Juliette Kirkwood, PACFA

Juliette Kirkwood is a PACFA counsellor with 20 years of practice experience. She supports adults and adolescents through anxiety, stress, relationship strain, trauma and life changes. Juliette blends talking therapies with movement-based work to help people reconnect with their bodies and feelings.

Her approach puts the body and nervous system at the centre of healing. She uses Dance Movement Therapy alongside traditional counselling to reach feelings that can be hard to put into words. This can be helpful for people with complex trauma, postnatal depression, or those who find verbal therapy feels limiting.

Juliette has worked in inpatient and outpatient psychiatric settings and brought Dance Movement Therapy programs into community and women’s health services. She also spent five years lecturing in a Graduate Diploma of Dance Movement Therapy, teaching embodied arts and movement approaches to other practitioners.

In independent practice she often supports people with long trauma histories and people coping with substance misuse. Her work emphasises nervous system regulation, paced progress, and practical ways to notice and name bodily signals that relate to stress and emotion.

She also has five years’ experience as a school counsellor, supporting adolescents with anxiety, mood concerns and identity questions. Sessions aim to be steady, warm and non-judgemental, with the pace set by the person attending.

How movement-informed therapy and online sessions can work together

Juliette draws on evidence-based therapeutic techniques that bring attention to the body and nervous system. Dance Movement Therapy uses gentle movement and embodied exercises to access feelings that can be hard to name, which can help with trauma, postnatal depression and difficulties expressing emotion. Traditional talking-based therapy complements movement work by providing space to reflect, make sense of patterns, and plan practical coping strategies.

Finding the right combination of approaches is a collaborative process. The therapist will discuss what feels useful and adapt sessions to each person's needs, goals and preferences rather than imposing a single method. Clients and therapist decide together whether movement, talking, or a mix makes most sense for each session.

The practical benefits of online therapy include easier scheduling and fitting sessions into a busy week, and reduced travel time. Because the therapist's profile does not specify session formats, confirm available online and in-person options before booking. The focus will be on making therapy workable for daily life, whether that means shorter check-ins, arranging times that suit school or work breaks, or organising sessions that match a person's comfort with movement-based activities.