Are the demands of life becoming overwhelming?
Do you seek a sanctuary to pause and reflect?
A space to explore your thoughts and emotions, and regain your sense of balance?
I am Olga Gelfman, a dedicated Psychoanalytical therapist registered with the UKCP, with a wealth of experience spanning over 17 years. While my consultancy room was once nestled in Surbiton, South West London, I have since relocated to the vibrant city of Singapore.
Today, I proudly serve clients not only in Europe but also across Southeast Asia. My practice thrives on the power of remote online therapy, which allows me to connect with individuals from various corners of the world. Whether you're in Surrey, London, Paris, Singapore, or anywhere else, I'm here to offer the support you need.
My focus is on working with both adults and adolescents, offering flexible therapy options, whether short-term (6-8 sessions), open-ended, or within a defined time frame. My ultimate goal is to empower you to enrich your life and embrace it more fully.
I am unwavering in my commitment to providing counselling and psychotherapy within a safe, confidential, and non-judgmental environment. Together, we can embark on a journey of self-discovery and personal growth.
Thanks,
Olga
Psychoanalysis is an intensive form of talking therapy designed to get at the source of emotional problems and change them fundamentally. It's not only about the relief of symptoms of tension. It's about knowing fully our upsetting impulses and conflicts and mastering them. It's about recognising and modifying the way the early relationships affected our current relationships. Understanding at this level is what fosters growth and personality change.
Psychotherapy may be dynamic or cognitive-behavioural in approach. Dynamic psychotherapy applies psychoanalysis to the individual treatment of those who want relief through understanding but who do not seek radical change. Cognitive behavioural therapy is short term, directive, and focused on changing your thoughts. My approach in psychotherapy is informed by attachment theory and research, relational psychoanalysis, object relation theories, the literature on trauma, affect regulation, reflective functioning and developmental neurobiology.
Object relations is the brand of psychoanalysis I practice and supervise. It is a very human approach to psychological sufferings. This theory stems from the study of relationships, beginning with the foundational infant-parent relationship. We are born with the ability to relate to our mother and other family members. As babies we are totally depend on our parent for nurturing. We need to feel that we are matter to them.
Taking in and coping with frustrating experiences sets up personality patterns that should mature at each developmental stage, but sometime they get stuck instead of shifting to the new challenges. So children and adults can feel held back, frightened, inadequate, anxious, sad, lost and lonely. Psychoanalysis and psychotherapy reach in, unlock the logjams left over from the early years and open the personality to the new learning and new relationships.
People come to counselling and psychotherapy for many reasons from being rocked by a significant life event, to a general sense of dissatisfaction and distress with life that they are struggling to make sense of. Working with me will give you an opportunity to gain more insight and awareness into yourself, your situation and the way you relate to others. I will help you to make your own decisions and to take more control over your life.
I offer short and long-term online therapy to individual adults. Working remotely via Zoom or Skype allows me to work with you whether you're in Surbiton, Surrey, London, Paris, Singapore, or anywhere else.
Please don't hesitate to contact me to enquire about booking an initial assessment and to see if we might work well together.
"I very much appreciate how easy it is to work with Olga."
People come to me for help a wide range of issues. Here are a few of the more common difficulties that I support:
Abortion
Stress
Redundancy
Relationship problems
Problems with confidence or self-esteem
Anxiety
Depression
Bullying
Stress
Grief, loss or bereavement
Panic Attacks
Abuse
Family life
Counselling and psychotherapy, although two completely different terms, are both essentially the same thing. Both counsellors and psychotherapists provide a service for people who are looking for support and treatment for a wide range of mental health and emotional issues. The possibility that there is a difference between the two is a heavily debated question in the field of mental health treatment, and one that has yet to be answered. Some experts claim that counselling tends to tackle problems at the time of the crises, whereas psychotherapy focuses on long-term, deeply embedded psychological problems. However, this is not a universally agreed contention and you are advised to contact professionals personally to find out more about how they work.
Only you can decide whether you wish to try counselling or psychotherapy. Just talking to someone confidentially who is not a friend or family member can make all the difference. Counselling or psychotherapy provides a regular time for those in distress to explore their feelings and talk about their problems. A counsellor can help you develop better ways of coping, allowing you to live the life you deserve.
Each session will usually last 50 minutes or one hour. However this is often flexible and should be discussed with your therapist before attending the first session.
Psychotherapy sessions for individuals last 50 minutes, usually taking place on a weekly basis, and cost £80 per session. I also provide a limited number of spaces for those on low-income or for students; contact me to enquire about availability. Initial assessment appointments last around 50 minutes.
Note that if you want to cancel an appointment I require 48 hours’ notice; otherwise you will still need to pay for any sessions missed. I accept payment in cash, by cheque or by bank transfer.
I have relocated from Surbiton, South West London to Singapore and since Covid now serve clients on an online only basis.
Working remotely offering online therapy, I am able to connect with you via Zoom or Skype, whether you're in Surrey, London, Paris, Singapore, or anywhere else.
Contact me to find out more about how online therapy works.
Paramount is the safety and wellbeing of the client and the wellbeing of the therapist. To these ends, I see supervision as a secure base from which you as a supervisee, can feel safe to explore and reflect, develop your skills, and grow in confidence in your own thinking and in finding your unique way of being as a clinician. In my experience supervision at its best is a collaboration, a relationship in which we can think together, explore alternative perspectives and approaches, increase awareness of unconscious processes/communications, and attachment dynamics.
I work from a relational perspective – the Bowlby Centre’s values of offering psychotherapy with warmth, respect, readiness to relate, free from discrimination, and without pathologising survival strategies are dear to me, and reflect my own values in offering supervision.
I have 20 years therapeutic experience of working with individuals who have experienced a wide array of relationship/sexual issues, depression, anxiety and work related difficulties. I am a clinical supervisor and also taught psychotherapy students at Bowlby Center (Center for Attachment based Psychoanalytical Psychotherapy) in London.
I was born and grow up in Moscow, Russia, where I graduated from Moscow State University of Civil Engineering. Soon afterwords I moved to the UK and trained as a therapist. I began my four years professional training as a psychotherapist in the Center for Attachment Based Psychoanalytical Psychotherapy.
Since then I have become a Mother to two beautiful children, who are teenagers now. I have developed a particular interest in child-parent relationships and childhood traumas.
I am a member of the UKCP and abide by their code of ethics.
I continue to learn from life and the clients with whom I have worked.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about how I work or to arrange an initial assessment appointment. This enables us to discuss the reasons you are thinking of coming to therapy, whether it could be helpful for you and whether I am the right therapist to help.
You can also call or text me on 07799418592 if you would prefer to leave a message or speak to me first. I am happy to discuss any queries or questions you may have prior to arranging an initial appointment.
All enquires are usually answered within 24 hours, and all contact is strictly confidential and uses secure phone and email services.