Yana Valcheva, BACP

Yana Valcheva is a BACP counsellor who helps people facing relationship difficulties, grief, trauma, parenting strain, depression, addiction and body-image concerns. She works with adults and young people, and supports carers as part of her practice. Sessions invite people to talk, use creativity and notice what their body is saying so they can find calmer ways of living.

Her approach is client-centred, which means the person sets the pace and focus of the work. Yana often brings creative tools into sessions - drawing, movement or simple body-based exercises - to help access feelings that can be hard to put into words. She also offers practices drawn from yoga, meditation and breath work to help with grounding and regulation.

Yana trained first in fine art and theatre before moving into therapeutic work, and she has worked internationally as a holistic therapist and meditation teacher since 2001. Over five years she has developed experience supporting people through anxiety, pregnancy and child loss, fertility issues, postpartum depression, eating-related concerns, bereavement and self-harm.

Her background includes a Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling and a Master of Arts in Fine Arts, along with bodywork and fertility-related qualifications such as abdominal sacral massage, Thai yoga massage and doula training. She sometimes combines talk work with gentle body-awareness and creative expression to help people reconnect with their own resources.

Sessions are offered in English, Bulgarian and French. International clients are accepted. To begin, clients follow the site Start Therapy steps to complete a short matching questionnaire and then schedule according to therapist availability.

How client-centred and body-aware approaches translate online

Client-Centred Therapy focuses on the person's own goals and pace. It involves listening, reflecting and helping people find their own answers rather than giving advice. This approach can help with relationship issues, depression, grief and general life changes.

Yana also draws on creative and body-aware methods like simple movement, breath work and expressive tasks. These practices aim to help people notice their feelings and bodily responses, which can support work on trauma, anxiety, eating issues and fertility-related concerns.

Finding the right approach is a shared process. Yana will work with each person to test what feels helpful and adapt methods to their needs, goals and preferences. That collaboration can include trying talk-based work and adding short body-awareness or creative exercises when useful.

Session formats are not listed in the biography, so please confirm current options before booking. Online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions around work, childcare and travel, and it can reduce time spent getting to appointments. It also allows therapists to suggest short at-home practices and creative tasks between sessions to keep progress moving forward.