QUALIFICATIONS
I work full time as a psychotherapist and I see clients in my private practice in Pimlico, central London.
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 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 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 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.
Apart from my private practice, I also work at a primary care service in the NHS at the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (St. Charles Hospital) and I see clients who suffer a wide range of problems with different levels of complexity. I also work as a clinical supervisor and I am responsible for the Honorary Trainee Programme within the Counselling Service.
Other work experiences include:
- Primary Care Mental Health Service IAPT/NHS - Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust in North London at the Edgware Community Hospital as well as the Finchley Memorial Hospital.
- Primary Care Mental Health Service IAPT/NHS - Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.
- 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 experienced psychological trauma.
- Women and Girls’ Network - specialized service for women who were recovering from sexual abuse in relationships and domestic violence.
- 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.
Apart from my private practice, I also work at a primary care service in the NHS at the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (St. Charles Hospital) and I see clients who suffer a wide range of problems with different levels of complexity. I also work as a clinical supervisor and I am responsible for the Honorary Trainee Programme within the Counselling Service.
Other work experiences include:
- Primary Care Mental Health Service IAPT/NHS - Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust in North London at the Edgware Community Hospital as well as the Finchley Memorial Hospital.
- Primary Care Mental Health Service IAPT/NHS - Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.
- 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 experienced psychological trauma.
- Women and Girls’ Network - specialized service for women who were recovering from sexual abuse in relationships and domestic violence.
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.
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.
A HOLISTIC AND CONTEMPORARY CONCEPT OF THE MIND
“Mental Health” has become less stigmatized and the public and the media are talking much more about “mental health issues”. The problem with the use of these words is that, very often, the mind is generally identified with the brain. If a person has “mental health issues” it is assumed that there are problems related to the brain and associated thoughts generated by it.
This has been proved wrong by interpersonal neurobiologists, and, one of the most accepted concepts of the mind nowadays is provided by Dan Siegel a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA/USA. To him the mind is: “an embodied and relational process that regulates the flow of energy and information”. This means that the components of the mind include the brain, the body as well as our interpersonal relationships. Yes, our relationships are a crucial component of our mind and cultivating wellbeing include integrating all these aspects of the mind.
For that reason it’s important to “think” considering “feelings”, experiment “bodily sensations” including “logic”, access “emotions” engaging our “thoughts” as well as being able to experience a sense of self which can be autonomous but at the same time linked to others in empathic communication.
Mental wellbeing, therefore, is directly related to integrating all of those parts in a holistic way without categorizing which one is most important or excludes one for the sake of the other and this is also an important aspect of my clinical practice.
This has been proved wrong by interpersonal neurobiologists, and, one of the most accepted concepts of the mind nowadays is provided by Dan Siegel a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA/USA. To him the mind is: “an embodied and relational process that regulates the flow of energy and information”. This means that the components of the mind include the brain, the body as well as our interpersonal relationships. Yes, our relationships are a crucial component of our mind and cultivating wellbeing include integrating all these aspects of the mind.
For that reason it’s important to “think” considering “feelings”, experiment “bodily sensations” including “logic”, access “emotions” engaging our “thoughts” as well as being able to experience a sense of self which can be autonomous but at the same time linked to others in empathic communication.
Mental wellbeing, therefore, is directly related to integrating all of those parts in a holistic way without categorizing which one is most important or excludes one for the sake of the other and this is also an important aspect of my clinical practice.
