Vanya Duncan
vanya@southsidecounselling.co.uk
Sessions last 50 minutes and cost £60 per session. Vanya has few limited spaces for concessions (£55 per session), depending on circumstances, which must be agreed in advance, depending on availability. Vanya offers face-to-face and online sessions via MS Teams.
About Vanya
Vanya is a qualified and registered Cognitive Behavioural Therapist who works with adults (18+) feeling anxious, overwhelmed, stuck, or struggling with low self-esteem, perfectionism, relationships, trauma, or a harsh inner critic. Her work is grounded in CBT and integrative in approach, drawing from compassion-focused, person-centred, and psychodynamic ideas. This means therapy is tailored to each unique individual, looking at what’s happening now as well as being curious about how past experiences may have shaped the way you see the world, yourself, and other people.
Vanya knows that reaching out for therapy can feel daunting. Having been there herself, she understands the courage it takes to ask for help and how long this might take sometimes. Vanya brings her personality into sessions, and hopes to see yours too. She tries to keep the tone warm and genuine, creating a space that feels like a meaningful conversation with someone who truly cares about hearing your story.
The early stages of therapy focus on building a safe therapeutic relationship and understanding what feels most important to work on. Goals are agreed together and reviewed regularly, making sure the work feels useful and aligned with what you want from therapy. It’s okay if you don’t know what this might be yet – figuring it out together is the first step.
Vanya works with a range of issues including
- Assertiveness & boundaries
- Attachment & relationship difficulties
- Generalised anxiety
- Insomnia
- Intrusive thoughts
- Low self-esteem & confidence
- Maladaptive perfectionism
- Neurodiversity
- Social & performance anxiety
- Self-criticism
- Panic attacks
- Stress
- Suicidal thoughts & self-harm
- Trauma
Training and Experience
Vanya is a qualified CBT therapist, whose core training also included integration of person-centred and psychodynamic approaches. Vanya has completed further training in Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT), ASIST suicide first aid, working with ADHD, trauma, and relational difficulties. Alongside her therapy training, Vanya has a degree in comparative literature and a long-standing interest in language. This naturally feeds into her work with self-criticism and unhelpful thinking patterns. She pays close attention to how clients speak to themselves, as small shifts in internal language can make a meaningful difference to how someone feels and responds.
Throughout her career, Vanya has worked in student counselling, stepped-care models through NHS England Talking Therapies/IAPT, community counselling, and has been running a successful small private practice since 2023. Before becoming a therapist, Vanya worked in Higher Education and in the Third Sector, so she also draws from her experience in student support and charity work.
Professional Memberships
Vanya is a registered therapist on the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) Professional Standards Authority Accredited Register. This ensures that she works to the highest standard and practices in line with the ethical code of conduct. Vanya is also a Registered member of the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme run by Disclosure Scotland, for adults.
What my clients say (shared with clients’ permission):
“I strongly encourage anyone who is finding life difficult to consider having therapy with Vanya… Vanya was incredibly understanding, supportive, kind and insightful. I felt relaxed and listened to in sessions, able to open up to her, and she encouraged me to reflect on situations and feelings in new ways. She is incredibly perceptive and would listen so closely to what I said, how I said it, and would pick up on things that I hadn’t considered before, which often led to a deeper understanding of myself and my behaviour. There were times when Vanya challenged me to think about things more deeply, and asked me questions which I didn’t know how to answer – and although those moments could make me feel uncomfortable, it often triggered new revelations which otherwise may have never come out otherwise.”
“I have really loved having Vanya as my therapist. She is calm, understanding and genuinely a good listener. She was skilled at re-directing me or challenging my beliefs when needed, but it was always done in a gentle & intuitive way. She very quickly became my safe space, and I opened up to her much more than my previous therapists…She helped me realise all of my strengths and actually ‘hear’ what they are, in a way I haven’t before…She was also very compassionate about my concerns about being neurodivergent, which has encouraged me to reach out again for a diagnosis & help for that…I am so glad that I reached out to her for help, as it has made a massive difference to my quality of life… If you have gotten this far in the process of seeking therapy, then definitely make the final jump to start. Things will get better if you stick with it. Sometimes the progress feels small or not at all, then one day you’re looking back and seeing how far you have come. Finding the right therapist that you gel with really makes the biggest difference, so keep going until you find them. That was Vanya for me.”
“After several failed attempts at getting help with my mental health over the past 10 years, working with Vanya has been an extremely positive experience… Tackling specific issues in my life causing constant discomfort has actually led to improvements in pretty much all areas of my life, which has been amazing. I feel stronger, happier and am finding it easier to challenge unhelpful thoughts and beliefs in my day-to-day life.”
For more information on Vanya Click Here.