Maria Kalinina

Past traumas haunts us, while the unpredictable future worries us - living in the present becomes increasingly more difficult. The constant that we can rely on is change. My aim is to help you take control of the change that you want to make, to claim the life you want for yourself, to find your meaning in your life, and live it as fully as possible.

I work with Personality Disorders and Dissociative Disorders including Dissociative Identity Disorder. Many of the people I work with have spent years trying to understand why they continue to feel unsafe, fragmented, disconnected or stuck despite previous work and interventions. I aim to meet you exactly where you are at and together we can take the steps towards your goals and needs.

My work is trauma-informed and grounded in both psychological understanding and lived human experience. I draw from DBT, MBT,  NARM and other evidence based approaches. My work is influenced by Existential/Stoic Philosophies. During the initial therapeutic assessment stage we will collaborate on a careplan to help you develop greater emotional regulation, self understanding, connection and stability.

My background includes 10 years of experience working within NHS community mental health, offender care services and private practice. This has shaped a grounded and realistic understanding of how different life experiences impact people and my personal belief that no problem is too great or too small

I offer long-term and open-ended psychotherapy with a particular focus on complex and developmental trauma, dissociation, emotional overwhelm and difficulties with identity, relationships and sense of self. 

I work within the Three Phase Approach to trauma, where therapy moves through different stages rather than following a fixed structure. We may move between these phases depending on your needs and what is emerging in the work.

The initial focus of Phase One is on developing safety, stability and a strong therapeutic working alliance. I aim to support you in reducing distressing symptoms around thinking patterns, emotional responses, relational dynamics and nervous system functioning. This may also include establishing and maintaining clear boundaries, developing internal communication and building psychological and emotional resources before moving into deeper processing work.

We may move into Phase Two, where we may begin to work more directly with unresolved experiences and the meanings that have formed around them. This may involve exploring traumatic memories, attachment wounds, internal conflicts, dissociative responses and entrenched beliefs about the self and others.

Recognising and mourning losses connected to earlier experiences, unmet needs, relationships, identity or aspects of self that may have been suppressed in order to survive is an important part of the healing journey.

Over time you will learn how to integrate which is Phase Three, integration between emotional experience, bodily awareness, thinking processes and sense of self, allowing greater flexibility, choice and agency within daily life and relationships.

You may begin to experience a greater sense of internal stability, emotional tolerance, self-understanding and continuity within your sense of self. Patterns of relating, responding and coping may begin to shift in ways that feel more connected, reflective and aligned with your present needs rather than past survival strategies.

I offer a free 20 min initial consultation to discuss what you are currently struggling with and what you are looking for from therapy.

This provides and opportunity to consider whether the way I work feels like a good fit for you.

Following this you can choose to begin therapy or arrange a more in-depth assessment to develop a tailored plan.