find out who you are and be it on purpose

Hello and Welcome!

I am glad you have found your way to my website.

My name is Velia, I am a native Italian speaker and I work as a registered professional counsellor in West London, offering individual sessions to adults, both in English and Italian and leading workshops and process groups.

Solid alternatives to purely cognitive approaches and talk therapies,  Core Energetics, and BioGestalt are my theoretical models, all of which are holistic and  body-oriented approaches within the wider field of humanistic therapies.

All the skills I am trained in are brought to the sessions, according to your individual needs. 

We all have times in our lives when we are struggling to cope with something.

If you are finding yourself stuck or overwhelmed and it is impacting on your ability to enjoy life, or you are looking for an evolutionary path and personal growth, greater self-awareness and a more fulfilling life, I can support you on your journey assisting you holistically through a wide range of matters you may have to deal with, such as:

• emotional distress or behavioural issues (e.g. doubts, fears, worries, anger, emotions and feelings you are not comfortable with)
• relationships difficulties (e.g. partner, family, friends, colleagues) or parenting issues
• crisis or coping with change and transitions
• loss and bereavement
• existential and spiritual matters

Of course, there are hundreds of issues or even simple curiosity that might have led you in this direction and - whatever that is - you are welcome here.

It is always worth it spending time to better see and understand yourself and make choices true to yourself.

You do not need to do it alone though, especially if you do not feel like you can or you feel like you could benefit from the support of someone impartial and professionally trained.

I hope that browsing on my website you will find all you want to know about me and my work. Give me a call or email me if you need any further clarification or to arrange a first free consultation (without obligation) and find out how I can help you with an holistic embodied approach.

“Counselling” is an interactive relationship based on trust and collaboration which provides you with a confidential space to be heard and to explore your thoughts and feelings in safety, with the aim of strengthening your capacity for self-determination, finding your personal resources and facilitating their use to deal with existential/emotional distress or relationship issues, achieve personal growth and improve, in general, quality of life.

I work in the field of promoting well-being, which is not to be confused with other fields: I do not provide medical or psychological diagnoses/cures.

My role as counsellor is to accompany you through your process without judgement, always with the highest regard for your individuality and respect for your emotional, physical, mental and spiritual autonomy.

As a society we often see the body as an object, which needs to be fixed and kept beautiful (sometimes altered as well). Or we do not see it at all, identifying ourselves with only our mind and thoughts, while in fact it is something we inhabit and which tells its own story.

Our body carries a record of our developmental history and is an important mirror of our individual characters.

Much of who we are is a result of all our experiences, especially those we lived in our childhood. Our interactions with others and the adaptations we learnt, induced beliefs and reactions that are literally held in the body and may become stuck patterns of response which no longer serve us.

As we become adult this ‘holding’ may cause physical and emotional issues but may also give clues to our potential for growth and creativity.

In recognising the intimate relationship between our body and our psychological well-being and accessing our innate somatic wisdom, not only may we better understand and treat our concerns, that so often are beyond words and cognition, but also learn how to find a pleasure that is also, like the suffering, a constituent attribute of the human being and that is instead so often forgotten in our daily lives.

Ceasing to believe that we have a body and recognising that we are (also) our body, not only can we learn to observe, recognise, verbalize and listen to what we feel, but also regain our wholeness, the creativity and joy of our own life energy and the pleasure of being alive.