Professor Helen Payne

Professor Helen Payne, PhD; UKCP; Fellow ADMP Reg. pioneered an embodied psychotherapy (dance movement psychotherapy) in the UK leading the professional association, first post graduate accredited training, research and publications. She is trained in Laban Movement Analysis, Person-Centered Counselling, Group Analysis and Authentic Movement, works with children, adolescents and adults, conducts research, supervises PhDs, teaches and examines at doctorate level nationally/internationally. She is the founding editor-in-chief for the international peer reviewed journal ‘Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy’ published by Taylor and Francis.

She is clinical manager for the University of Hertfordshire’s spin-out Pathways2Wellbeing which supports people in the NHS with persistent bodily symptoms for which tests and scans come back negative. She has recently been honoured to have been invited to join the NHS England task force for therapies for medically unexplained symptoms. Her current publication is entitled ‘Essentials in dance movement psychotherapy: International perspectives on theory, research and practice‘ published by Routledge. She is commissioned editor-in-chief for the forthcoming ‘Routledge International Handbook on Embodied Perspectives in Psychotherapy: Approaches from Dance Movement and Body Psychotherapies‘.