Marina Stepanova
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
How much does keeping the peace really cost? Are you paying with your wellbeing? Are you anxious? Overwhelmed? The worst part - it will never be enough, no matter how hard you try to please others. So it may be time to pay a little more attention to you.
If you are wondering why you are feeling anxious or depressed (or both), there may be some things to explore. For example, do you often find yourself agreeing with someone or not addressing an issue that is important to you out of fear of upsetting them? Do you worry how they might react to you telling them about how you feel or what you need? Or perhaps you entire life has been built around others - spouse, children, relatives, friends, work, etc.
Keeping the peace and being the nice person that everyone seems to like may work short term and at times even feel rewarding. In the meantime, it keeps putting the pressure on your nervous system. Those feelings of dissatisfaction, sadness and frustration without proper processing and expression will turn into resentment that would just get "stuck" in your body. They will then inevitably start making their way out through anxiety, depression and unhealthy coping behaviours.
It may lead to you feeling like you have lost yourself and not sure who you are anymore. Your self-esteem and self-worth might entirely depend on other people and their moods.
Most of our patterns of relating to people, ourselves and the world develop when we are really young. Very often we are not aware of those, but nevertheless they dictate how we handle relationships. You may think that this is just the way you are, and nothing can be done about it, but the truth is that it`s a learned pattern that can be unlearned.
This is where therapy comes in. Therapeutic process is aimed to support you through your struggles. It`s aimed to explore why you do what you do, what factors contribute to how you feel and also finding ways to create different experiences for yourself. It`s done in a gentle, kind and compassionate way.
If this resonates and you would like to start getting to know yourself a little better with a view to start living in a way that feels more fulfilling, message me to book your free 15-minute phone call.
Training, qualifications & experience
I work with people who feel anxious, afraid and overwhelmed, as well as unsure of what to do and how to help themselves. A lot of my clients have been through difficult experiences growing up and are dealing with painful memories which very often bring physical sensations with them. Some clients already know why they feel the way they feel, but have no idea of what to do to change the symptoms. They very often feel hopeless, as if there is no choice but to live this way forever.
I work in a way that is slow and steady, as I believe that sustainable psychological changes happen over-time, not overnight. As my client, you will have a safe space where we can explore your issues and challenges together, which will enable you to build more awareness of how you actually experience them. We then work on making changes. I will ask questions as we go along, because it is important for me to know what it is like to be in your world. As our relationship develops, you will hopefully be able to make the changes you are longing for.
I developed interest in the subject of Psychology in my early teens and had a dream of working with people on a one-to-one basis supporting them through life`s challenges.
When I was 19, I decided to travel to England with the aim of acquiring a Bachelor`s Degree in Psychology (University of Bedfordshire), which I achieved in 2007.
My further training involved a Foundation Course in Counselling and Psychotherapy (2012) and then a Postgraduate Diploma in Counselling and Psychotherapy (2015). Both of them from Regents University in London.
I am dedicated to undertaking continuous professional development training.
CPD courses I`ve completed recently:
Primary Certificate in Single Session Therapy (21/11/2022)
Treating Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (7/04/2022)
Expert Strategies to Help Clients Develop Tolerance for Emotional Distress (April 2021)
Trauma treatment with EMDR, CBT and Somatic Based Interventions: A Certified Clinical Trauma Professional Training Course (June 2020)
Member organisations
BACP is one of the UK’s leading professional bodies for counselling and psychotherapy with around 60,000 members. The Association has several different categories of membership, including Student Member, Individual Member, Registered Member MBACP, Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Accred) and Senior Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Snr Acccred).
Registered and accredited members are listed on the BACP Register, which shows that they have demonstrated BACP’s recommended standards for training, proficiency and ethical practice. The BACP Register was the first register of psychological therapists to be accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).
Accredited and senior accredited membership are voluntary categories for members who choose to undertake a rigorous application and assessment process to demonstrate additional standards around practice, training and supervision.
Individual members will have completed an appropriate counselling or psychotherapy course and started to practise, but they won’t appear on the BACP Register until they've demonstrated that they meet the standards for registration. Student members are still in the process of completing their training.
All members are bound by the BACP Ethical Framework and a Professional Conduct Procedure.
Accredited register membership
The Accredited Register Scheme was set up in 2013 by the Department of Health (DoH) as a way to recognise organisations that hold voluntary registers which meet certain standards. These standards are set by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).
This therapist has indicated that they belong to an Accredited Register.
Areas of counselling I deal with
Other areas of counselling I deal with
- Narcissistic abuse
- Codependence
Therapies offered
Photos & videos
Fees
£60.00 per session
Additional information
£60.00 per session (50 minutes)
£230 for four sessions when paid in advance
When I work
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Morning and early afternoon sessions available
Duration of the session - 50 minutes
Further information
The First Step
- Send me a message to arrange your free 15-minute call
- I will respond to you within 48 hours
- We will meet at a time convenient for both of us
What can I expect from the free initial consultation?
- I will ask you some questions about you, such as what you would like support with, your hopes for the future and expectations of the therapy process, whether you`ve had therapy before (what`s worked and what hasn`t), any medical history that is relevant to our work together
- You can ask me any question about the process
- I will tell you about how I work and whether I think that I am the best person to support you at this time
- You can then go away and make a decision in your own time whether you would like to work with me
Next Step
- If you decide that you would like to work with me, we will arrange our first session
- I will email you all the necessary paperwork
- We will then meet for our first session
How long does it take?
It is a gentle and steady process where we will be exploring what it is like for you to be in your world, how your past or present situations and relationships may be affecting you and how to start changing.
There is no minimum or maximum amount of sessions; you can stay for as long as you feel it is beneficial.
How long is the session?
- Free initial call is 15 minutes long
- A full session is 50 minutes long
Frequency of the sessions
I normally see clients on a weekly basis (as it seems to be the most helpful, especially to start with), however, I have some spaces for fortnightly sessions available if you feel that it`s what you need or can afford at the moment.
