Kristin is a UKCP-registered Psychotherapist and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner with a background in movement education and manual therapy and over 15 years of experience working with complex physical symptoms.
Soon after Kristin qualified as a Pilates teacher and personal trainer in 2010, she realised that people and their bodies are all uniquely different, and their symptoms are often intriguingly complex. This started a long journey of studying the human body and the nervous system.
As a body-oriented Psychotherapist and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, Kristin specialises in power-related harm and physical boundary breaches and works online via Zoom with occasional in-person appointment options.
Q&A with Kristin Loeer
What are your qualifications?
I am a UKCP-registered Psychotherapist and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner. I also hold an internationally recognised Comprehensive Studio Polestar Pilates Practitioner Diploma, a Neuro-Linguistic Programming Practitioner and Coaching Diploma, a BTEC Level 5 Diploma in Remedial & Clinical Sports Massage, a Diploma in Biomechanics Coaching and a REPS Level 3 Certificates in teaching Mat Pilates and Personal Training. I also have a PGDip in Arts & Cultural Management and a BA(Hons) in Film & TV.
Why do people come to you?
Many people come to me after having already experienced traditional talking therapies. They often tell me that they now understand where certain thoughts, feelings, or patterns originated and can make sense of them intellectually. Yet despite this insight, the emotional or physical experience remains unchanged. They still find themselves caught in the same reactions, anxiety, tension, or patterns of behaviour.
So when they come to me, they usually describe that their mind believes one thing, while their body believes another. They seek a more body-oriented, somatic approach to help them integrate the two. We then work with the physiological patterns held within the nervous system, helping unresolved experiences become more integrated rather than simply explained.
Do you have any specialisms?
I have a particular interest in supporting people whose difficulties are connected to experiences of power dynamics where their sense of safety, autonomy, identity, or boundaries have been compromised.
This may include experiences based in schools, medical settings, or family systems, and physical boundary violations of a sexual, medical, or accidental nature may also be part of this.
My background in movement, physiology, and post-rehabilitation exercise, alongside extensive training in developmental trauma and nervous system regulation, allows me to bring together an understanding of both the physical and psychological impact of these experiences.
What complaints can you help with that many people find surprising?
People are often surprised to learn that I can also support clients living with persistent pelvic pain and other chronic pain conditions alongside the psychological impact they can have.
This draws on my background in remedial exercise, movement and post-rehabilitation work, which I bring together with my psychotherapy practice. This background allows me to understand the physical and psychological aspects of long-term pain and to work with the way persistent symptoms, the nervous system, and past experiences can influence one another.
Can you tell us a surprising fact about Somatic Experiencing?
Somatic Experiencing was, to a great extent, inspired by learning from animals in the wild. Peter Levine asked the question of why animals in the wild do not display signs of PTSD, even though they live under a constant threat to their lives. So he spent several years observing wild animals and their behaviours and physiological responses to potentially traumatic events before he began developing Somatic Experiencing. It was his conclusion that animals easily follow their instincts, exercise their fight, flight, and freeze responses without hesitation until they are completed. This is something humans do not do. We have become more detached from our bodies and learned to give far more meaning to our analytical thinking than to our instincts. Furthermore, we live in a complex society whose values are not in tune with our basic survival instincts.
