Inspiration
Body Movement has delighted and fascinated me since I can remember. I have always enjoyed seeing others move and early on realised that we all have particular ways of moving as well as not being able to move. Over time this has led me to understand that our bodily experiences and movements can speak volumes about our lives past and present.
I have lived in many different cultures around the world and often needed to rely on creative and non-verbal means to understand others and to make myself understood. This has further deepened my appreciation of the body’s ability to communicate and make sense when we are at our wit’s end.
Making art and indulging in the sensations involved is one of the greatest pleasures in my life. I love to absorb colours, explore textures, play with shapes and be surprised by images that emerge.
Training, Experience and Expertise
I trained as a dance movement psychotherapist at the Laban Centre London and since 1998 have been working in private, health, charity, educational and creative arts settings. These include my own past and present studios, NHS psychiatric wards and special needs schools in the UK, women rights organisations in Pakistan, and a maternity home for homeless pregnant girls in Kenya. I have set up and run a graduate training course in Dance Movement Therapy at Makerere University in Uganda, and co-founded Art2Be, a Kenya-based collective of artists, activists, and creative therapists who work globally with people experiencing marginalisation in their society.
in 2024, whilst living in Kenya, I was introduced to body mapping as developed in South Africa by Jane Solomon and Johnathan Morgan. Trained in their approach, visual artist Xavier Verhoest and I set up Art2Be, were joined by others, and started to hold body mapping workshops for people living with HIV/Aids in Kenya and beyond. Since my return to the UK in 2009 I have continued to develop the practice now known as Somatic Body Mapping (SBM). It further integrates my many years of practice in authentic movement, particularly with Tina Stromsted, and further training in somatic trauma therapy with Babette Rothschild and pre-and perinatal embodiment with Matthew Appleton and Cherionna Menzam-Sills. Today, my focus is on individual work, teaching and mentoring other professionals as well as making SBM more widely accessible via community and free/low cost mental health services.
In Practice
I understand healing as a gradual process of allowing our deep and unique nature to manifest and come into harmony with our ways of living in the world. I don’t see our problems and body symptoms as obstacles to overcome but as incomplete attempts to change and grow. As such they can become gateways to a more fulfilling life if only we attend fully to what it is that is wanting to change.
My approach has fundamentally been shaped by my own experience of being in therapy (art therapy, movement psychotherapy, Jungian psychotherapy, and pre-and perinatal psychotherapy) at different times of my life. I am committed to continued professional and personal development and maintain my sensitivity to body and soul through my own somatic body mapping, different platforms for creative and deep processing with peers, professional development courses, and regular supervision.
As a registered practitioner with ADMP UK (Association for Dance Movement Psychotherapy) and UKCP (UK Council for Psychotherapy) I adhere to high ethical and professional standards and approach each therapeutic relationship with great care, respect and openness towards the unique journey of each person who works with me.