Brush Dance Clinic, Nancy Evans, LCSW, CSOTP

Nancy Evans LCSW, CSOTP

Nancy Evans is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and has been a Certified Sex Offender Treatment Provider since the first year that it became a requirement, in 1999. She graduated with honors from Virginia Commonwealth University with a masters in social work concentrated on youth and families.

She began her professional career working with pregnant teens and adolescent parents. Addressing the underlying factors in these cases became her mission, and she soon began working with child abuse and neglect issues.

Nancy worked for 2 ½ years providing juvenile sex offender treatment at a juvenile corrections center for ages 16-21. Armed with first-hand knowledge of what juvenile offenders can expect from the court and correctional systems, she began channeling her energies toward intensive in-home services with at-risk youth and their families. Nancy co-produced and presented a national research project “The Family Environment: a Comparison of the Perceptions of Sexual and Nonsexual Adolescent Male Offender.”
Currently, she is in private practice with youth and families and resides in Virginia.

Working today to change the future

“My 25 years of working with youth began with the underlying principle that families deserve help, and I approach my work with a belief that all persons deserve good therapeutic treatment. As time went on I discovered that I have a gift for working with families of youth that exhibit extreme acting out behaviors that cross the boundaries of others. I have always viewed the services I provide these youth as preventive, because these young people will most likely have children of their own one day, and healthy changes for today’s youth will impact the relationships and emotional development of their children. There is a huge societal benefit to providing this kind of work and I find it very fulfilling.

“After raising four children (currently from 21 to 29 years old) plus working with youth on many points in the continuum of care for over 25 years, I understand that behavioral challenges add to the already sizeable burden of raising children and teenagers.

“I am a cognitive-behavioral therapist. This method relies on the principle that our thoughts and feelings lead to behaviors, and those behaviors have consequences. If our thoughts and feelings can be changed then the behavior will change and we will experience a different outcome. Therapeutic interventions rely on interrupting our ingrained thought patterns and changing those thoughts. Individuals can become aware of their feelings and learn healthier coping skills. The most hopeful aspect of working with youth is that they are capable of learning new ways of behaving because they are still in the process of forming their personality and self-image.

“Some client families understand they have a problem to address and seek out our services voluntarily. Many clients are “involuntary” – mandated referrals for therapeutic interventions that come from social service agencies or the justice system. One of my gifts as a treatment provider is the ability to work with involuntary and mandated clients and help them begin the process of change in a supportive non- judgmental environment, while still holding them accountable for their behavior and choices.

“On our best days, change is difficult for any of us. One of the main goals of my treatment with youth and their families is to help them weigh the advantages of doing things differently, and then actively help them work through the discomfort of changing unhealthy habits. I stand behind them through all the various stages of change so they can experience those benefits. It’s the surest way I know to create a better future for them and for the community.”

The Brush Dance Name

The Brush Dance is a healing ceremony practiced by indigenous American tribes in northwestern California, such as the Karuk, Hupa, Yurok, and Kiowa. It involves gathering the people of the local tribes to dance, sing, make medicine and pray to bless a particular sick child.

The dance takes place in the Brush Dance pit and the spectators, seated on benches around the pit, also pray and help in the spiritual treatment of the child. It is participated in by an entire village with the assistance of visitors from neighboring villages.

The Karuk Tribal Health Program specifically recognizes that “health” from a traditional perspective has several layers or components, including the health of the community, the family and the individual. These ceremonies are integral and inseparable from this “health” of the local community, family and ultimately the individual.

We at Brush Dance Clinic share this holistic perspective, and strive to integrate our efforts with those of the individual, family and community to bring about health and well-being for all those involved