Maria Apiafi

I currently have availability on Tuesday and Wednesday

Hello, my name is Maria and I am a fully qualified and experienced therapist.

I offer face-to-face, online, and telephone therapy for adult individuals seeking to lead more meaningful and fulfilling lives.

Reaching out for therapy can feel like a big step. You may feel unsure, overwhelmed, or wonder whether what you’re experiencing is “enough” to bring. People often seek therapy because they feel unfulfilled, unhappy, or unable to cope with everyday life — and all of these reasons are valid.

People come to therapy for many different reasons. You might be experiencing anxiety, depression, bereavement or loss, relationship difficulties, or the impact of trauma or abuse. For others, therapy can be a valuable space for personal or professional development, including navigating workplace challenges or life transitions.

Therapy offers the opportunity to explore what’s going on for you, to make sense of your experiences and to develop greater awareness and understanding of yourself. This process can support healing past hurts, recognising and changing patterns in relationships, and building a greater sense of hope for the future.

How I work

I offer both in-person sessions in Nottingham and online therapy across the UK, as well as telephone sessions where appropriate.

The length of therapy depends on your individual needs. I offer short-term, mid-term, and long-term psychotherapy, allowing the work to be shaped around what feels most helpful and manageable for you.

As a Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapist, I draw on a range of recognised and evidence-based approaches to offer a flexible way of working that is tailored to you. I work relationally, meaning I place importance on the therapeutic relationship as a central part of the process.

Therapy takes place in a safe, confidential and non-judgemental space where thoughts and feelings can be expressed freely. I aim to listen with sensitivity and empathy, supporting you to explore your experiences at a pace that feels right.

I have experience supporting clients with complex trauma and post-traumatic stress, including where this may be experienced somatically, such as through physical symptoms or health-related concerns.

For therapy to be meaningful, it can sometimes involve exploring difficult or uncomfortable thoughts, feelings, or patterns. While there are no quick fixes, I am committed to supporting you through this process with care, professionalism, and consistency.

My experience

Alongside my private practice, I have experience working within the NHS, charities and Employee Assistance Programmes (EAP), supporting clients with a range of emotional, relational and work-related challenges.

Before retraining as a therapist, I spent many years working in aviation and the corporate sector, including supporting senior leaders in high-pressure, fast-paced environments. This gives me a grounded understanding of workplace stress and burnout, high-responsibility roles, organisational dynamics, identity, transition, and performance pressure, the impact of unsocial hours, disrupted sleep and demanding work environments.

I have lived and worked internationally, including in the Middle East and Europe, which informs my awareness of cultural differences and life transitions.

My work also includes an awareness of neurodiversity, and I aim to offer a thoughtful, flexible approach that recognises different ways of processing, experiencing, and relating.

I have experience supporting clients with anxiety and depression, trauma and loss, relationship and attachment difficulties, self-esteem and identity challenges.

Looking for a therapist can feel like a meaningful first step.

If you’d like to get in touch, please send me an email and we can begin with an initial conversation to explore what has brought you here, what support might be helpful and to answer any practical questions about therapy. It’s also a chance for you to get a sense of me and how I work. Fit matters in therapy, and it’s important that it feels right for you.

Our first session offers time to share more fully what has led you to therapy and what you hope for. We’ll go at a pace that feels manageable, with space to ask questions and express any uncertainties about the process. This session also helps us begin to understand whether working together feels like a good fit and to start shaping the focus of the work.

Please email me and we can find a mutually convenient time.

Hello and welcome, my name is Maria, I am a qualified humanistic and integrative therapist. I work online and in person with young people (from 18 years), adults, employee assistance and wellbeing services (EAP), organisations and charities.

I understand that therapy can feel like a big step and finding a therapist can be a daunting experience. Many people take time to reach out, feel unsure or tentative, quietly wondering if what they’re going through is “enough” to bring or feel exposed at the idea of sharing their inner world with someone they don’t yet know. If that’s you, I want you to know you’re not alone and I’m mindful of the courage it takes simply to reach out.

People seek therapy for different reasons. Some come with a clear difficulty while others arrive with a quieter sense that something feels heavy or disconnected, unfulfilling or hard to name. Therapy can support both — whether you’re feeling overwhelmed or anxious, navigating loss, grief, relationship challenges or trauma, feeling stuck in unhelpful patterns, seeking relief from distress, wanting to understand yourself more deeply or exploring personal or professional growth.

Therapy isn’t about quick fixes or forcing change before you’re ready. We explore what matters at a pace that feels manageable, with no expectation to open up before you’re ready. Therapy can help raise awareness, soften old patterns and support a kinder relationship with yourself and others. At times, it may feel challenging as we make contact with thoughts or feelings that have been hard to acknowledge. I will support you in doing this at a pace that feels manageable.

People measure change in different ways — for some it’s reduced distress and for others it’s a shift in self-awareness, relationships or how they meet themselves day-to-day. Often, the most meaningful change is the one we feel in our relationship with ourselves.

How I work 

I offer face-to-face, currently at Nottingham Counselling Service and online therapy. 

My practice is integrative, which means I draw from a range of recognised and researched therapeutic approaches that place our relationship at the heart of the process. I’m particularly interested in how earlier experiences and relationships shape our sense of self and how we relate to others in the present. 

Therapy is a process that unfolds through consistency and relationship. Meeting regularly, weekly, helps create a sense of safety and continuity as we explore what you’re carrying. Whether this is your first time seeking therapy or you’re returning to it, I aim to offer a warm, confidential and collaborative space to explore emotional, relational and work-related challenges. For some people this may mean a brief, focused piece of work and for others a longer period of therapy.

My experience 

I have worked within the NHS and across corporate environments including aviation, financial services and the leisure industry. These experiences have given me a grounded understanding of how demanding systems, caring roles and workplace pressures can impact confidence, wellbeing and relationships. 

Before becoming a therapist, I lived and worked in the Middle East, Spain, Gibraltar, the UK and Ireland, including over a decade supporting senior leaders in cross-cultural corporate environments. This shaped my interest in workplace dynamics, identity, transition and resilience and informs my discreet, attuned and emotionally present therapeutic style. 

Alongside my private practice, I volunteer at a local counselling charity providing therapy to adults from a wide range of backgrounds and life experiences. This has deepened my appreciation of how identity, confidence and difference shape how we relate to ourselves and others.

Looking for a therapist can feel like a meaningful first step. 

If you’d like to get in touch, please send me an email and we can begin with an initial conversation to explore what has brought you here, what support might be helpful and to answer any practical questions about therapy. It’s also a chance for you to get a sense of me and how I work. Fit matters in therapy and it’s important that it feels right for you.

First session

Our first session offers time to share more fully what has led you to therapy and what you hope for. We’ll go at a pace that feels manageable and there’s space to ask questions and express any uncertainties about the process. This session also helps us begin to understand whether working together feels like a good fit and to start shaping the focus of the work in a way that feels supportive for you.