Counselling, Psychotherapy, Embodied Movement Psychotherapy and Supervision

in North London and Online

English & Greek speaking

Many issues people have with ordinary living, personal relationships, their place in the world or with their education can be helped by psychotherapy.

Therapy participants can choose whether to work verbally, or using movement, or with a combination.

These are some of the reasons why you might consider embarking on a therapy journey:

-Relationship issues

-Issues relating to identity and GSRD (gender, sexuality and relationship diversity)

-Loss of meaning and purpose in life

-Stress

-Depression and anxiety

-Pain, chronic pain and illness

-Bereavement

-Trauma (childhood and/or current)

-Eating issues

-Socio-political oppression

English and Greek speaking.

My psychotherapy, embodied movement psychotherapy and supervision practice is in North London.

I currently have limited availability for online sessions.

What I Do

Therapy can help people who face a crisis or difficult long-term emotional problems. But it is also useful for those who would just like to live better lives or make better choices.

Some of the thoughts and feelings that people bring to sessions are:

- 'I want to improve my relationship'

- 'I can't get my needs met. How can I be more assertive?'

- 'I feel so uncomfortable within my own body'

- 'I feel so depressed'

- 'When it comes to exams or speaking in public or with people in authority, I become petrified'

- 'I feel stressed and never have enough time'

- 'I cannot adjust to my new reality/country/family status'

-'It is confusing to live in this body'

-'This world feels overwhelming and unfair'

It needs lots of courage to explore ourselves, looking at past experiences and present feelings, but therapy can be the first step to looking at short and long-term difficulties, with the scope of change.

For some people, the aim is to achieve a creative integration of the past with the present. By exploring how your childhood might have contributed to the problems you have to deal with now, you may be better able to understand your present situation and change it. However, some people don't go back into their pasts but work on their issues in the here-and-now.

Whichever direction the work takes, as your therapist, I will be there to support you in your exploration and to provide you with a safe, confidential yet stimulating space for you to actively engage in your personal journey.

When words are not enough, and if you like the idea, we can use the movement and the meaning our body provides. Embodied movement psychotherapy is a well-established approach, understanding how your mind-body continuum reacts, interacts and moves in relationships and in the world.

My work is integrative. This means that I am not theoretically rigid and deliberately use elements from both psychodynamic and the person-centred approaches to suit the individual client. I also believe that there is a special kind of 'equality' in the therapy relationship and that clients are active self-healers. My focus is on supporting therapy participants to develop their sense of inner balance, interpersonal skills, and positive self-image whilst placing themselves in today's world . The human imagination can contribute to working things out when all seems lost. My practice is queer affirmative and based on values inspired by trans inclusive intersectional-socialist feminism.

About Me

I was born in Athens. Originally, I trained to be a dancer but injury intervened, so I chose to study psychology, specialising in counselling. After some years working as a psychologist, I moved to London with a scholarship from the Onassis Foundation and did an MA in Dance Movement Therapy at Goldsmiths College, University of London.

My clinical experience includes work in the NHS (Maudsley Hospital), private therapy centres, care homes, children’s centres, as well as film and acting schools. As a practitioner who is extremely interested in how diversity is not just a concept but an embodied reality, both in our everyday lives and in therapy, I am engaged in my own ongoing personal exploration as well as in workshop facilitation for organisations, universities and charities. I have co-founded Open Wings, a community interest company for the promotion of arts therapies in deprived communities.

I have also worked as a clinical researcher with the Psychology Departments of the University of Heidelberg in Germany and the University of Athens in Greece.

After many years in academia, I have now chosen to work as an independent academic which has led me to some very rich teaching, researching and writing experiences. My academic roles include programme leadership of the MSc in Contemporary Person-Centred Psychotherapy at Metanoia Institute and the MA in Dance Movement Psychotherapy at Edge Hill University. For several years I lectured and supervised on the MA in Integrative Psychotherapy at Regent's University, the MA in Dance Movement Psychotherapy and the PsychD in Counselling Psychology at Roehampton University, the PsychD in Psychotherapeutic and Counselling Psychology at the University of Surrey and was, also, part of the training team of Re-Vision, an integrative transpersonal counselling and psychotherapy institute. I continue my long-term collaboration with CPPD, an integrative humanistic institute and I am the external examiner for the MA in Dance Movement Psychotherapy at Goldsmiths College, University of London. I have, also, been fortunate to have taught or presented in conferences in several countries in the world, which has given me a deeper insight in different cultures and societal rhythms.

My experience includes the leadership of the clinical community and of outreach projects at Stillpoint Spaces London, an international community of counsellors and psychotherapists with a special focus on in depth psychotherapy outside the consulting room. I have also served on the steering group of Psychotherapists and Counsellors for Social Responsibility, on the editorial boards of the international journals 'Self and Society' and 'Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy' and have been a book reviewer for major academic publishers.

In an effort to expand my creativity and continue my learning in an organic and congruent way, I have been writing books, articles, book chapters, blogs and creating interactive performances that connect the personal with the relational, political and spiritual. In 2020 I co-edited the book 'Trauma in the Creative and Embodied Therapies: When Words are not Enough' and this year sees the publication of a 4 year writing project - 'Therapy: the basics' - of the fundamentals of psychotherapy from indigenous healing practices to today's relational approaches (both published by Routledge).

I, also, see my work as a therapist developing through my involvement with feminist groups (Feminist Therapy Network, ROSA) and campaigning for D/disability rights with the group for therapists with visible and non-visible D/disabilities.

Professional Qualifications

MA in Dance Movement Therapy (Goldsmiths College, University of London)

PGCert in Person Centred Counselling (Institute for Counselling and Psychological Studies, University of Strathclyde)

Diploma in Creative Approaches to Supervision (London Centre for Psychodrama)

Ptychion (Greek degree equivalent to BA (Hons) plus one year of clinical specialisation and research) in Psychology (Panteion University for Social and Political Sciences, Athens, Greece)

Professional Memberships and Affiliations

UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP)

World Association for Person-Centred and Experiential Psychotherapy and Counselling (WAPCEPC)

American Psychological Association, Division 32 - Humanistic Psychology (APA)

Psychotherapists and Counsellors for Social Responsibility (PCSR)

Feminist Therapy Network (FTN)

I am registered as a psychotherapist and supervisor with the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) and I work under its code of ethics.

My Location

My psychotherapy, embodied movement psychotherapy and supervision practice is in North London, and I also offer online sessions.

I am sorry but my practice is not accessible to wheelchair users or people with mobility difficulties (there are twenty stairs and no lift). I can offer, though, online sessions.

Practical Information

E-mail: sissylykou@gmail.com

Tel: 07944 878003

Individual therapy sessions

Length: 50 minutes

Frequency: Weekly

Fee: £85

Individual supervision sessions

Length: 50 (single session) or 90 (double session) minutes

Frequency: Weekly/ Fortnightly/ Monthly

Fee: £85/single session or £160/double session

Registered as a psychotherapist with the ComPsych Employee Assistance Programme.

Contact Me

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about how therapy works, 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.

All enquires are usually answered within 24 hours, and all contact is strictly confidential and uses secure phone and email services.

Publications

lykou, s. (2024) Therapy, the basics. London: Routledge.

lykou, s. (on Researchgate) The millennial female psychotherapist.

Chesner, A. & lykou, s. (Eds.) (2020) Trauma in the Creative and Embodied Therapies: When Words are not Enough. London: Routledge.

Lykou, S. (2018) Sexuality in dance movement psychotherapy: shyness or avoidance? Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy, 13(3), 170-184.

Lykou, S. (2018) Dance movement psychotherapy with the under 5’s with identified or unidentified learning difficulties and their families. Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy. 13(2), 72-86.

Lykou, S. (2017) Relational dance movement psychotherapy: a new old idea. In H.Payne (Ed.), Essentials of Dance Movement Psychotherapy: International Perspectives on Theory, Research, and Practice. London: Routledge.

Lykou, S. (2017) The death of cosmopolitanism and the rise of multiculturalism: how immigrants and refugees can safely be demonized. Self & Society: An International Journal for Humanistic Psychology, 45(1), 82-84.

Lykou, S. (2016) When the professional is political. E-motion, Vol. 26 (3), 4-8.

Karkou, V., Lykou, S. & Rova, M. (2015) International research and perspectives in dance movement therapy. In L.Yiotis, D. Maravelis, A. Padagoutsou & E. Giannoulis (Eds.), The Contribution of the Arts Therapies in Psychiatric Therapy. Athens: Bhta Publications and The University of Athens Publications.

Koch, S., Kunz, T., Lykou, S. & Cruz, R. (2014) Effects of dance movement therapy and dance on health-related psychological outcomes: a meta-analysis. The Arts in Psychotherapy Journal, Vol. 41 (1), 46-64.

Lykou, S. (2013) Tick the box! But some boxes stay empty when we talk about the age of today’s politically active psychotherapists and counsellors. Transformations – The Journal for Psychotherapists and Counsellors for Social Responsibility, Summer 2013, 36-37.

Lykou, S. (2010) Dance Movement Psychotherapy sessions with second-generation immigrant children in primary schools; cultural transmission and its effect on the cultural unconscious. Biculturalism or marginality?. E-motion, the magazine of the Association for Dance Movement Psychotherapy in the UK (ADMP), Vol. 20 (4), 8-12.

Lykou, S. (2004) Arts therapy with children undergoing chemotherapy. Magazine Aglaitsa of the Hospital for Children Aglaia Kyriakou (Athens, Greece).