Mioi Forster-Nakayama

I am a registered dance movement psychotherapist. I specialise in supporting people through movements, dance, the body and creative art mediums. I believe movement can express more than words and is a way to connect the body and the mind. I provide you with a safe and trusting space to find a way to ground the body, explore creative movements and express yourself. I move with you in empathy, witness your movement, and listen to you with non-judgemental views, regardless of your gender, sexuality, race or religion. You do not need any techniques, skills or experiences when it comes to dance movement therapy.

 

​Specialisation 

I specialise in working with the following populations.

• Neurodivergent (Autism, Attention Deficit Hyper Disorder (ADHD)

• Trauma (including preverbal trauma and complex traumas)

• Depression

• Anxiety

• Emotional and behavioural challenges

 

Clinical Experience

Since I gained a qualification as a dance movement psychotherapist, I clinically worked in primary schools, special needs schools, a pupil referral unit, a prison, NHS mental health hospitals and charities in the United Kingdom and Japan. I ran movement groups for teens with neurodiverse backgrounds and psychotic episodes. I have been providing a moving space for women with depression and anxiety in group therapy settings.

 

I moved to Australia in 2020 and have been working privately as well as at a paediatric clinic. I work with people of all ages starting from 5. I work with children who experience traumas including preverbal trauma. See my resume here.

 

Professional Registrations

• Clinical Member of the Dance Movement Therapy Association of Australasia (DTAA) (No.220-03),

• Clinical Registrant of the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA)(No. 28712) and

• Professional Member of The Australian, New Zealand and Asian Creative Arts Therapies Association, Professional Member (ANZACATA) (No. 59137275).

 

Clinical Approaches

Psychodynamic, person-centred, and Jungian.

 

Locations

I am based in Adelaide, South Australia. I also conduct online therapy sessions.

​

Psychotherapy Training 

I graduated with a master's degree in dance movement psychotherapy at Goldsmiths, University of London. I also completed the Somatic Body Mapping Mentorship under Annette Schwalbe (UKRDMP, UKCP) and became a somatic Body Mapping practitioner conducting body-arts combined workshops for women. I offered body mapping sessions to young refugees in England. In Adelaide, I am offering seasonal workshops four times a year. In 2022, I completed a PACFA-accredited advanced course in supervision.

​

The Path to Psychotherapy Work

I was born and raised in Hiroshima, Japan. At the age of 16, I moved to Germany with my parents. This was my first encounter with different cultures. I studied at a university in Tokyo, always travelling abroad to experience cultural diversities and expand my curiosity. At the age of 20, I went back to Germany to study and research Turkish immigrants. I travelled to Turkey as the country offered a blend of the West and the East. I met Kurdish Street children in Istanbul and felt emotional and helpless about these tiny workers. I went back to Tokyo and joined a non-profit organisation that works for child rights.

​

I learnt that India has the largest number of working children, therefore I visited India in 2002. I was very attracted to what India offered me - people, food, dance, music, colours, and just the way they are. I ended up working in India for 11 years; I co-founded an art school for street, working and bonded labour children, rescuing them from the streets, educating them in various art modalities, and putting them back to school (You can see my child labour photographs here). I discovered the strength and healing power of dance and arts through this work and decided to become a movement-based therapist. Dance Movement Therapy is a perfect marriage of psychological help and dance. In 2013, I moved to London to be trained as a dance movement psychotherapist.

​

My other interests

I am passionate about working creatively with young people from different cultures. I have a big dream to mobilise young people in Hiroshima or India or Australia to do a cultural exchange program to educate them on various topics such as a nuclear-free world, environmental issues, racism, gender equality and so on. I hope to continue to deliver my services to those who need them in Australia and Asia.