Maria Apiafi

I currently offer daytime appointments, with limited evening availability. Please get in touch to discuss current availability.

When you’re the person who usually copes, asking for help can feel surprisingly difficult.

Perhaps you appear to have things together on the outside, while inside you feel anxious, overwhelmed or exhausted by how much you’re carrying.

You may find yourself overthinking, worrying about what other people think, questioning your decisions or being much harder on yourself than you would ever be on someone else. Perhaps you’ve spent years putting other people’s needs before your own and have reached a point where you’re no longer sure what you need.

You may recognise patterns that keep repeating in relationships — finding it difficult to say no, worrying about disappointing people, feeling responsible for others, or feeling unheard, unseen or not quite good enough.

Perhaps life has changed through relationship difficulties, bereavement, work pressures, health concerns or other difficult experiences and the ways you’ve always coped no longer seem to be working.

You may also be exploring neurodivergence, or making sense of yourself following a recognition or diagnosis of ADHD, autism, dyslexia or another form of neurodivergence. Therapy can offer space to explore what this means for your identity, relationships and the ways you may have learned to adapt, mask or cope.

I’m Maria, a Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapist. I offer a warm, compassionate and non-judgemental space where you don’t have to pretend that everything is okay or have the right words for how you feel. 

You don’t need to know exactly what you want from therapy before getting in touch. Sometimes knowing that something needs to change is enough of a place to begin.

I believe that you are the expert on your own experience. I won’t tell you what you should do or expect you to fit into a particular way of working. Instead, we’ll explore what is happening for you together, at a pace that feels right for you.

I work relationally, which means the relationship we build together is an important part of therapy. I offer a space where you can talk openly and begin to explore thoughts and feelings that may have been difficult to share elsewhere.

Together, we can become curious about your experiences, relationships and the patterns that may have developed over time. Sometimes this may involve exploring how earlier experiences and relationships have shaped how you see yourself, what you have come to expect from others, or the ways you have learned to protect yourself and cope.

At other times, our work may focus more on what is happening in your life now and how you experience this emotionally and physically. I will adapt how I work to you rather than expecting you to adapt to therapy.

Being Humanistic and Integrative means I draw on different therapeutic perspectives while keeping you and our relationship at the heart of the work. My approach is compassionate, collaborative and curious rather than prescriptive.

Therapy can offer an opportunity to understand yourself more deeply, develop greater self-compassion, recognise your needs and begin to make choices that feel more your own.

I offer therapy to adults both in person and online.

Starting therapy can feel like a big step, particularly if you’re used to coping on your own or find it difficult to ask for support.

Our first session is an opportunity for us to meet and begin to understand what has brought you to therapy and what you might be hoping for. There is no expectation that you tell me everything at once, and you don’t need to arrive knowing exactly what you want to work on.

I may ask a little about what is happening in your life now, what has led you to seek therapy at this point and whether there are experiences or relationships that feel important for me to understand. You can share as much or as little as feels comfortable.

It is also an opportunity for you to experience what it feels like talking with me. You are welcome to ask questions about how I work or anything else that might help you decide whether I am the right therapist for you.

Towards the end of the session, we can think together about what you would like from therapy and whether continuing to work together feels right.

Finding a therapist you feel comfortable with matters. There is no obligation to continue simply because we have had a first session.