LOCATION: Wilbury Road
AVAILABILITY: Tuesday daytimes
PRICE: £65 - £70 per session (£90 couples)
SPECIALISMS:
Loss and grief
Physical illness and body trauma
Identity and relationships
Bereavement
Attachment and abandonment issues
New parenthood
Birthing trauma
Anxiety
Depression
New diagnosis (mental and physical health)
Childhood trauma
Life transitions

Training

Kristina is a fully qualified Humanistic Psychotherapeutic Counsellor and Relational Psychotherapist using an integrated approach. Kristina has an MSc in Psychotherapy and is a registered member of the BACP. Her work is predominantly influenced by body-oriented psychotherapy, the philosophy of existentialism and mindfulness.

As well as running a psychotherapy practice, Kristina has worked for 13 years within the voluntary sector for various charities offering support to those experiencing; bereavement, caring duties, addiction, victims of crime, abuse and trauma, physical and mental illness including; depression, anxiety, digestive disorders and chronic pain.

Before training as a psychotherapist Kristina has worked within the probation and prison service acting as a advocate, supporting victims of crime, survivors of abuse, and as a fully qualified substance misuse and recovery support worker. Kristina has also worked within the community as a psychosocial family invention worker providing families and children with therapeutic support and working in schools to advocate for young carers and their families.

Approach

Kristina's approach is based on working relationally, which means the work together will focus on establishing a safe and supportive therapeutic relationship. Kristina believes that the relationship between her clients and herself is the key component to enable change and self acceptance.

With this in mind, your first session with Kristina will be a space where you can have a relaxed chat with no obligation to continue. The first session is an opportunity for you to both to find out if you would work well together, ask her any questions about her practice and experience, and for you to explore your past experiences of therapy and what you aim to gain from the therapeutic journey.

Kristina works in a way that will invite you to bring awareness to your body and your mind, as her work acknowledges that our mind and body are intricately connected. Kristina hopes to enable her clients to learn how to be in the moment with their bodies. She will also invite you to explore your meaning of life, your indentity, your relationships and your freedom to live the life you desire.

Loss and grief

The sense of loss and grief can be overwhelming and throw our sense of self and purpose of life into question. Kristina is a trained and experienced bereavement therapist having worked with Cruse for many years. Experiencing bereavement and death of those that we love can be a solitary and dispairing feeling and specialist loss and grief counselling can help to provide some awareness on how and why death has impacted your world.

Kristina recognises loss and grief can emerge from many experiences, not just due to bereavement. You may have lost a relationship for other reasons than bereavement, relationships may have become distant, there might be loss of intimacy in your life, loss of identity due to parenthood or/and a birthing experience. You may have experienced loss of freedom and mobility due to a physical illness or diagnosis. You might be grieving a change in carer, finances, or had to move from your home. Whatever form of loss and grief you are experiencing Kristina provides a held and hopeful space to validate your grieving process to enable new direction and healing during these painful times.

Physical illness and body trauma

Kristina has extensive experience working with survivors of addiction, eating disorders, sexual abuse and chronic illness. Kristina appreciates that the body often has a story to tell of its own and can give us insightful offerings to help heal the mind; as what our mind experiences, so does our body, and vice versa.

Kristina recognises that living with a physical illness and symptoms can be a daily struggle (physically and mentally) and often linked with anxiety, anger, fear of intimacy, and a whirlwind of emotions. It can also be true that anxiety, anger, depression and strong psychological emotions can impact the function of our bodies e.g. Muscle tension, fatigue, digestive changes, rashes to the skin, loss of hair and appetite to name a few. Kristina invites her clients to bring their 'wholeness'; mind and body to the therapeutic process. Whether you are trying to come to terms with a new diagnosis, post/pre operation, are experiencing birth trauma, or are a survivor of body trauma, Kristina believes that being in-tune with ones body is extremely beneficial in learning to regulate emotions, manage symptoms of illness and chronic pain, and help heal trauma.

Identity and relationships

Identity is an important part of the human condition and is connected strongly to our values, belief systems, culture, race, sexuality, gender, ability, and age. Kristina works with her clients using an inclusive approach, free from discrimination and inequality. With the constraints of society and the inevitable change of past and present relationships- holding onto one's identity can often feel unmanageable. Through the freedom of expression within the therapeutic relationship, Kristina invites her clients to explore their autonomy and sense of self to gain a new level of self awareness and self acceptance.

As an experienced therapist trained in Couple and Relationship therapy, Kristina aims to give couples both the freedom not to just explore their thoughts and feelings but to express themselves to each other. Couples therapy can provide a mutually respectful place to communicate supportively to one another. Kristina works to help both individuals develop new understandings of the relationship, the shared history, and discover any changes that they may like to make.

Other information

Kristina receives regular supervision in order to support her practice. All sessions are confidential apart from issues relating to safety. Kristina is committed to my continuing professional development and regularly attends workshops, conferences and seminars.

Kristina’s articles in expertise and resources