Professional Background and Experience
I am an Integrative Body Psychotherapist (UKCP) based in West Oxford, where I run my private practice.
I first entered the field of complementary medicine 30 years ago in South East Asia where I lived and studied Shiatsu, Acupuncture, Thai Massage, Tai Chi, Yoga and meditation. Later I moved to London and practised Holistic Massage, Aromatherapy and Biodynamic Massage.
I studied and gained my diploma at the Chiron Centre for Body Psychotherapy, London and later acquired an MSc degree in Integrative Psychotherapy at Metanoia Institute/Middlesex University. Since then I have completed further trainings in Group Facilitation, Supervision, Somatic Trauma Therapy, E.M.D.R, Sensorimotor therapy and the systemic approach to Family Constellations. In my practice, I combine the knowledge and experience I acquired in the Far East with Western approaches and methods.
As well as working with individual clients and supervising psychotherapists, counsellors and complementary practitioners, I am an experienced teacher and group leader. For the past 25 years I have been teaching Integrative Body Psychotherapy and embodied Trauma Work as well as leading Family Constellation groups in England and Israel.
As an Israeli and second generation holocaust survivor, I have a special interest in working with trauma and its transgenerational manifestations. For some years I worked as a team member with the Trauma Service at the Maudsley Hospital, London, where I practiced Somatic Trauma Therapy and developed my integrative approach to trauma work. I then worked for The Oxford Stress and Trauma Centre in Witney. I now offer Integrative Trauma Therapy in private practice from my consulting room in Oxford. I am an external supervisor at the Refugee Resource, Oxford where I supervise a team of counsellors working with refugees and asylum seekers.
I am UKCP registered Integrative Psychotherapist and an EABP registered Body Psychotherapist. I am also a member of the following professional organisations: UKAHPP, EMDR Association, EAP.
In the past 30 years I have been working with people from a diverse spectrum of cultural and ethnic backgrounds, spiritual and religious beliefs, age and sexual orientation.
I deeply enjoy and appreciate meeting the similarities and differences in the other person as we are working together with our human limitations and potentials toward acceptance and empowerment.
Articles, Papers & Publications
Heitzler, M. (2004) My Personal Approach to the Theory and Practice of Integrative Psychotherapy. In: British Journal of Psychotherapy Integration UKAPI, Volume 1, Issue 2
Heitzler, M. (2009) Towards an Integrative Model of Trauma Therapy. In Hartley, L. (Ed.) (2009) Contemporary Body Psychotherapy – The Chiron Approach. Routledge
Heitzler, M. (2010) The Processing Body – Integrating EMDR and Body Psychotherapy. In: The EMDR Practitioner – The Official Journal of The European EMDR Association – published online
Heitzler, M. (2011) Crowded Intimacy – Engaging Multiple Enactments in Complex Trauma Work. In: British Journal for Psychotherapy Integration, Vol 8, Issue 1 (2011), p. 15 – 26.
Heitzler, M. (2011) Using EMDR with Various Types of Developmental Trauma.
Heitzler, M. (2013) Broken Boundaries, Invaded Territories:
The Challenges of Containment in Trauma Work. International Body Psychotherapy Journal, Volume 12, Number 1, spring 2013
הייצלר, מ. (2014) :האבולוציה של הפסיכותרפיה הגופנית – הרצאת פתיחה בכנס של האירגון הישראלי לפסיכותרפיה גופנית (ILBP).
Heitzler, M. & Soth, M. (2017) Book Review: William Cornell “Somatic Experience in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy”. Journal for Body, Movement and Dance
Heitzler, M. & Soth, M. (2018) Relational complications in current trauma therapy. BACP Journal Therapy Today. May 2018
Heitzler, M. (2018) Working with Sadism: an embodied-relational approach. In: Sadism – Psychoanalytic Developmental Perspectives. Edited by Amita Sehgal. Routledge. London & New York