Susie Orbach
British psychotherapist and author
- 2 min read
- 3 chapters
Related on Lably
Through Psychotherapy, Psychoanalysis and Writer
Background
Orbach was born in London in 1946 into a Jewish family, and was brought up in Chalk Farm, North London. Her mother was an American teacher, and her father the British Labour MP Maurice Orbach. She won a scholarship to North London Collegiate School. Despite being expelled at the age of 15, Orbach went on to study Russian History at the School of Slavonic Studies, but left in her final year. She then moved to New York to study law, but did not complete her training, She enrolled instead on the Women's Studies course at Richmond College, City University of New York, graduating with a BA (Highest Hons.) in 1972. Reminiscing about her time there in the Times Educational Supplement 30 years later, Orbach described the course as "concerning contemporary ideas, feminism, history – all things that were just right for me. It was like an Alternative University." She subsequently gained a Master's degree in Social Welfare from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1974 and a PhD in Psychoanalysis from University College London in 2001.
Sign in to keep reading
2 more chapters are free with a Lably account.
Career
With Luise Eichenbaum, Orbach created the Women's Therapy Centre in 1976 and the Women's Therapy Centre Institute, a training institute in New York, in 1981. She has been a consultant for The World Bank, the NHS and Unilever and was co-originator of the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty.
Orbach is member of the steering group for the Campaign for Body Confidence, co-founded by Lynne Featherstone and Jo Swinson in March 2010.
Scholarship
Orbach has been a visiting scholar at the New School for Social Research in New York and for 10 years was visiting professor at the London School of Economics. She was chair of the Relational School in the UK. Orbach is a convener of Anybody, an organisation that campaigns for body diversity. She is a co-founder and board member of Antidote, which works for emotional literacy. Orbach is also a co-founder of Psychotherapists and Counsellors for Social Responsibility. She lectures and broadcasts extensively world-wide and has been profiled in numerous newspapers, such as The Guardian.
Practice
Orbach has a clinical practice and sees both individuals and couples in London.
Personal life
Orbach's relationship with Joseph Schwartz, the father of her two children, ended after more than 30 years.
According to writer Jeanette Winterson, whom she married in 2015, Orbach "calls herself post-heterosexual". They separated in 2019.