Andrea Ardila del Toro
Body Counsellor & Psychologist
Psychologist and Dance Movement Psychotherapist integrating body, mind, and tenderness as political and collective acts toward healing, awareness, and compassionate connection.
I specialise in:
About me
I am a psychologist and dance movement psychotherapist with over ten years of experience working at the intersection of mental health, social justice, and community wellbeing. My practice weaves together embodied, creative, and reflective tools to support emotional healing and sustainable transformation in both individuals and groups.
Rooted in a feminist, systemic, and sociopolitical perspective, my work recognizes that our emotions and struggles are not isolated—they are shaped by history, culture, gender, ethnicity, and collective experiences. I aim to help people locate their emotional worlds within these broader contexts, so they can transform the narratives that sustain suffering or disconnection. This process invites a sense of awareness and choice—what I often call moving toward better decisions, deeper connection, and authentic wellbeing.
I approach therapy by recognizing each person’s agency in their own process. I introduce a dose of curiosity and embodied exploration to help clients see and feel their experiences from new angles, opening creative possibilities for how they wish to relate, respond, and position themselves in life. For me, healing is not about fixing, but about reconnecting—with oneself, with others, and with the collective rhythms that sustain us.
At the heart of my work is a deep belief in tenderness as a political and collective force. I see it as an act of resistance and repair in a world that often rewards disconnection. Cultivating tenderness and awareness allows us to meet ourselves and each other differently—with compassion, presence, and a shared sense of humanity.
I speak:
Location:
Approach
My therapeutic approach integrates psychology, dance movement psychotherapy, and a feminist, systemic, and sociopolitical lens. I understand emotional wellbeing as deeply intertwined with our bodies, relationships, and the broader social and cultural contexts in which we live. Healing, therefore, is not only an individual journey but also a relational and collective one.
From an embodied and trauma-informed perspective, I invite people to reconnect with their sensations, emotions, and intuitive movements as sources of wisdom and regulation. Through creative exploration and mindful attention, I accompany clients in discovering new ways of being with themselves and with others—cultivating presence, compassion, and authenticity. There is a constant shift between movement and words, between embodied experience and verbal reflection. This dialogue between languages allows us to bridge emotional and cognitive understanding, supporting people in moving toward better decisions, problem solving, and wellbeing—reclaiming agency over who they are and who they want to be, while acknowledging the complexity of that process.
My sociopolitical perspective helps situate emotional realities and suffering within the larger contexts that shape them; such as gender, culture, ethnicity, and systemic injustice. This framing allows us to transform the narratives that sustain logics of violence or reinforce limiting beliefs that keep us stuck in life. By recognizing these broader forces, we can begin to reimagine ourselves and our relationships in more compassionate and equitable ways.
I approach therapy by recognizing each person’s agency in their own process of healing, with the belief that every individual holds innate creativity and resilience. I introduce a dose of curiosity that allows us to see and feel experiences from different angles, transforming the ways we want to position ourselves in relation to them—with creativity, flexibility, and care. My role is to accompany and witness, to create a safe and spacious container where transformation can emerge naturally. I value consent, curiosity, and respect for each person’s rhythm and truth.
My feminist and critical approach understands care as a political act and tenderness as a force for social transformation. In a world that often rewards disconnection and productivity over presence and empathy, reclaiming tenderness becomes a radical and necessary act—one that nurtures the emotional capacity we need to relate differently to ourselves, others, and the world.
Ultimately, my approach is about creating spaces where body and mind, thought and emotion, self and world can meet—spaces where what has been silenced can be seen and moved, where stories can be reimagined, and where tenderness, curiosity, and awareness become the ground for personal and collective transformation.
Experience
*Movement Heals Dance Movement Psychotherapist | May 2020 – Currently
*HealthNet TPO Research Leader and Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Officer / Project Coordinator (Acting)| Oct 2021 – Currently
*‘SanAcción’ corporation Psychologist | Aug 2020 – Dec 2022
*Arts in therapies CNWL, NHS Trust (London, UK) Dance Movement Psychotherapist | Jul 2019 – Jan 2020
*Arts in therapies CNWL, NHS Trust (London, UK) Dance Movement Psychotherapy Trainee | Oct 2018 – Jan 2020
*Unlocking Potential (London, UK) Dance Movement Psychotherapy Trainee | Nov 2018 – Dec 2019
*The Livity School (London, UK) Dance Movement Psychotherapy (DMP) Trainee | Jan 2018 – Jun 2018
*Proseguir – Amigos Contra el Cáncer (Bogotá, Colombia) Psychologist (Community Mental Health) | Apr 2017 – Jul 2017
*Didasko – Business Challenges & Solutions Psychologist (Recruitment & Assessment) | Jun 2016 – Nov 2017
*Colegio Retos (Bogotá, Colombia) Psychologist | 2015
*San Blas Hospital, Bogotá, Colombia Psychologist | 2014
Education
• Body Psychology, praxis and Psychopolitics of liberation [Diploma program]- Asociación Mexicana de Alternativas en Psicología (México), Cátedra Libre Ignacio Martín-Baró (Colombia), Libertas (Brasil), Under the auspices of the Latinamerican Association to the training and teaching of Psychology (ALFEPSI)- 2021-2022.
• Master’s Degree in Dance Movement Psychotherapy - University of Roehampton - 2017- 2020.
• International Certificate in Collaborative Practice (ICCP) (Human systems) - Houston Galveston Institute and Taos Institute – 2016
• Psychology and Arts (Diploma program)- Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Colombia)- 2014
• First Approach to Supporting Psychotherapy and Crisis Intervention (short course) - Universidad de los Andes (Colombia) - 2014
• Psychology - Universidad Javeriana (Colombia) – 2008-2013 (Exchange Semester at Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2010)
Services
Individual Session
Couples Session
Family Session
Group Session
Individual Session
Insurances
