About me
A bit about me:
If you're feeling anxious and overwhelmed, or you're struggling with your self-esteem, your inner critic, or relationships, then you might be in the right place. My name is Vanya and I am a fully qualified and registered Cognitive Behavioural and Group Therapist. Although rooted in CBT theory, my approach is integrative, which means that I also use knowledge and skills from other main psychotherapeutic theories, mainly compassion-focused, person-centred, and psychodynamic.
I know it can take a lot of effort to even read this far, and reaching out can feel daunting - I’ve been there myself. I struggled for a long time before asking for help, and when I finally did, it changed my life. So much so that I decided to become a therapist, to support others through their own difficulties.
In me, you’ll find a real person first, and a therapist second. I believe it’s important to be genuine, accepting, empathetic, and warm, so you can feel comfortable and safe exploring what’s been bothering you. I bring my personality into sessions, and I hope to see yours too. I try to keep the tone casual, creating a space that feels like a meaningful conversation with someone who genuinely cares about hearing your story.
Our first sessions would focus on building a safe therapeutic relationship, where we can work together to come up with goals, specific to your unique needs at this time, and to help you live your life more authentically and in line with your values. We’ll check in regularly to make sure the work feels helpful and is moving in the direction you hoped for.
I offer in-person and online video therapy and I work with people in the southside of Glasgow, in the city centre, or anywhere else in the UK. If you would like to find out more, you're welcome to book a free 10-minute introductory call or drop me an email on help2cope@outlook.com and we can arrange a session. This will give us an opportunity to hear more about each other and see if we are a suitable fit.
What my clients say (shared with clients' permission):
"I strongly encourage anyone who is finding life difficult to consider having therapy with Vanya... Vanya was incredibly understanding, supportive, kind and insightful. I felt relaxed and listened to in sessions, able to open up to her, and she encouraged me to reflect on situations and feelings in new ways. She is incredibly perceptive and would listen so closely to what I said, how I said it, and would pick up on things that I hadn’t considered before, which often led to a deeper understanding of myself and my behaviour. There were times when Vanya challenged me to think about things more deeply, and asked me questions which I didn’t know how to answer – and although those moments could make me feel uncomfortable, it often triggered new revelations which otherwise may have never come out otherwise."
"I have really loved having Vanya as my therapist. She is calm, understanding and genuinely a good listener. She was skilled at re-directing me or challenging my beliefs when needed, but it was always done in a gentle & intuitive way. She very quickly became my safe space, and I opened up to her much more than my previous therapists...She helped me realise all of my strengths and actually ‘hear’ what they are, in a way I haven’t before...I am so glad that I reached out to her for help, as it has made a massive difference to my quality of life... If you have gotten this far in the process of seeking therapy, then definitely make the final jump to start. Things will get better if you stick with it. Sometimes the progress feels small or not at all, then one day you’re looking back and seeing how far you have come. Finding the right therapist that you gel with really makes the biggest difference, so keep going until you find them. That was Vanya for me."
"After several failed attempts at getting help with my mental health over the past 10 years, working with Vanya has been an extremely positive experience... Tackling specific issues in my life causing constant discomfort has actually led to improvements in pretty much all areas of my life, which has been amazing. I feel stronger, happier and am finding it easier to challenge unhelpful thoughts and beliefs in my day-to-day life."
Training, qualifications & experience
I am qualified as a CBT therapist and I work in an integrative way, drawing from a wide range of psychotherapeutic theories and methods. I have a compassion-focussed approach and specialise in anxiety, maladaptive perfectionism, low self-esteem, assertiveness, and boundaries. I also have a degree in comparative literature and a soft spot for linguistics. This ties in well with my work in the area of self-criticism and challenging unhelpful thinking as CBT research has found that the way we speak to ourselves, the way we word our thoughts, often has a significant impact on how we feel and behave.
I am a registered therapist on the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) Professional Standards Authority Accredited Register. This ensures that I work to the highest standard and practice in line with the ethical code of conduct. The therapeutic interventions I use are recommended by the National Institute for Health Care and Excellence (NICE) and supported by scientific research. This is because it's important to keep you safe in our work. By incorporating these proven techniques into your individually tailored therapy plan, we can effectively address your concerns and work towards sustainable positive change.
Throughout my career, I have worked in student counselling, stepped-care models through NHS England Talking Therapies/IAPT, community counselling, and I have been running a successful small private practice since 2023. Before becoming a therapist, I worked in client-facing roles in Higher Education and in the Third Sector, so I also draw from my experience in student support and charity work.
Qualifications and training:
- Postgraduate Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Groupwork
- COSCA Certificate in Counselling Skills
- Master of Arts (Hons) Literature in a World Context
- ASIST Suicide First Aid
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
Therapies offered
Photos & videos
Fees
£55.00 - £60.00
Concessions offered for
Additional information
Introductory Phone Call:
I offer a free 10-minute phone call, which can give us an opportunity to introduce each other and hear a bit more about why you're seeking therapy and how I might be able to help. In the comments box, please state:
- a brief summary of what brings you to therapy
- your preferred format (online or in-person)
- your preferred session times.
Fees:
Standard price per session: £60
I have a few limited spaces for concessions, depending on circumstances, which must be agreed in advance, depending on availability.
All fees are per 50-minute session.
Frequency:
Normally, we would meet weekly at the same time.
When I work
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Further information
I have found that it is crucial to have a good understanding of not only how problems are affecting you now, but also where they started and why they haven't resolved themselves. Understanding your early experiences and the environment where you learned how to think and how to cope with difficulty is likely to give us an insight into what your beliefs are and how to move forward. We would take it one day at a time, at the pace that is manageable for you. If you do not wish to discuss the past, then this is entirely up to you and we can certainly only focus on the present. From a CBT point, we would focus on figuring out what ways of thinking, what beliefs, and what behaviours are no longer helpful for you. Gaining awareness of this will help us to start making small changes in your way of thinking and acting, which will then show us more about how life might be if these changes were to stay. There is no right or wrong way to be in therapy and my role is not to judge or assess you (even though you may hear the word 'assessment' being used in relation to checking in on how you're doing and what's been bothering you). My role also isn't to 'fix' or 'cure' you. I do not subscribe to pathologising human experience - in other words, there is nothing to 'fix' as there is nothing 'wrong' or 'broken' in the first place. Therapy is about learning how to manage your difficulties better, understanding what makes them worse, and making some intentional changes in your life to help you be in a better headspace. You will know yourself best and I will be there to support you while you find the answers you may have been missing. Therapy is, above all else, a space to explore, be curious, and consider accepting yourself, others, and the world. Therein lies recovery.
