We are happy to welcome Irena into our team of colleagues, sharing offices in Sonnenstraße. Like Richard, she works independently of the other therapists/cousellors (with separate liability) and has her own separate business within the rooms we all share.
Irena has postgraduate qualifications in psychology and is recognised in the United Kingdom as a psychotherapist. For legal purposes here in Germany, she is currently qualified as a „Beraterin“ / counsellor, which means she is able to offer advice and support in navigating emotional and life challenges, but she is unable to make formal diagnoses or offer medical or psychotherapeutic support. I am particularly excited to share practice rooms with Irena because of her commitment to helping her clients with Internal Family Systems (IFS).
I am originally from Scotland (Dundee), and have both Scottish and Polish roots. Following a 12 year career in industry, I began my therapy career in earnest in 2008, after recognising that I have always been a psychologist at heart. My core postgraduate therapy training was in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), which is a very practical approach focused on the here-and-now.
With time and further study I have come to adopt a way of working that more fully explores the role of relationships, past and present, inside and out, and I integrate work from a range of therapies (including psychodynamic, relational and systemic as well as CBT), in response to the needs of the people I work with. I am also trained to Level 2 in Internal Family Systems therapy (IFS), with both individuals and with couples and this is currently my preferred way of working.
Although I view my work as being with people rather than ‘diagnoses’, I have worked extensively with clients whose difficulties might be described in terms of anxiety, depression, anger and trauma, as well as appearance-related distress and adapting to long-term health conditions, facing life challenges and changes, and more recently, relationship issues and couples work. I am a mother, a wife, a runner, a committed lifelong learner, and I love spending time outdoors. I am also navigating the midlife adventure of menopause and all that this entails.
I look forward to meeting you.
| 2005 – 2007 | BSc (Hons) Psychology, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK. |
| 2008 – 2009 | MSc in Health Psychology, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK. |
| 2011 – 2013 | MSc in Psychological Therapies (CBT, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy), University of the West of England, Bristol, UK. |
| 2017 – 2018 | Certificate in Counselling (Psychodynamic), Gloucestershire Counselling Service (GCS), Stroud, UK . |
| 2020 – 2022 | Professional Doctorate in Counselling Psychology (interrupted to relocate to Germany in 2022), University of the West of England, Bristol, UK |
| 2021 | IFS (Internal Family Systems) Level 1 training (IFS UK). |
| 2022 | IFIO (Intimacy from the Inside Out), Internal Family Systems Couples Training (Level 2) (IFS UK). |
| 2022 | Lives of Quiet Desperation (working with male mental health). |
| 2022 | IFS Level 2 Deepening and Expanding Training (IFS UK). |