Professional Background

Fran Lavendel, MA, SRDMP, RSMT

I have over twenty-five years experience as a dance movement psychotherapist, previously working with children and adults in special needs schools, psychiatric hospitals and in the community.  I am a senior registered member of the Association for Dance Movement Psychotherapy (ADMP UK) and a registered somatic movement therapist with the International Somatic Movement Education &Therapy Association (ISMETA).

My training in Body-Mind Centering® in the early days of my career led to the incorporation of developmental movement principles into my practice and the beginning of an enduring commitment to the study of experiential body process as a gateway to understanding human experience. The introduction to Authentic Movement at the same time, and  continuing study with Janet Adler, have focused deeply on exploration of somatic experience within the relational context of mover and witness and this discipline has profoundly influenced all my work.

I now work in private practice as a somatic psychotherapist and as a teacher of the discipline of Authentic Movement. In addition, I teach on the Dance Movement Psychotherapy postgraduate and foundation programmes at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh. A particular focus of my teaching practice is on incorporating Authentic Movement training into the professional development of therapists.

All content copyright © Fran Lavendel, Photos Adam MacLean and Isabel Nicholson.     
Website by bosami