About me
Hi, I'm Ilona.
About me
Me in the therapy room
My work is grounded in Gestalt therapy and I have also completed EMDR training - currently working towards EMDR Europe accreditation.
My training as well as personal and work experiences have shaped a special interest in trauma. However I also work with people experiencing anxiety, intrusive thoughts, depression, relationship difficulties, loss and challenging life transitions, amongst others.
Therapy with me is not just about strategies and techniques. The therapeutic relationship matters. A lot. I believe therapy is also about feeling seen, heard and understood. I pay attention to what you tell me, while together we get curious about any patterns, emotions and experiences that may be harder to put into words.
At the heart of this work though is you, the client. Our work is collaborative. I believe you are the expert on yourself and your own experience, even when you feel disconnected from yourself or unsure of what you need or where to go next. You don't have to have it all figured out before you begin. So let's explore it together, with space for you to be, and to become.
Who am I outside the therapy room?
If you take the therapist out of the therapy room, I’m still very much me; with a few added layers.
A 42-year-old mum and dog-mum, a wife, daughter, sister and a friend. I love company, but I love to be alone. I love listening, I love talking, I love reading and I love writing. Which is probably why this website exists.
When life is life-ing, I’m raising a football-obsessed 10-year-old boy, juggling time with family and friends, balancing work and everyday chaos, drinking far too much tea, cappuccino and Diet Coke (I promise I do get my water intake in!), and generally trying to find some equilibrium between doing, being and actually switching off — which happens far less than I would like. But when it does happen, switching off usually involves repeat episodes on Netflix or a book. And again, tea.
Before I am a therapist, I am a human being. And like every person reading this space, I overthink, I lose my patience, I make mistakes. I have good days, I have difficult days and I have terrible ones. My own mental health plays tricks on me, and let’s not even get started on my physical health.
But I do try to control what I can control. By going to therapy myself, by practising what I preach and by doing the best I can when life happens. I don’t believe being a therapist means having a neatly sorted life. In fact, if you’re looking for a therapist who somehow has that, then I’m probably not the right therapist for you.
I suppose this page is simply that: my way of saying that the person sitting in that therapy room may have a warrant and a licence to practise, but underneath all that is simply a person. I don’t leave that person behind when I become your therapist. I bring my humanity and lived experiences with me. The life I have lived, and am still figuring out, with all the good, the tough and the ugly, has made me simply, me.
Genuine, authentic connection is how I find my place in this world. It matters to me in my friendships, in my everyday life and in the work I do. So it’s what I hope you’ll feel should you wish to meet me in my therapy room: a space to be yourself, with another human being who meets you as you are.