Joanna Asia Chrzastowska
Counselling & Psychotherapy
Welcome, I am an experienced, UKCP and BACP accredited psychotherapist. I work with adults aged 18+ in both short and longer term therapy.
Whether you are currently dealing with something specific, are seeking emotional wellness, or would like to come into deeper relationship with yourself and others, this website is to give you a sense of what it might be like to work with me and if what I offer would be supportive to you.
Taking the journey
What motivates people to come to therapy
In my practice, I meet with people who bring along their challenges and dilemmas, their struggles and emotional pain, trauma, depression or anxiety they would like relief from, relationship issues, or loss in its many forms.
Often people seek counselling and psychotherapy as they have reached a turning point and come with a feeling that their life is not quite right, like something is just missing. They want to understand reasons why they feel unfulfilled, stuck or detached from themselves or others. They are brought by their desire to live a life that is true for them, with a sense of freedom and harmony within themselves.
My experience shows that at the heart of peoples’ motivation to embark on this journey is their drive for healthy and fulfilling relationships; be that relationship with themselves or relationships with others.
I welcome people of all ages (over 18yrs), ethnicities, gender identifications, sexual orientation, faiths, spiritual paths and religions.
My practice is LGBTQ+ aware and inclusive and I fully accept your sexual, gender or relationship identity.
As someone who identifies as bi-cultural, I have strong interest in cultural identity, and the challenge of belonging to two or more cultures.
Where to begin?
Working together
APPROACH
My approach is rooted in humanistic philosophy. This means that I acknowledge that every person is a unique being with particular talents, limitations, emotions, knowledge, and life stories.
I hold that relationships are at the heart of being human and that we can make meaning of our experiences through looking at how we relate to ourselves and others around us. Thus, exploring together what unfolds in the space between the client and the therapist is central to the process of therapy.
My focus is on creating a shared confidential and safe space, where you can navigate your internal world and make sense of what you experience.
I see therapy as a co-creation, something we work on together. I meet you, my client, as a fellow human being.
TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS
Psychotherapy & Counselling in London & online
I structure my work by ideas from Transactional Analysis (TA). TA therapy draws on the belief that we all have natural tendency towards growth and wellness. Yet, old patterns of relating, feeling and thinking, as well as layers of emotional defences can create blocks interrupting the natural cycle of wellness. The role of psychotherapist is to create the right conditions to remove those blocks.
OTHER INFLUENCES
In my therapeutic practice I have integrated ideas and techniques from relational neuroscience, Jungian analysis, ecotherapy, mindfulness and embodied approaches to life and therapy. Although my approach is rooted in Western psychology, I recognise the value in wisdom from other cultures and traditions.
What to expect from the process
Our self-experience is the product of our thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations.
Identifying, feeling, sensing and naming what is going on inside, and how it manifests in your ways of being in this world, is a stepping stone towards personal wellness.
Therapy provides a space for you to hear and feel what is true for you, and to develop more attentive relationship towards yourself.
The relationship you have with yourself is crucial to your own wellbeing and also to creating fulfilling relationships with others.
Seeing yourself anew
TA offers a framework within which we can explore how we have been shaped by our experiences. As we come into this world, we gradually learn how to be and act in ways that allow us to best meet our needs and stay safe. Often we continue to replay the old strategies in grown up life. However, the strategies, that were once useful, can become self-defeating, painful, or problematic.
My role as a psychotherapist is to be a mirror to you in which to look at yourself and your life. This means, that if we work together, I will offer curious and compassionate perspective and will help you put your experience into a wider context. This, I hope, will enable you to gain fresh insight in yourself.
Insight in yourself makes choice possible. By becoming aware of your patterns of being in this world, and past adaptations or defences, you can decide to change them and release that which no longer serves you.
Befriending your feelings
Sometimes in order to deal with challenging situations or in times of acute stress, we create distance from our own feelings, needs and desires to protect ourselves from further pain. Our feelings, however, never go away and if left unaddressed for long periods of time, they may lead to psychological issues, or sense of emptiness or alienation.
Often, we can’t unblock or unpack our feelings ourselves. My role as a psychotherapist is to create a containing, trusting space for you to feel safe to connect with your feelings without getting too overwhelmed or controlled by them.
If we work together, my hope would be that over time you may eventually be able to embrace and befriend the feelings that you once suppressed or ‘walled off’, and thus feel more connected to yourself and others, present and engaged with life.
Coming home to your body
When feelings are blocked, they block access to life in the body. The body seeks for solution through psychological or psychosomatic symptoms.
In the process of therapy, I may bring your attention to your body as we talk. I will invite you to notice your breathing, movement or sound so we can explore together the emotions and body sensations you have learnt to repress and how you continue doing it in order to protect yourself and be in this world.
By identifying, sensing and putting into words the reality of your inner experience, you can connect with what is alive within and feel more at home in your body.
Core values
Innate potential
We all have an innate potential that constantly seeks greater expression. To be in contact with that potential and to become who we yearn to be requires moving beyond past limits and defences, releasing that which no longer serves us. I believe if you are open and ready to engage in therapy, you can heal, change and grow.
Respect & Mutuality
My work is grounded in a philosophy of self and mutual respect, and equal relationships. We all have an essential core self that has value, dignity and worth. Psychotherapy is a meeting of two individuals who embark together on a journey of self-discovery and transformation.
Empowerment
As a therapist I start where the client is. In the process of therapy, I will invite you to access your own inner wisdom, resilience, and healing properties, and will facilitate you to find your own answers.
Diversity and inclusiveness
At the core of my practice is a philosophy of inclusiveness, through embracing the difference and acknowledging the importance of identity and belonging. I celebrate the diversity of human experience. I honour your journey.
Looking in & looking out
I believe we are all interdependent and interconnected. I therefore continually return to the importance of creating the basis for personal as well as collective wellness. This involves natural environment.
Integrity
I walk the walk. As a psychotherapist I care and am deeply invested in my own continuous personal and professional development, so I provide ethical therapy and maintain high standards of practice.
You’re on a journey and I’m here with you to create meaningful lasting change
You might have other questions about what talking therapy can help with. If you would like to explore how psychotherapy or counselling might help, please get in touch to make your first appointment.