Professional Activities

Alongside my work in private practice, I concurrently work at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. Prior to this, I have worked in a variety of settings as a senior clinician, supervisor, senior manager, trainer, and as an advisor to Central Government.

I have a particular interest in relationship difficulties both with couples and individuals and have specialist expertise and knowledge in two distinct areas – issues of sexuality and gender, and relationship conflict. I have published in both these areas of work (see Publications) and I regularly consult, train and supervise other professionals. I have set up and developed several different services for hard to reach populations including a specialist service for parents in entrenched conflict over their children – ‘The Parenting Together Service.’ This service was awarded the Innovative Excellence Award 2015 by the British Psychoanalytic Council. Related to this, I have also developed with Viveka Nyberg, a specialist model of time-limited treatment for couples who experience stormy relationships. I have worked on a number of published research studies investigating the effectiveness of different therapeutic modalities, including the development of Video Feedback Interactional Treatment for difficulties in the perinatal period.

I am a member of the British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC) special advisory group on sexual diversity. This is a group of senior professionals who have been working to tackle homophobia and prejudice in relation to sexual and gender diversity. The aim is to ensure that the psychotherapy profession, its services and accredited psychoanalytic trainings, are more open and inclusive. I have taken forward specific projects and training to ensure psychotherapy services were relevant and sensitive to the needs of the LGBT community. These achievements were recently recognised by an award, shared jointly with Juliet Newbigin, from the British Psychoanalytic Council – The Bernard Ratigan Award 2019 for Diversity in Psychoanalysis.

I have published widely in the area of psychotherapy and lesbian and gay relationships in both peer reviewed journals and books. I have recently co-edited a book with Juliet Newbigin, entitled: Sexuality and Gender Now: Moving  Beyond Heteronormativity, published by Routledge in the Tavistock Clinic Series  (https://www.routledge.com/Sexuality-and-Gender-Now-Moving-Beyond-Heteronormativity-1st-Edition/Hertzmann-Newbigin/p/book/9781782205296)

Publications

Sexuality and Gender

• Hertzmann, L., and Newbigin, J. (Eds), (2019) Sexuality and Gender Now: Moving beyond heteronormativity. London Routledge: Tavistock Clinic Series.
• Hertzmann, L. (2018). Losing the Internal Oedipal Mother and Loss of Sexual Desire. British Journal of Psychotherapy, 34:1, 25-45
• Hertzmann, L., (2015). Objecting to the object. Encountering the internal parental couple relationship for lesbian and gay couples.  In: A. Lemma and P.E. Lynch (Eds)., Sexualities: Contemporary Psychoanalytic Perspectives. London: Routledge
• Hertzmann, L. (2011). Lesbian and gay couple relationships: When internalized homophobia gets in the way of couple creativity. Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, 25(4), 346–360.

 Relationship Interventions and Research Publications

• Hertzmann, L., Target, M., Hewison, D., Casey, P., Fearon, P. Lassri, D. (2017). Mentalization-Based Therapy for Parents in Entrenched Conflict: A Random Allocation Feasibility Study.
• Hertzmann, L., Target, M., Abse, S., Glausius, K., Nyberg, V., Lassri, D. (2017). Mentalization-Based Therapy for Parental Conflict – Parenting Together; An intervention for parents in entrenched post-separation disputes
• Hertzmann, L., (2016 ). “A review of Ringstrom, P.A., (2014). A relational psychoanalytic approach to couples psychotherapy London and New York: Routledge, 290 pp.” Psychoanalytic Psychology.
• Hertzmann, L. (2012) Commentary on Prevention: Intervening with couples at challenging family transition points. Cowan, C.P., and Cowan, P.A.: In Balfour, A., Morgan, M. and Vincent, C. (Eds). How couples relationships shape our world. London: Karnac
• Hertzmann, L., and Abse, S., (2009a). Parenting Together – from conflict to collaboration. Parenting UK Bulletin December 2009.
• Hertzmann, L., and Abse, S., (2009b). Parenting Together – from conflict to collaboration. The Review, Resolution Journal, no 144.
• Hertzmann, L., and Abse, S., (2008). Mentalization based conflict for parental conflict – Parenting Together (MBT-PT) Treatment Manual. Unpublished manuscript. The Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships
• Nyberg, V and Hertzmann, L. (2018). A Partnership of Two Therapeutic Models: The development of Mentalization Based Treatment – Couple Therapy (MBT-CT) with a psychoanalytic framework. Couple and Family Psychoanalysis. 8:1, 23-37.
• Clulow, C., Hertzmann, L., Nyberg, V. (2018). Couple Psychoanalysis in the United Kingdom: Past, present and future. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 38:5, 364-377.
• Target, M., Hertzmann, L., Casey, P., Midgely, N. Lassri, D. (2016). Parents’ experience of child contact within entrenched conflict families following separation and divorce: A qualitative study
• Nyberg, V., and Leezah Hertzmann, L. (2014). Developing a Mentalization-Based Treatment (MBT) for Therapeutic Intervention With Couples (MBT-CT). Couple and Family Psychoanalysis 4(2) 116–135
• Midgley, N., Hertzmann, L., Ansaldo, F., Parkinson, S., Holmes, J., Stapley, E., & Target, M. (2013a). Expectations of therapy interview -Parents in conflict version. Unpublished manuscript, The Anna Freud Centre, London
• Midgley, N., Hertzmann, L., Ansaldo, F., Parkinson, S., Holmes, J., Stapley, E., & Target, M. (2013b). Experience of therapy interview -Parents in conflict version. Unpublished manuscript, The Anna Freud Centre, London.
• Stein, A., Woolley, H., Senior, R., Hertzmann., L. et al., (2006). Treating disturbances in the relationship between mothers with bulimic eating disorders and their infants: A randomized controlled trial of video feedback. American Journal of Psychiatry 163 (Vol 5): 899-907  
• Woolley, H., Hertzmann, L., and Stein, A. (2007). The use of video-feedback intervention to promote positive parenting (VIPP) with English mothers with postnatal eating disorders and their infants. In F. Juffer, M. Bakermans-Kranenburg, and M. van IJzendoorn (Eds). Promoting Positive Parenting: An Attachment-Based Intervention.  New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum

Awards