Nicole Schnackenberg is a Child, Community and Educational Psychologist whose doctoral research was into the lived experience of young people of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD).

Nicole is also a psychotherapist and therapeutic yoga practitioner; and BDD Foundation trustee.

She is the trainer for our one-day, online CPD training event on Friday 22nd March 2024: Shame and The Body.

Where it all began…

Nicole’s clinical practice is very much informed by her personal lived experience of anorexia and body dysmorphic disorder in her teens. 

She also utilises systemic and embodied approaches to emotional distress and suffering in her clinical work.

In her practice, Nicole facilitates monthly BDD support groups, with a focus on transpersonal, embodied and mindfulness perspectives and approaches to BDD. She is also a trustee of the BDD Foundation. 

Approach

Having trained at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, Nicole’s practice is strongly informed by attachment-sensitive and trauma-informed ways of working, and by psychoanalytic thought and research. 

Inspired by the Power Threat Meaning Framework and other similar critical approaches, Nicole conceives mental health struggles:

“Not as disorders but rather as ‘attempts at order’; as contextually understandable responses to societal, cultural, familial, and situational factors which have been experienced by the person as emotionally overwhelming in some way. BDD, the focus of this training, is no exception.”

Experience and future plans

Nicole has worked extensively with children, young people and adults experiencing BDD and associated struggles for more than a decade. She has also supported parents and carers. 

Nicole has written and edited numerous papers and books on the subject, most recently editing ‘Trauma-Informed and Embodied Approaches to BDD’ due to be published by Jessica Kingsley in early Autumn 2023.

Currently, Nicole is exploring the development of a trauma-informed, yoga-based programme for BDD and opening a family wellbeing hub in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex.

Trailer for Brighton Therapy Partnership Event

In this video, Nicole introduces her upcoming Brighton Therapy Partnership event: Shame and The Body. 

To learn more about working with shame and the body, sign up to our one-day, online CPD training event on Friday 22nd March 2024: Shame and The Body. 

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