About me and how I work
Emiliya Safiullina - psychologist, metacognitive therapist
Contact me for an intakeAreas I can help with
Anxiety and excessive worrying
"What if something goes wrong?"
"What if I make the wrong decision?"
"What if...?"
These worries can continue throughout the day, leaving little room for rest.
Over time, anxiety can begin to take up more and more space in your life, affecting your work, relationships, decisions, and overall well-being.
In therapy, we will explore what triggers your anxiety, identify the patterns that keep it going, and develop new ways of responding to it. The goal is not to eliminate anxiety completely, but to help you regain the freedom to live your life more fully and focus on what truly matters to you.
Depression and low mood
Depression is not always experienced as sadness.
It can show up as:
- a persistent lack of energy
- a sense of emptiness
- loss of interest in things that once mattered
- emotional numbness
- feelings of meaninglessness or disconnection from life
If you have been experiencing these symptoms for two weeks or longer, it may be helpful to seek professional support.
Therapy can provide a space to understand what you are going through, explore the factors contributing to your struggles, and find ways to reconnect with yourself, others, and the things that give your life meaning.
Burnout and chronic stress
"I'm exhausted, but rest doesn't seem to help."
"My emotions feel numb."
"I don't understand what's happening to me."
Burnout is not always caused by work alone.
Sometimes it develops as a result of prolonged stress when the demands placed on a person consistently exceed the resources available to cope with them. In other cases, burnout can arise when there is a significant gap between what a person invests and what they receive in return - whether in the form of recognition, support, meaning, or reward.
In therapy, we will explore the roots of burnout, identify what may be keeping you stuck, and find ways to restore your energy, resilience, and connection with yourself. Together, we will also develop strategies to help prevent similar patterns from recurring in the future.
Trauma and PTSD
I work with both Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and the effects of prolonged adverse life experiences, including Complex PTSD (Childhood trauma).
I'll be happy to offer you a compassionate and supportive space where we can explore your experiences at a pace that feels right for you. Together, we will work towards rebuilding a sense of safety, strengthening your connection with yourself, and creating the conditions for a life that is not only about surviving, but also about living fully.
Grief, loss, and major life transitions
"Things can no longer be the way they were, but I don't yet know what comes next."
Loss can take many forms. It may involve the death of a loved one, divorce or separation, the loss of a home, health, relationships, important plans, a familiar way of life, or a vision of the future you once expected.
There is no right way to grieve, and there is no fixed timeline for how long the process should take. Grief is deeply personal and unfolds differently for each individual.
If you feel stuck, overwhelmed, or alone in what you are experiencing, I'll be glad to help you find support through the process. I will be there to explore it with you, helping you navigate what has changed while gradually finding a way forward.
Relationship difficulties
If your relationships with loved ones, a partner, friends, or colleagues have become a source of tension, conflict, or recurring difficulties, therapy can help you explore these patterns in greater depth.
Together, we can look at how your relationships with yourself and others have developed over time, distinguishing between what may be connected to your personal history and familiar ways of relating, and what may be influenced by the other person or the specific circumstances of the relationship.
Therapy can help you become more aware of your needs, emotions, and boundaries, while developing new ways of relating to yourself and others. The goal is to build relationships that are more authentic, stable, and capable of supporting open dialogue, mutual understanding, and meaningful connection.
How I work
My approach combines structure and depth.
In therapeutic work I rely on metacognitive therapy (MCT) and existential analysis, using them sequentially depending on your needs and the stage of the therapeutic process.
Metacognitive therapy helps develop a different relationship with worry, rumination, and unhelpful thinking patterns. Rather than focusing on the content of thoughts, we explore the processes that keep distress going and learn new ways of responding to them.
Existential analysis provides space to explore emotions, personal values, meaning, relationships, and the broader experience of being human. This work can help you reconnect with what matters to you, find a sense of direction, and build a more authentic and fulfilling life.
Together, these approaches allow us to address both immediate difficulties and the deeper questions that often emerge beneath them.
Therapy can take different forms depending on your goals and circumstances:
- Up to 10 sessions – counselling and focused support
- less than 30 sessions – short-term therapy
- 50 sessions and more – deeper therapeutic work
Meaningful and lasting change usually takes time, consistency, and commitment.
About me
I am a psychologist with a Bachelor's degree and two Masters's degrees in Psychology. Alongside my private practice, I have more than 10 years of experience working in Human Resources and continue to work in this field. This background has given me extensive experience supporting people through professional and personal challenges, including burnout, workplace stress, conflict, career transitions, and periods of significant change.
I began my therapeutic practice in 2023 after observing the growing levels of anxiety, depression, and burnout in professional environments. I wanted to develop a deeper and more comprehensive way of helping people - one that takes into account the whole person, including their life context, relationships, experiences, and ways of coping.
My approach
- I work with people, not diagnoses. A diagnosis can provide useful information and help make sense of what you are experiencing, but it does not define who you are.
- I do not provide ready-made solutions or tell you how to live your life. I see you as the expert on your own experience. My role is to help you explore that experience, ask meaningful questions, and discover your own answers.
- In therapy with me, there is space to:
- Feel anxious, ashamed, angry, overwhelmed, or exhausted
- Feel depressed, uncertain or confused
- Hold conflicting feelings and perspectives
- Be human rather than trying to be perfect
These experiences are not signs that something is wrong with you. They often carry important information about your needs, values, and the challenges you are facing.
Education and professional qualifications
- International Training Programme in Logotherapy and Existential-Analytical Psychotherapy. The Viennese School of Existential Analysis and Logotherapy in collaboration with Dr Alfried Längle and GLE-International, London, United Kingdom / Vienna, Austria, 2025–2029 (ongoing)
- MCTI® Registered Therapist (Level 1), Metacognitive Therapy Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2024
- Master's degree in Work and Organisational Psychology, Tilburg University, Tilburg, the Netherlands, 2017
- Master's degree in Applied Social Psychology, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia, 2016
- Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia, 2015
- Incest Therapy: Trauma, Abuse and the Path to Healing, 2026
- Returning to Life: Working with Depression from an Existential Perspective, 2025–2026
- Grief and Loss: bereavement, divorce and other forms of loss, 2025–2026
- Attachment Trauma and feelings of unworthiness of love, 2025
- Psychiatry for Psychologists, 2025
- Therapy for Adult Children of Addicted Parents (ACA), 2025
Terms and fees
I believe that clear and transparent agreements create a solid foundation for therapeutic work. If the conditions described below suit you, I would be happy to meet you and discuss the possibility of working together.
Session format
I work in the format of regular weekly sessions. If special circumstances arise, we can discuss adjusting the frequency of sessions for a limited period and find an arrangement that fits your situation and needs.
Cancellations, rescheduling and no-shows
If you need to cancel or reschedule a session, please provide at least 24 hours' notice. When sufficient notice is given, I will do my best to offer an alternative appointment. Sessions cancelled with less than 24 hours' notice are charged in full, regardless of the reason for cancellation.
Health insurance
I work as an independent private practitioner and do not have direct contracts with health insurance providers. At the moment, my services are not reimbursed by Dutch health insurance.
Fees:
Intake session
The intake consultation is a 30-minute meeting where we can get to know each other and explore whether working together feels like the right fit.
During this session, we will discuss what brings you to therapy, your current situation, any previous experience with therapy, and your expectations. We will also talk about what has been helpful for you in the past, what may not have worked, and consider possible directions for our work together.
This meeting is an opportunity for both of us to determine whether we would like to begin a therapeutic process together.
- 💻online or 🛋️offline
- ⏰ 30 minutes
- 💶 40 euro incl. VAT
Individual therapy
During our first therapy session, we will begin to clarify your goals and create a therapy agreement that will serve as a foundation for our work together.
This includes:
- your current concerns and reasons for seeking therapy
- your expectations and the changes you hope to achieve
- possible obstacles or difficulties that may arise during the process
- an initial therapy plan and the steps we may take together
The therapy agreement is a flexible document and may be reviewed and adjusted over time as your needs, goals, and understanding of your situation evolve.
- 💻online or 🛋️offline
- ⏰ 60 minutes
- 💶 80 euro incl. VAT
Trauma and PTSD therapy
Our first meeting is a 90-minute assessment session.
During this session, we will explore your current situation, relevant life experiences, and the factors that may be maintaining or intensifying your symptoms. Together, we will develop a shared understanding of what is happening and create a personalised map of the challenges you are facing.
By the end of the session, you will have a clearer understanding of the patterns that may be keeping the problem in place and an initial treatment plan outlining the areas we can work on together.
- 💻online or 🛋️offline
- ⏰ 90 minutes
- 💶 120 euro incl. VAT
In subsequent sessions, we will work according to the treatment plan developed during our initial assessment.
Depending on your needs, therapy may include practical exercises, therapeutic techniques, and between-session tasks designed to support your progress. Throughout the process, we will regularly review and adjust our approach to ensure that it remains aligned with your goals, needs, and pace.
- 💻online or 🛋️offline
- ⏰45 minutes
- 💶 60 euro incl. VAT