PhD, University of Edinburgh (Centre for Creative-Relational Inquiry)
Clinical Supervisor & Registered Psychotherapist (UKCP)
The Foundation of Creative Containment
Clinical insight and systemic analysis for demanding creative environments.
My advisory practice has grown out of an established career in psychotherapy, clinical supervision, and creative-relational research.
I provide executive leaders, directors, and studio heads with a confidential, unhurried space to think. When interpersonal friction, unseen undercurrents, or creative exhaustion threaten a project's momentum, we look beyond the surface of the immediately presenting issues. By examining the underlying relational dynamics and wider contextual influences, we prevent or resolve crisis, restoring the clarity necessary to sustain both the team and the vision.
Research & Clinical Grounding
Doctoral Foundation
My PhD used the conventions of an autofictional novel to examine how external social, cultural, political, and environmental pressures reshape psychological spaces and relationships. This creative-relational research anchors my advisory work in three core principles:
Creative Narrative as a Diagnostic Tool | Blending personal reflection with imaginative framing shifts perspectives. This reveals the hidden relational patterns and systemic frictions that direct analysis misses.
Navigating Industry & Institutional Pressure | Analysing how external market shifts, funding volatility, delivery pressures, and wider institutional challenges subtly fracture internal team dynamics, day-to-day operations, and creative execution.
The Environment as a Participant | Evaluating how physical settings, creative tools, social and digital ecosystems, and unique industry contexts actively shape how people collaborate, perform, and respond to pressure.
Professional Practice
Clinical Supervision | Years of experience providing formal clinical supervision for individuals and groups, establishing a trusted framework for managing high-stakes boundaries, talent vulnerability, and institutional stress.
Psychotherapeutic Roots | A deep foundation of psychological expertise that informs every bespoke facilitation model, group process, and leadership consultation I design for the creative business landscape.
Qualifications
PhD, University of Edinburgh, Centre for Creative-Relational Inquiry
Diploma in Creative Supervision, London College of Psychodrama
MA & HIP Dip in Humanistic & Integrative Psychotherapy, Middlesex University & BCPC
MSc in Psychoanalytic Developmental Psychology, UCL & Anna Freud Centre
BSc in Experimental Psychology, UCL
Professional Registrations
UKCP Registered Psychotherapist since 2010 (reaccredited October 2020 & 2025)
UKCP Supervisor Register (HIPC section)
BCPC Affiliated Member
Teaching and Consulting Roles
Psychotherapy Research Submissions Tutor, Bath Centre for Counselling and Psychotherapy
Course Tutor, Bath Centre for Psychotherapy and Counselling
Teaching Fellow, University of Edinburgh
Consultant to UK Sport on supervision infrastructure for Olympic and Paralympic coaches
Research Networks
Steering Committee Member, Collaborative Artful Narrative Inquiry Network (CANI-net)
Centre for Creative-Relational Inquiry, University of Edinburgh
The Association for Psychosocial Studies
Current Projects
Autofiction and Psychotherapy: A novel about contemporary psychotherapy (reworking PhD)
Untethering the Gates of Our Enclosure: A meeting of art and psychoanalytic practice. Collaboration with Irish time-based artist Nicola Lane
The Dream Society: Creative collaborative social dreaming experiment
Soundscaping Our Interdependence: Exploring the use of sonic objects in facilitated group processes.
Two cats, a teacup and a pink water bottle: writing collaboratively to find the psychoanalytic-posthumanism emergent in psychotherapeutic practice. Chapter in press with Bloomsbury
Publications
Regeneration: A Collaborative Writing, Making, and Moving Inquiry
Using Fragments to Uncover Connections Through Call and Response, Resonance, and Dissonance
Artful Collaborative Inquiry: Making and Writing Creative, Collaborative Research
Something Happened in the Room: Conceptualising intersubjectivation
Put simply, my academic and clinical background means I have spent decades learning how to steady the social climate so that you, your artists, performers and developers can create freely. Understanding the human dynamics in play allows you to hold the creative space with more confidence and ease, enabling the best results.
DR MELISSA DUNLOP ADVISORY LTD
Reflective Practice and Relationship Supervision for Demanding Creative Environments
Contact: melissa@melissadunlop.com
All commercially focused work is strictly non-clinical
© 2026 Dr Melissa Dunlop. All Rights Reserved.
BRISTOL | LONDON, UK