Kalia Popovska:
Trainee CBT Psychotherapist (BABCP, BPS)
My name is Kalia Popovska. I am a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) psychotherapist trainee registered with the BABCP and BPS. I work with the NHS providing CBT therapy to children, adolescents and adults, I also volunteer at HQ Therapy’s low-cost counselling service. I am also a Systemic Counsellor and an EMDR Practitioner.
Having gained experience working as a CBT practitioner with a variety of client groups using CBT, I have seen firsthand the positive impact this approach can have in reducing distress and helping clients recover from low mood and depression. When working with clients applying the CBT approach, I help clients understand that how they feel is determined by how they interpret a situation, rather than by the situation, per se.
I have helped clients learn and adopt the approach of reframing a situation to alter its emotional impact. Seeing the therapy as a dynamic process allows me to help clients move away from the rigidity and become more flexible in the cognitive, emotional and behavioural aspects of their lives.
I work in a person-centred way that encourages the client’s natural self-healing process. I believe that people can achieve their full potential if they take an active role in the management of their mental health difficulties and future plans. I allow a space for clients to find the answers, for and within themselves, by staying curious and explorative of the person’s subjective view of the world.
I also work in a trauma-informed way, and the client-therapist relationship is of utmost importance for a therapeutic shift to take place. I encourage positive transference within the therapeutic room, fostering the supportive and secure ‘parent’ as a base of any therapeutic work. This allows me to work well through attachment difficulties and complex trauma by addressing the core disturbances in one’s life.
I am interested in working in a trauma-informed way with clients with PTSD and attachment difficulties. People who grow up in an environment of fear, chaos, rejection, and abandonment carry unhelpful beliefs about themselves that impact their everyday lives and functioning. For example, people can see themselves as damaged, not lovable, or that the world is a dangerous place. Clients who bring these beliefs into the therapeutic room allow space for significant therapeutic work to take place.
Beliefs, emotions and cognitions formed by complex trauma may have a tremendous impact on the therapeutic alliance and progress. As a therapist, I see this as an opportunity to work with the client through transference, countertransference and projection and work with the attachment difficulties on an intra- and inter-personal level. The attachment goes both ways. And, like a good parent, I help clients leave the nest when it’s time.
In my adolescent years and early adulthood, I benefited from personal therapy. By digging deeper into my past experiences with the help of a therapist, I was able to rewrite and illuminate the narratives of many of those experiences. Today, I help people move from a place of pain and suffering to a state where they find their authentic purpose and learn to be their own therapists for life. I also specialise in depression, anxiety, relationships, bereavement and loss, and managing distressing emotions.
I am currently completing the Postgraduate Diploma in CBT at Goldsmiths’ University of London. My academic background further enhances my clinical work:
Postgraduate Certificate in CBT at University College London (UCL) & Anna Freud Centre
Systemic and Marriage Counselling at School for Family and Systemic Psychotherapy & Counselling (EU)
Adult and YP EMDR at Training EMDR European Association
Psychodiagnostic Testing at School for Family and Systemic Psychotherapy & Counselling (EU)
Certificate in Counselling Skills at WPF Therapy London
