Adelina Mileva

Hello,

I’m Addie, short for Adelina,

I’m a Humanistic Integrative Therapist and Specialist Substance Misuse Practitioner, offering a warm, non-judgemental therapeutic space where you can talk openly and at your own pace. I work with adults who are struggling with addiction, eating difficulties, anxiety, low mood, and complex emotional patterns.

I’m the founder of Mind Canvas Counselling, a therapeutic space where art, psychology, and human emotion meet. My work is grounded and professional, but also creative and compassionate. I believe therapy doesn’t have to be heavy all the time - there is room for curiosity, imagination, and moments of lightness too.

How I Work

My approach is Humanistic Integrative, which means I tailor therapy to you as a person, rather than fitting you into a single model. I work relationally and collaboratively, combining emotional depth with psychological understanding.

I also value creativity in therapy. For some people, this may include gentle use of imagery, metaphor, or inner-child work - not as something forced or “arty”, but as a way of reconnecting with parts of ourselves that hold emotion, playfulness, and unmet needs. Supporting our inner world can be a powerful way to support our mental health.

Alongside my private practice, I work within the NHS and specialist services, and my approach is informed by extensive experience with complex and sensitive issues.

My Approach

At Mind Canvas Counselling, therapy is a space to pause, reflect, and make sense of your inner world. I work from a Humanistic Integrative framework, which means I draw on different therapeutic traditions while keeping you, your experience and your pace at the centre of the work.

Mind Canvas Counselling therapist

A Relational way of working

I believe that healing happens in relationship. Many of the difficulties we carry (addiction, disordered eating, anxiety, shame, or feeling stuck) are shaped in relationship too. Therapy offers a different kind of relational experience: one that is steady, compassionate, and non judgemental.

In our work together, we pay attention not only to what you say, but to how you feel, how patterns repeat, and how earlier experiences may still be influencing the present. This includes gently exploring unconscious processes, attachment patterns, and emotional responses that may not yet have words.

Integration, not labels

My work is informed by humanistic, psychodynamic, and relational thinking, and shaped by years of experience in specialist addiction and mental health settings. Some sessions may feel reflective and exploratory; others may focus more on grounding, understanding urges, or navigating real life challenges. We work collaboratively, allowing therapy to evolve as you do.

Creativity and the inner world

Mind Canvas was created from the belief that our inner world is layered, symbolic, and often creative in nature. For some people, talking alone is enough. For others, gentle creative approaches can open up different ways of understanding what's happening inside.

Where appropriate, I may invite the use of metaphor, imagery, or inner child work, not as something playful for its own sake, but as a way of connecting with parts of the self that hold emotion, vulnerability, and unmet needs. This can be especially meaningful in work around addiction, eating difficulties, and long standing emotional patterns.