Panel 6: Body Psychotherapy on the Edge
📅Saturday, 5 September📍Cork City Hall 🕒15:00 – 16:30
Description:
To stand at the edge is to feel both uncertainty and possibility. It is the place where old maps no longer fully hold, where familiar forms are questioned, and where something not yet known begins to press toward life.
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As the world changes around us, our profession is called again to ask what it is becoming. What forms of suffering are emerging now? What kinds of bodies, communities, technologies, crises, and hopes are entering the therapeutic space? What must we protect, and what must we dare to reimagine?
This panel discussion will explore the future of body psychotherapy as a living, evolving field. It will consider the edges of practice, research, ethics, training, culture, ecology, and social change. How do we remain rooted in the wisdom of the body while responding courageously to new realities?
Together, we will reflect on body psychotherapy not as a fixed tradition, but as a continuing movement: one that listens deeply, risks honestly, and turns toward the future with embodied attention.
Meet The Panel
María Paz Cardín García
María Paz is currently a professor at the European University of Madrid, Director of Biosynthesis for Spain, and an International Senior Trainer in Biosynthesis. She is officially recognized by the European Association of Psychotherapy (EAP).
Thomas Harms
Thomas is the founder of Emotional First Aid (EFA), a body- and attachment-oriented approach to crisis intervention and acute parent–baby therapy, and of Attachment-Oriented Body Psychotherapy for therapeutic work with adults. Director of the Center for Primary Prevention and Body Psychotherapy (ZePP) as well as the Crying Baby Clinic in Bremen, Germany.
Olesya Ovchinnikova
Psychologist & body psychotherapist based in Switzerland, with almost 20 years’ experience exploring the relationship between body, mind and human experience. Olesya’s background brings together psychology, social sciences and body psychotherapy, and she has trained in a range of body-oriented and trauma-focused approaches, including Bodynamic, the Chiron Approach, Deep Brain Reorienting and Psychedelic Somatic Interactional Psychotherapy. Current General Secretary of the EABP.
Assaf Avraham
Body and Relational Psychotherapist with nearly 25 years of clinical experience, Assaf specialises in deep work through dialogue with the body. He works as an individual therapist, teacher, and clinical supervisor. Assaf serves as the Director of the Body Psychotherapy Department at Reidman College, Israel. He is a full member of the EABP, Co- Chair, and Forum Representative on the EABP Board.
Oana Nicoara (Moderator)
Oana is an integrative and biodynamic psychotherapist based in Galway, Ireland. Shaped by life across three countries, her work is grounded in embodiment and explores themes of identity, belonging, and authenticity. She enjoys creating spaces for meaningful dialogue and connection and is part of the Irish organising team for this EABP Congress 2026 in Cork.
