Hello, my name is Oskari. Thank you for visiting my website.

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I am a qualified Counsellor, and a member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy.  Alongside seeing clients privately, I am currently receiving further training in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy at NHS Talking Therapies and Canterbury Christ Church University.

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My therapy model is relational and integrative meaning that I put emphasis on how we relate with one another, our feelings and experiences, and ultimately with our own selves. Integrative means that I draw on several therapeutic theories, approaches and schools of thought. (See FAQ).

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My offering as a therapist combines professional qualifications, lived experience, and in-depth explorations of the light and shadow inherent to all of humanity including you and me. 

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After a career in international peace mediation & conflict work with people affected by violent conflicts, I re-trained and worked as a family and fostering Social Worker. Working therapeutically with adults, children and families lead me later to train as a Counsellor. I have long experience working with people experiencing mental health difficulties, distress, and individuals looking to unburden and searching for peace and meaning in their lives. Over the years, I have learned to appreciate that what we hold most personal and private is often also universal.

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My approach and offering

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Counselling is always a personal journey, something I deeply honour. It is often the times we need support the most that we also find it most difficult to bring ourselves to seek for it. You do not need to struggle alone. Support is available and counselling can help.

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I believe, and it is my experience, that we all have within ourselves the necessary guidance and potential for healing and growth. No matter where you find yourself at, or what it is that you experience now or have experienced in the past. These resources are innate to us, waiting to be revealed and there to help you work through what ever it is that you are experiencing. I appreciate that this may not feel obvious for you right now or be your lived experience.

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Ultimately, you are a far greater than any of your thoughts, feelings or stories you tell yourself; no matter how persuasive, powerful or painful they might be.

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Whether you seek to unburden, make sense and unpack, heal the unresolved, or seek a relief from a painful experience, explore your anger or suffering, counselling can help in moving towards a new way of being. Equally, it may be that you don't know what troubles you or what your "issues" are as such, or what you want; yet within you know and feel that you want and need something to change.

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Looking within is often not easy or comfortable. We are rarely taught to be open and vulnerable; quite the contrary. Doing so can feel daring and takes courage. Paradoxically it is by getting in touch with and integrating our vulnerability that also allows us to start healing and reclaiming our own true authority and power within. Here, life's challenges can turn into possibilities, or invitations if you like, for a journey of self-exploration, healing and living a more fulfilling life. One way of understanding this is the Hero's Journey. Not so much a journey out there, rather within, and with healing and growth often becoming different sides of the same coin.

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Our work can focus on managing and exploring your life circumstances at present, or past that keeps troubling you. We can also explore deeper causes and drivers behind your challenges. Indeed we are often unaware of the deeper layers and drivers underpinning our troubles. We may have some ideas or stories we tell ourselves, yet our troubles are not merely "what we see" but often the very places where we "see from". Like lenses we wear and whose existence we forget about, or our blind spots hidden in our unconscious.

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As time goes by, we may hide and forget about the very existence of these parts of us, or conversely believe them to be given and who we are. Either way we stop querying or exploring, rather start compensating and accommodating. Therapy can help in traversing the way back from our lived experience here-and-now to unpick these deeper drivers, or shadows if you will.

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While I cannot do the work on your behalf, I offer you my companionship on the journey. Ultimately, I am a fellow human being and traveller myself; with some experience of the darkness and despair, and beauty and freedom inherent to our shared humanity. That is my offering to you.

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Experience

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NHS Talking Therapies (High Intensity CBT Therapist trainee)

Prison Counsellor, Forward Trust

The Moss Trust – Emmaus Counselling Service
The Eaves' Low Cost Counselling Service
Prison Advice and Care Trust, young offenders mentoring
Social Worker, Surrey Fostering Service
Extended Hours Service, Social Worker, Surrey Children’s Services
International Conflict Work and Peacebuilding

 

Training, qualifications & experience

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• Post Graduate Diploma in Psychological Therapies: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (est. March 2025; Salomon's Institute, Canterbury Christ Church University)

• Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling (Guildford)

• NCFE Counselling 1-3 (Guildford)

• MA in Social Work (Sussex)

• MSc (LSE), BA (Sussex)

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Additional Training and CPD

• Somatic healing and experiencing

• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

• Working with Trauma

• Sexual abuse

• Infant and Attachment

• Substance misuse and addiction

• Total Respect – Looked After Children’s experience

• Social Pedagogy, Core 1& 2