I am fully qualified Relationship and Psychosexual therapist trained as a Medical Doctor in my 1st career. I help people change their habitual distressing negative patterns of ‘blame-distance’ or ‘attack-withdraw’ into safe emotional connection and functioning, working predominantly in Emotionally Focused Therapy approach and bringing in other modalities when necessary.
Scope of My Work
I specialise in working with distressed couples on a wide range of emotional, relational and sexual concerns:
- relationship and marital difficulties,
- pre-divorce and separation or highly ambivalent couples (Discernment Counseling- in Training),
- sexual problems in couples and individuals,
- anxieties and difficulties around sexual performance,
- problems with desire and arousal,
- trauma and loss,
- low self-esteem,
- difficulties in developing relationships and chronic loneliness,
- anger issues,
- parenting related problems,
- depression,
- pre-nuptial counseling
I work in many approaches integrated within Emotionally Focused Therapy model, with different and challenging life stage transitions and kinds of relationship, if you are married or not, long-term partners or more recent, separated or together, heterosexual, gay or lesbian – and most importantly the relationship with yourself.
My first career in Moscow was as a medical doctor, paediatrician and clinical neurologist, for 16 years, with PostGraduate qualifications in child development and neuropathology. I moved to the UK in 1993 and later on retrained in Systemic therapy, Psychodynamic approach, Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy, Emotionally Focused Therapy, Early Attachment and Psychopathology, and as a Psychosexual therapist.
I was the first UK therapist trained and certified in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT).
EFT is the attachment-based warm and collaborative approach, developed by Drs Sue Jonson and Lesley Greenberg, where couples learn to recognise their habitual negative patterns of ‘blame-distance’ or ‘attack-withdraw’, and are able to change them into a safe and loving way of relating.
I pioneered Emotionally Focused Therapy in the UK and have been organising EFT training in London since 2009 with Gail Palmer (co-founder of the approach) and Dr. Scott Woolley, ICEEFT international trainers and close associates of Sue Johnson, actively participating in all stages of EFT training.
I am initiator and founding member of British EFT Community (now Center), BEFT.
I am Director and Organising Committee of EFT INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL staging Annual International EFT Summer Schools in London, UK. I have also been presenting to the School EFT Newcomers cohort since 2016.
I am founder and director of Re-Connect, EFT Clinic in London.