After my professional studies in Teaching Dance in Greece, I obtained a Postgraduate Diploma and then a Master’s degree in Dance Movement Therapy at the Laban Centre/City University of London (1998-2002). Since then, the profession in the UK changed into Dance Movement Psychotherapy. In 2018 I was trained in the innovative CRMTM trauma therapy model (Comprehensive Resource Model), completing the Basic Training with Domna Ventouratou and the Advanced Trainings (Core Self, Dissociative Disorders, Generational & Gestational Trauma) with Lisa Schwarz, the creator of this model, who certified me in 2021. In 2022 I was trained in the DBR® (Deep Brain Reorienting) trauma therapy model by its creator, Dr. Frank Corrigan and continued with Level II with him, in 2025. In 2026 I trained and qualified to administer the Semi-Structured Interview for Dissociative Symptoms and Disorders (SCID-D) with Dr. Mike Lloyd (Cheshire Psychology & The CTAD Clinic).
I taught Laban Movement Analysis at the Laban Center as well as at the Metropolitan University of London during my residency there and worked in nursing homes and community centers with children as a Dance Movement Therapist (1997-2003). Since 2003 I have been working privately in Greece with adults with developmental, intrauterine and/or intergenerational trauma and Dissociative Disorders. From 2003 to 2020 I organized and taught various workshops in Athens and other cities in Greece. I now work exclusively with the CRMTM and DBR® therapeutic models and from 2020 I only offer online sessions as I live permanently away from the city. Both models of therapy can be done remotely as their neurobiological basis lies in the subtle responses of the Nervous System rather than in physical or artistic expression, the physicality of the therapeutic relationship and/or physical interventions. The familiarity with the physicality of the body from my years of dance training, the body-oriented experiential training I received as a Dance Movement Therapist and the study of the neurobiology of trauma in the Traumatherapy trainings I attended, are my most important skills. I have an in-depth understanding of the physical processes of the body, brain and nervous system and can work “quietly” and safely with both my own body and the body of the person-in-therapy.
In 2008 and 2009 I presented findings from my work with women who have been abused as children at the Child Abuse Prevention Conference in Athens and published these findings in the scientific journal of the Australian Dance Therapists Association – “Moving On”, Vol 8: No. 1&2, (pp. 34-37). Findings from my thesis work on the therapist’s physical countertransference and the prevention of burn out have been reported in the books “Authentic Movement: moving the body, moving the self, being moved” by Patricia Pallaro (2007) and “Supervision of Dance Movement Psychotherapy” edited by Helen Payne (2008).
In 2018, two of my books were published in Greek language. An autobiographical psychological novel (about accessing and healing fragmented parts of the Self) and a scientific guide to Dance Movement Psychotherapy, the first in Greek. In 2025 they we both republished. In 2024 my third book was published, on healing trauma. All three books are available in Greek bookstores, in Greek language.
I believe that psychological theories developed in the 20th century belong to an old scientific paradigm and that psychological trauma work which does not include the spiritual element of human existence is incomplete, like a chair missing a leg. I consider freedom and friendship to be the most precious possessions a human being can have and I am inherently optimistic and communicative as a person. Since 2020 I have been living away from the city, near the mountains and the sea, growing my own food and seeking to be surprised by the wonders of Nature every day.
Anastasia Nikolitsa
Body-oriented Movement Psychotherapist,
CRMTM & DBR® Traumatherapist,
Author
sofosoma@outlook.com.gr
https://www.linkedin.com/in/anastasia-nikolitsa/, Τel: +30 6979552193
