Kestenberg Movement Profile

Domain VIII · Creative & expressive arts therapies · Judith Kestenberg · 1953

What it is

The Kestenberg Movement Profile (KMP) is not a therapy. It is a movement observation, notation and interpretation system with a developmental theory attached. Psychoanalyst Judith Kestenberg developed it, building on Laban's movement analysis. She began notating mother–infant movement in a 1953…

Format

• Recording: about 5–10 minutes of video of the person in natural or semi-structured activity.
• Intervention: attunement, adjustment, and developmentally targeted movement, play, music and art, individually, with parent and child, or in groups.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Professional frame. The KMP is taught at graduate level to dance/movement therapists. Its own analyst certification is run through the KMP community ("Get Certified" and "Certified KMP Analysts" pages, coordinated by Dr Melanie Johnson French). The requirements page is not drawn on, so its prerequisites, hours and exam are. One pilot study found that student raters given 45 hours of basic training rated…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• samples too short to give stable frequencies.
• the parent experiencing coaching as criticism.
• the journal becoming a burden. Shorten it to a few lines.
• choking hazards and allergies (for example to some modelling doughs).
• collisions and over-arousal. See the space and safety notes in section 5.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.