Alina Badescu

I currently offer evening sessions after 18:00, because life doesn’t magically stop being complicated at 5 pm. Between work, family, dinner, laundry, and that email you’ve been avoiding since Tuesday, finding time for yourself can feel like a logistical operation worthy of NASA.

If daytime therapy would mean taking annual leave, inventing a mysterious dentist appointment, or having a minor existential crisis in your car during lunch, an evening session might be just what you need.

Once the day’s chaos has settled (or at least changed into its pyjamas), you can finally have some time that’s just for you. A chance to talk about what’s going on in your head, why certain things keep bothering you, or why you keep saying “I’m fine” when you are, in fact, about as fine as a phone on 2% battery.

So, why not make an evening yours? Instead of spending another night replaying conversations, overthinking that text or having imaginary arguments in the shower, you could use that time to understand yourself a little better. You don’t need to have a crisis, a perfectly worded explanation or a five-year plan for your emotional wellbeing. Just bring yourself, as you are.

If evenings after 18:00 work for you, I’d love to hear from you. Get in touch, and let’s find a time that fits. Your washing can wait. Your own wellbeing deserves a place in the diary, too. 

I work integratively, which means I don’t believe one approach fits everyone. I draw on different therapeutic perspectives, including person-centred, psychodynamic, Gestalt, transactional analysis, internal family system, and EFT, depending on what feels useful for you. Sometimes we explore where things began; sometimes we focus on what’s happening right now. Sometimes we sit with a feeling that has no words yet or a part that just wants to be heard.

I’m a qualified integrative counsellor and a registered member of the BACP. This means our work can adapt to you, rather than you having to fit a particular theory. My approach is trauma-informed, and I pay attention to both your experiences and the ways you’ve learned to cope with them.

You don’t need to wait until you’re falling apart to talk to someone. You can come as you are—confused, angry, exhausted, skeptical, or simply fed up with feeling the way you do. We can start there.

I’m interested in what lies beneath the surface: the ways you learned to protect yourself, the relationships that shaped you, and why you might keep ending up in situations you promised yourself you’d never repeat. No blame, no quick fixes, and no pretending that understanding something automatically makes it easy to change.

I won’t hand you a list of positive affirmations and send you on your way. Sometimes insight comes slowly. Sometimes progress looks like setting a boundary. Sometimes it’s simply being able to say out loud what you’ve spent years keeping to yourself.

Therapy can be a place to get curious about these parts of yourself without turning them into another thing to criticize. Not to blame your past for everything or to analyze every thought until your head hurts, but to understand yourself a little differently and discover what you might want to do differently, too.

You’re allowed to be a work in progress without treating yourself like a problem to solve.

 Think of our first session as a chance to meet, get to know each other a little, and see how it feels to sit in the same (virtual or actual) room. No job interview vibes, no PowerPoint presentation about your childhood, and definitely no need to have your life story neatly organized into chapters.

We’ll talk about what’s brought you to counselling, what’s been going on lately, and what you’d like to be different. Maybe you know exactly what’s bothering you. Maybe everything feels tangled and you don’t know where to start. Both are fine. You can even start with, “I don’t know why I’m here, really.” We’ll work from there.

I might ask a few questions to understand you better, but this isn’t an interrogation. You’re not under investigation, and there are no bonus points for sharing your deepest secrets in the first hour. You choose what you feel comfortable talking about, and we go at your pace.

We’ll also cover the practical stuff, including confidentiality, boundaries, and how sessions work. I’ll explain what you can expect from me, and you can ask me anything you need to feel comfortable. I promise there won’t be a terms-and-conditions quiz at the end.

You might feel nervous, relieved, awkward, or emotional, or wonder whether you’ve somehow managed to book an appointment to talk about nothing. That’s all part of being human. You don’t need to perform, impress me, or pretend everything is fine.

The first session won’t magically solve your problems (if only therapy came with that sort of customer service). It’s simply a chance to begin making sense of things and decide whether we feel like a good fit.

Bring yourself as you are. Messy thoughts, nervous laughter, awkward silences, and all. You don’t need to bring biscuits, although I won’t mind  you if you do.