BA (double major) Psychological Services; Theater Arts/Dance.
Hollins University.

Laban Centre for Movement and Dance, London, England.
Certificate of the Centre, One-Year Theatre Dance Program.