QUALIFICATIONS
I hold a Diploma in Counselling, an Advanced Diploma and a MA in Integrative Psychotherapy awarded by the Minster Centre in conjunction with the Middlesex University. I have completed my qualifications over a period of six years of training.
I am a registered member of the UKCP, the UK Council for Psychotherapy as well as the BACP (MBACP), the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, and, as such, I abide to the Code of Ethics and procedures of both organizations. I am also a Member of the Relational School and the Minster Centre.
In order to maintain my work at high standards I am regularly supervised by accredited professionals. I also keep myself up to date with the most recent research and developments in the psychotherapeutic area regularly attending CPDs, seminars and workshops.
I am a registered member of the UKCP, the UK Council for Psychotherapy as well as the BACP (MBACP), the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, and, as such, I abide to the Code of Ethics and procedures of both organizations. I am also a Member of the Relational School and the Minster Centre.
In order to maintain my work at high standards I am regularly supervised by accredited professionals. I also keep myself up to date with the most recent research and developments in the psychotherapeutic area regularly attending CPDs, seminars and workshops.
EXPERIENCE
I have extensive experience working with individuals who are living with a wide range of difficulties including:
- Depression, anxiety and panic attacks.
- Anger issues and their impact on relationships, work and family.
- Relationship problems including: couples and family dynamics, divorce, separation, parent/children relationships as well as issues of enmeshed families.
- Attachment issues: anxiety, co-dependency, issues with separation and isolation.
- Relationship problems at work, in friendships, bullying and toxic environments.
- Career changes, life transitions, redundancy and unemployment.
- Transition between adolescence/adulthood as well as adulthood/middle age and beyond.
- Loss, bereavement and new beginnings.
- Childhood and adult trauma including sexual abuse (historic and recent).
- Intergenerational transmission of trauma.
- PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorders).
- Sex, sexuality, questions of sexual identity, sexual problems.
- Cultural issues, adaptation, geographical changes, interracial/inter-ethnic relationships.
- Chronic diseases, diagnoses and psychosomatic problems.
- Pregnancy and related issues, infertility, miscarriages.
- Motherhood.
- Spirituality and the search for meaning in life.
My work experience includes: Primary Care Mental Health Service IAPT/NHS – Ithaca House in partnership with Mind Tower Hamlets, Secondary Care Mental Health Service IPTT/NHS - South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust – specialized service for psychological trauma, Families Without Fear Programme – specialised service for women who were victims of domestic violence and the Women and Girls’ Network - specialized service for women who were recovering from sexual abuse in relationships and domestic violence.
Apart from my private practice I currently work at a primary mental health care service in the NHS in Barnet (Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust - Edgware Community Hospital and Finchley Memorial Hospital) and I see clients who suffer a wide range of problems with different levels of complexity.
- Depression, anxiety and panic attacks.
- Anger issues and their impact on relationships, work and family.
- Relationship problems including: couples and family dynamics, divorce, separation, parent/children relationships as well as issues of enmeshed families.
- Attachment issues: anxiety, co-dependency, issues with separation and isolation.
- Relationship problems at work, in friendships, bullying and toxic environments.
- Career changes, life transitions, redundancy and unemployment.
- Transition between adolescence/adulthood as well as adulthood/middle age and beyond.
- Loss, bereavement and new beginnings.
- Childhood and adult trauma including sexual abuse (historic and recent).
- Intergenerational transmission of trauma.
- PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorders).
- Sex, sexuality, questions of sexual identity, sexual problems.
- Cultural issues, adaptation, geographical changes, interracial/inter-ethnic relationships.
- Chronic diseases, diagnoses and psychosomatic problems.
- Pregnancy and related issues, infertility, miscarriages.
- Motherhood.
- Spirituality and the search for meaning in life.
My work experience includes: Primary Care Mental Health Service IAPT/NHS – Ithaca House in partnership with Mind Tower Hamlets, Secondary Care Mental Health Service IPTT/NHS - South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust – specialized service for psychological trauma, Families Without Fear Programme – specialised service for women who were victims of domestic violence and the Women and Girls’ Network - specialized service for women who were recovering from sexual abuse in relationships and domestic violence.
Apart from my private practice I currently work at a primary mental health care service in the NHS in Barnet (Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust - Edgware Community Hospital and Finchley Memorial Hospital) and I see clients who suffer a wide range of problems with different levels of complexity.
NEUROSCIENCE
In the last years I have been particularly interested in neuroscience, in the new discoveries and studies of the brain as well as how early relationships and traumatic events may shape our emotional life and behaviour in the present moment. I am also interested in how family dynamics and intergenerational transmission of trauma and experiences may affect individuals on a deep, unconscious level and how the clarification of these issues may help clients to live a more satisfying life. I believe that the present moment is a small piece of our past experiences and I work with past and present in a way to integrate both in a creative way.
RECOVERY FROM TRAUMA
I have specific experience working with women who suffered emotional, psychological, sexual and physical abuse in the context of intimate relationships, war and slavery. I also see clients who are experiencing difficulties in their relationships and who may not be sure if they are living in a context of domestic abuse and want to explore that. My approach when working with trauma is a combination of practical stabilization techniques with the emotional exploration of the narrative of the events that led to the trauma. My approach is holistic and explorative, I consider how trauma affects the body, the brain and the soul.
IMAGERY, METAPHOR, THE BODY AND THE UNCONSCIOUS
Lately I have also been interested in the relationship between imagery, metaphor, embodied experience and the unconscious. According to Ferenczi, a key theorist of the psychoanalytic school, when a person focus her attention on trying to describe what something is like, which is one of the principles of being attentive to her embodied experience, she activates a process that is capable of bringing forth unconscious material. The expression of the unconscious material can then be facilitated through the use of images or metaphor as both aspects are connected to our body/mind space and our felt sense. This is the reason why I have been integrating these important elements into my practice.
