SARAH JAYNE BUCHANAN. MA, MBACP.

BACP-Registered Integrative Psychotherapist
MA Integrative Psychotherapy & Counselling (Roehampton)
BA Psychology & Counselling (Roehampton)
Trauma-Informed Yoga Facilitator 200 hr (RYT 200), TCTSY (Trauma Centre Trauma Sensitive Yoga) Foundation trained (20hr)

SJ Buchanan is an integrative psychotherapist in private practice, working face-to-face with adult women in Wimbledon, London. Her clinical approach combines contemporary psychodynamic therapy with an embodied, trauma-informed lens, integrating whole-body awareness, relational depth, and psychoeducation.

Her orientation draws from multiple strands of theory and practice, including interpersonal neurobiology (with an emphasis on the polyvagal system and the neurobiology of attachment), survivor-led frameworks rooted in lived experience, and evidence-based principles drawn from yoga psychology—particularly ahimsa (non-violence), satya (authenticity), and aparigraha (non-attachment). Her work is informed by clinical models developed through ongoing research into somatic-based adjunctive treatments for complex trauma. She also works from a deep grounding in attachment theory and the long-term somatic and emotional effects of relational trauma.

Her client work is informed by a background in trauma-informed yoga facilitation, the study of yoga psychology, group work, and substance misuse recovery. She has developed and delivered psychoeducational and bereavement services within HM Prisons and has facilitated reflective and experiential groups for women in recovery.

SJ works with women navigating a wide range of experiences, including:

  • Developmental and relational trauma

  • Dysregulated eating, shame, and body image distress

  • High-functioning anxiety and emotional exhaustion

  • Chronic self-blame and disrupted self-worth

  • Persistent physical tension and nervous system dysregulation

  • The psychological and somatic impact of pregnancy, maternal identity, and the transitions of motherhood

She has a particular interest in how institutional misrecognition, early attachment rupture, and gendered expectations shape women’s sense of safety in the world and in their own bodies. Her work often explores themes of introjection, nervous system regulation, and relational repair.

Commitment to Ongoing Professional Development and Supervision:
SJ remains deeply committed to her own therapeutic development and professional integrity. She engages in regular integrative psychotherapy supervision, alongside continuing somatic and movement-based therapy and supervision, to support ethical, embodied practice. Her learning is ongoing: she participates in CPD, attends lectures and workshops, and remains actively involved in both psychological and movement-based professional communities.

She is currently completing the Complex Trauma Certification with Janina Fisher, based on Fisher’s Therapy for Structural Dissociation and Parts Work model, and undertaking training in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Body-Oriented Therapy Techniques for Trauma and Attachment, developed by Pat Ogden. This continual learning reflects her commitment to remaining at the intersection of current theory and clinical application—especially in the integration of neuroscience, somatic regulation, and relational psychodynamic practice.

SJ lectures on embodied countertransference and facilitates reflective spaces for practitioners working at the intersection of trauma, care, and recovery. Her master's research focused on the phenomenon of practitioner embodied countertransference, and she continues to write and teach in this area.