Maria Papaspyrou

Overview

Maria Papaspyrou is a psychotherapist, systemic facilitator and supervisor with more than twenty years of clinical experience. She offers individual and couples counselling, systemic family constellations and professional supervision. Her practice emphasises relational depth: therapy is framed as a space to explore thoughts, feelings and life experiences in order to address emotional wounds, recognise how past experiences influence the present and discover inner resources.

As a co-founder of the Institute of Psychedelic Therapy and a practitioner interested in expanded states of consciousness, she integrates insight from transpersonal and Jungian traditions with conventional psychotherapeutic work. She sees therapy as a process of becoming more intimate with oneself and transforming challenges into opportunities for healing and growth. The overarching goal is to deepen self-awareness and foster a greater sense of presence in relationships and life.

Best for

Clients seeking support with emotional and mental health difficulties, life transitions, relationship conflicts or low self-esteem, and those interested in personal growth or integration of challenging experiences. Couples seeking to explore relational patterns, communication, intimacy barriers or attachment wounds, and individuals curious about ancestral or systemic influences through family constellations, are also typical. Professionals requiring clinical supervision or mentoring may work with her on reflective practice.

• Individuals facing emotional or mental health challenges, life transitions, interpersonal conflicts or psychosomatic symptoms
• Couples wanting to explore communication, intimacy and attachment dynamics
• People interested in systemic family constellations for intergenerational patterns and ancestral healing
• Practitioners seeking professional supervision or guidance

Approach

Maria’s core training is in integrative counselling, which combines elements from psychodynamic, person-centred, gestalt, attachment and transpersonal approaches. She draws on psychodynamic work to explore unconscious processes and past influences, uses person-centred principles to create a safe and non-judgemental space, incorporates gestalt techniques to focus on present-moment experience, and applies attachment theory to understand early relational patterns and foster a reparative therapeutic relationship. Her transpersonal orientation includes further training in Jungian theory to explore archetypal and transpersonal dimensions.

Sessions are typically weekly and involve deep inquiry into thoughts, feelings and body awareness; she supports clients in recognising patterns, developing self-awareness and making choices not entangled with past experiences. In couples work, she facilitates exploration of relational patterns, communication of needs and barriers to connection, encouraging courage and respect while developing safety in the therapeutic space. For systemic family constellations, she uses ritual and animistic principles to examine deeper systemic sources of difficulties, emphasising ancestral and intergenerational healing. Constellations may be conducted in groups, where participants take on roles as issue holders, representatives or circle holders, or individually using objects and floor mats to create a three-dimensional representation of the system.

Support

Support is offered through individual psychotherapy, couples counselling, group and individual systemic constellations and professional supervision. The therapeutic stance is relational, compassionate and non-judgemental, creating a safe space where clients can reflect, develop self-awareness and engage with their inner world. In couples therapy, she emphasises confidentiality, respect and safety, recognising the courage involved in bringing intimate relationships into the therapeutic space. Systemic constellations work is held confidentially and inclusively, honouring all participants and fostering collective healing.

Maria is a senior accredited member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and practices under their ethical framework. She is insured and committed to ongoing personal and professional development. Her work is informed by an anti-oppressive perspective and acknowledges diverse identities and experiences, including working with refugees, asylum seekers and students facing identity and sexuality challenges during her earlier career. She offers supervision for practitioners from various professions and mentors students in augmented psychotherapy training.

Practical details

The practice is located in Brighton, United Kingdom. Sessions are typically weekly for individual psychotherapy. Systemic family constellations are offered both in group workshops and individual sessions; group workshops involve participants taking on different roles, while individual constellations use objects and floor mats. There is an option to sign up for workshop news and updates via the website. The website does not list fees or booking procedures, so interested clients are encouraged to inquire directly by email. Maria works in English and Greek, offering bilingual services.

• Session cadence: weekly for psychotherapy
• Formats: individual psychotherapy, couples therapy, group constellations workshops, individual constellations, supervision
• Location: Brighton, UK (exact address not provided)
• Languages: English and Greek

Training

• Trained in integrative counselling, combining psychodynamic, person-centred, gestalt, attachment and transpersonal approaches
• Further training in Jungian theory to deepen understanding of transpersonal layers of the Self
• Qualified Systemic Family Constellations facilitator
• Co-founder of the Institute of Psychedelic Therapy and lecturer on Depth Relational Process training
• BSc in Psychology (Middlesex University)
• MSc in Therapeutic Counselling (University of Greenwich)
• Foundation in Analytic Psychology (Society for Analytical Psychology)
• Foundation and Applied Training in Systemic Constellations (Centre for Systemic Constellations)
• Working Systemically with Couples (Centre for Systemic Constellations)
• Diploma in Integrative Supervision of Individuals and Groups (The Grove)

Disclaimer:
This description was generated based on information from the official website and other materials provided by the provider.