Elena Cengher

Currently I have availability on Wednesday evenings. It can be that for sessions online we can find availability outside Wednesdays.

“Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do. With your one wild and precious life?" Mary Oliver

I believe that getting to know who we are is so important for living a fulfilled life. Understanding how we are in relationship, how we connect with ourselves and with another is something that fascinates me and that impacts so much our quality of living.

We arrive in the world like a blank canvas. As our souls become embodied, we absorb and learn from early infancy how to be, what is “allowed” and what is “bad”, we split and polarise dark and light, good and bad. We learn from our families, our environment, we absorb what is around us and we learn patterns of living. Some serve us well and some don’t serve us at all.

How we learn to be in the world is afterwards influencing how we show up in our lives, be it at work, in an intimate relationship, in friendships or in our communities.

Irrespective of the reason that brings you to therapy I offer a safe and welcoming space for you to get to know a bit more about yourself. Get to know what are the stories that shaped you, the stories that made you who you are today.

There is no right length of time for it. You can use that space as much or as little as you want and at your own pace. My aim is to be alongside you on the journey of self exploration. Ultimately I am hoping to help you get closer in answering the question that Mary Oliver raised a while ago “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

Your whole self is welcomed in this space, with all its parts. Even the not so pretty ones. Even the ones you are ashamed with. Even the ones that feel difficult to talk about.

My only aim is to be alongside you on the journey of self exploration and act as an enabler for the unfolding of what needs to be spoken about and heard without judgement.

I qualified as a therapist in 2017. I am originally from Romania and have moved to UK in 2007. My original career is in the financial industry where I have a 20+ years of experience.

Through my life I have been used to inhabit the in between spaces and have always thought that I ended up bridging very different worlds.

I am genuinely passionate and curious about what it means to live a good life and about what is the yearning and the longing behind the original questions and the issues that people bring in therapy.

I have a diploma in psychotherapeutic counselling from Re-Vision. 

I have been working with clients since 2015 in various settings including private practice and volunteering (for Greenwich Mind and the Wimbledon Guild).

I have a keen interest in counselling and psychotherapy.

Re-Vision’s approach is integrative transpersonal counselling and has a soulful approach. The Transpersonal approach implies that the sense of self extends beyond (trans) the individual and emphasises the spiritual aspects of the human experience. The integrative approach means that the way I work combines a number of approaches (such as psychodynamic, Gestalt, Jungian).

And finally, the soulful approach is something that is really incorporated in the entire ReVision approach. Psychologists like James Hillman and Thomas Moore have really influenced the Re Vision approach with Hillman suggesting that symptoms/what troubles need to be looked at as a way into the soul rather than as something that needs to be fixed “Through the symptom the psyche (soul) demands attention” (James Hillman Blue Fire book).

When we meet, I sit down with you and we talk about what troubles you and what brought you to therapy. And from there we travel together on your self exploration journey. 

I have worked with anxiety, relationship issues, trauma, bereavement, issues around self esteem, procrastination, anger, heartache or meaning.

I am a registered member of BACP and I abide but their code of conduct.

I offer a 15 minutes free telephone chat before we meet face to face. 

I see the first session as a way to get to meet and see if we can work together. I generally use the session to understand what brings you to therapy and what are your hopes and fears and what are you looking to achieve. Also to understand a bit more about your background and how you got where you are today.

I do encourage all my clients to use the first session to get a sense of the therapist and the space in between.