Member Highlight — Shelley Horner, LMFT

Judith Fraser, LMFT

Judith Fraser, LMFT, has expressed her creativity as a professional dancer, actress, author and therapist. As a young girl, she loved to dance. Gazing at posters of stars such as Shirley Temple, Judith dreamt of being a performer. Her determination paid off and by her teens she was working as a professional dancer. She danced in the opening act of various performers: Judy Garland, Jerry Lewis, Johnnie Ray, among others, at a nightclub in New York.

She also traveled with a small dance group. Judith said some of her most memorable experiences were in Biloxi, Mississippi, where she water-skied in the Gulf of Mexico. In Biloxi, she also witnessed the amazing rescue of a shrimp boat that caught fire. Seeing the other boats rush to their rescue is a vision she will never forget.

After graduating from the Theatre Arts Program at UCLA, Judith worked on many television shows. Her favorite was Dr. Kildare, where she worked with Raymond Massey and Richard Chamberlain.

She married, Ian Fraser, a Broadway Conductor in 1966 and moved back to New York where she studied with Uta Hagen, whose famous technique used the actor’s complex self-awareness and natural experience of the world.

At age 40, with two children in high school, Judith decided to become a psychotherapist, another creative endeavor. She earned her master’s degree at Cal State University, Northridge (CSUN).

Through the years, Judith has integrated approaches from many different therapeutic orientations. “Basically, by helping the clients feel safe with me they begin to find their authentic selves.” She does this in various creative ways.

One of them is Eugene Gendlin’s Somatic Focusing. It is a process that leads the client to notice what’s happening in their body. The therapist helps the client focus on the felt sense to uncover and free stuck places.” Judith begins each session by encouraging the client to breathe and become grounded. She ends the session by helping them to connect to their senses: touching an object, smelling, hearing sounds far away and close. When complete, she encourages the client to look around the room to find something to be grateful for. Body work has tremendous impact on the well-being of the client. As they say, “The issues are in our tissues.”

Judith has been a member of San Fernando Valley CAMFT since she attended CSUN. She first volunteered for our chapter as the librarian, then served as vice president and then finally as president for three years. She only stepped down because she needed to care for her husband who had cancer. Judith later helped create and facilitate the Experiential Process Group. Experiential workshops are led by different therapists and are a wonderful way to learn and practice a new skill. Hopefully, the Covid-19 situation will be over soon so we can return to having workshops like this again.

Judith has also written books that are available on Amazon and include a self-help book, What’s Good About “Bad” Feelings?, which is filled with insights, practical advice and individual stories of people learning to connect to their inner wisdom to break free of past constraints. She also wrote Grandmas Never Die, Their Wisdom Lives Forever, a fictional coming-of-age story that follows Fiona, an adolescent striving to find her identity in a family disrupted by alcoholism. Judith has also written short stories and conducted many workshops for therapists and non-therapists. I asked Judith what she would tell newer therapists after more than 35 years of private practice. “Choose something you enjoy then go from there,” she says. “Let go of expectations of how people are. Be present. Be curious.” Wise words from a creative and wise woman.

If you would like more information about Judith Fraser, LMFT please visit her website https://judithmortonfraser.com/ or call her at 323.656.9800 or email her at Jfrasermft@att.net.