Konstandina Polychronopoulou

I am friendly, relaxed, empathetic and non-judgmental in the individual and couples' counselling sessions I offer. I create a personalised approach that works best for each individual, drawing from twenty years of clinical experience and studying various therapeutic approaches such as Jungian, Existential, Cognitive-Behavioural, Psychodynamic, Narrative therapy and Mindfulness & Guided Imagery Meditations. What I can help you with: RELATIONSHIPS I have twenty years of experience in working with relationship challenges, and I have seen that for many of us, relationships are the source of the greatest hurts and the greatest joy and fulfilment. Many of my clients often find it difficult to communicate what they want in their relationship, which results in them feeling misunderstood and disconnected. Another core challenge we work with is the repetitive situations in their relationship that leave them stuck and unfulfilled. I support my clients to increase their understanding of themselves and others, to approach their partners with more confidence and clarity, and learn how to set the right boundaries for them. I also have extensive experience working with DATING difficulties, the first step towards starting a new relationship. I support people in the process of finding someone who is a good match for them, and connect with the right people. I help my clients decrease the stress of the first dates, make the right choices for them, and love their life as it is, while they create the relationship that they want. COUPLES COUNSELLING At the heart of working with couples is to restore the communication between the two partners, to deepen the understanding for each other, to learn to respect each other’s needs, and to help them rebuild trust. Seeing the relationship from this new perspective is the basis from which we can approach the difficulties that the relationship might be facing, such as loss of connection, conflicts, intimacy, parenting challenges, affairs, betrayal, and non-helpful dynamics. COUPLES' AFFAIRS I can support you with navigating the hurt, difficulty in trust and emotional suffering that often results from couples' affairs where there has been a violation of emotional or sexual exclusivity. We can work together on expressing and processing your emotions, understanding and empathising with each other, renewing the connection and the sense of belonging in the relationship. You can turn it around to work on developing more understanding of who you and the other person are; your needs, desires, emotions, values, beliefs and boundaries. FERTILITY RELATED ISSUES For many years now, I have been offering support with fertility challenges, and I strongly admire the determination and strength often needed to move through them. I offer support with navigating through a potentially complex emotional landscape that may include fear, anxiety, shame, and guilt. Together, we can also understand and process challenges in your relationships with your partner and others, and work on creating a sense of identity that is not based on parenthood. PARENTHOOD I help parents develop coping skills in approaching challenging situations with their children and feel confident and in control of their emotions. My work with parents focuses on promoting their well-being, understanding of their children’s needs, and bonding with their children. MIDLIFE TRANSITIONS I support my clients who are going through midlife transitions in finding new meaning, trust, and belief in themselves and how they want to live their lives now. Positive reframing of new ways of living is often part of working with midlife transitions such as career shifts, empty nest, becoming a parent, marriage, divorce, and menopause. HIGH SENSITIVITY I am deeply passionate about working with fellow highly sensitive people. Navigating being a highly sensitive person for all my life and seeing many other highly sensitive people in my practice shows me that the establishment of a validating, encouraging, and supportive environment is crucial. To be heard, seen and understood in a way that is devoid of judgement and to be allowed to take all the space that they need. We can work together with sensory overload and triggers, and find ways to manage them with mindfulness, grounding, meditation, and other positive reframing exercises. ETHICAL NON-MONOGAMY (ENM), OPEN RELATIONSHIPS, POLYAMORY Each relationship's dynamics, structure and individual journeys are different, and I support navigating each person's needs, challenges, desires and boundaries. Our work together could include navigating jealousy, building emotional resilience, transitioning from monogamous to non-monogamous relationships, discussing relationship expansion within a couple, working through and processing emotions around social and cultural challenges, discussing boundaries, co-parenting decision-making, and enhancing trust. My approach in psychotherapy is Integrative, which means that the way I work combines elements from different methods in order to adapt to the desires, needs, and goals of each client individually to help them accept, love, and create their life as they want it to be. I am a member of BACP, the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. The methods that I use are: Existential Phenomenological Therapy Existential Therapy helps us find the purpose and meaning in our lives by understanding our relationships and the events we experience. In Existential Therapy, we work with the fears and anxieties that are core aspects of living, such as loneliness, confusion, and fear of the unknown. Its fundamental tenet is that each of us is capable of making decisions and taking personal responsibility for building a meaningful life. Psychodynamic Therapy In Psychodynamic Therapy, we focus on changing problematic patterns (of thought and behaviour) in our lives by understanding the unconscious causes, meanings and motivations behind them. Our unconscious is formed by past experiences and established associations in our minds. In therapy, we review past events in a new light to gain a deeper understanding of ourselves and others and thus release ourselves from the old patterns. Analytical (Jungian) Psychology In Analytical Psychology, we examine the experiences and influences in our lives from a symbolic perspective. The core idea is that there are certain symbolic themes shared by all humanity (archetypes). By working on the themes that play a key role in our own lives, we can identify which positive and negative aspects of them we are expressing. In the therapeutic context, we can use art, mythology, dream analysis and other creative ways of expression to increase our self-awareness. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) In CBT, we aim to alter dysfunctional thoughts and behaviours by recognising the core beliefs that give rise to them. Clients keep a journal of their anxious or self-defeating thoughts, which they learn to replace with more helpful ones. Clients also gradually expose themselves to situations they perceive as threatening or anxiety-provoking as a means to eventually perceive them as less dangerous and to reinforce the new, more balanced, thinking patterns and behaviours. Mindfulness and Guided Imagery Meditations Mindfulness is a set of practices in which we focus on present-moment experiences like observing our breath, sensations in our bodies, our emotions and more. Practicing Mindfulness regularly teaches us to be more grounded in the now and to live more fully each and every moment of our lives. This greatly helps us with overthinking, anxiety and other challenging mental states and feelings. In Guided Imagery, we concentrate on mental images to guide our minds to relaxing and positive scenes. In this safe space, we can rehearse the desired scenarios and outcomes in our mind's eye. Guided Imagery helps us to regulate our stress and worries, to be calmer in our everyday lives and to feel a better sense of control over our lives' situations.