I was born and grew up in Athens/Greece. I am a BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy) accredited Counsellor/Psychotherapist since 2005 – also an accredited member of both the Hellenic and European Associations for Counselling. My education is inter-disciplinary, something that affects my thinking and openness to new ideas and fruitful debate. During my study years as an archaeology student at the University of Athens, I started my counselling training, initially in my country (Athens) and then to the UK where I have been living for the last few years. I see that archaeology and therapy are disciplines that are closely connected together; in my roles, both as a practitioner and as qualitative researcher in the counselling field, the discovery of scattered pieces or fragments that are coming together to a whole through the process of becoming and attainment of synthesis is a process that always fascinates and humbles me.

I qualified as a Counsellor at MA level at the University of Durham, UK (2002) and also trained as a  Counselling Supervisor (Cert.) at the University of Newcastle-upon-tyne, UK. I have also received an MSc in Research Methods (2006) that prepared me for my current undertaking of PhD counselling research at the University of Manchester, UK. I have worked in a variety of settings including the areas of staff counselling in the NHS, student counselling in FE and HE, counselling for refugees and asylum seekers, groupwork, counsellor training and in the voluntary sector.

I started travelling abroad at an early age and still enjoy coming in touch with different cultures. My research interests involve, amongst others, relationship dynamics, cross-cultural counselling and cultural identity, exploring the spiritual dimension in therapy, integration of humanistic and transpersonal approaches, heuristics and post-modern thinking, philosophy and psychotherapy.

My inner and outer journeys, within my ‘home-land’ and beyond, as well as my growing up as architects’  (what i call ‘home-makers’)daughter in a country (Greece) with long standing history of mobility, invasion and a threshold position on the geographical map as a gateway amongst three continents, have sensitised me in exploring issues of self and identity and their connection to ‘home’ and ‘belonging’ in a globalised, post-modern world.

Although I used to consider myself as a ‘techno-phobic’, I have developed my competence with web-use and I am positive about doing well with this online resource…looking forward to meeting you over the net…