Online consultation
Secure video sessions via Zoom or Google Meet, from anywhere in the world. The same depth and confidentiality as in person — without the commute.
Psychologist · Author · London
Understanding is where change begins.
Evidence-informed psychological consultation in Battersea, London and online — a private, multilingual practice for people who take their inner life seriously.
A first consultation is a conversation, not a commitment. I reply within one working day.
Professional memberships
American Psychological Association — Member
International Council of Psychologists — Member
New monograph — out tomorrow
Reconstructing General Psychology
Categories, Evidence, and Pluralism in a Human Science
A 30-chapter scientific monograph, co-authored with Vitalii Lunov and Viktoriia Turban, that rebuilds the foundations of general psychology: what its categories actually claim, what should count as evidence, and how a human science stays plural without becoming arbitrary.
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About
From Odesa to London — a practice built on two convictions.
The first conviction is that care must be humane. People do not arrive as diagnoses; they arrive as histories — with languages, migrations, families and inner arguments that deserve to be heard on their own terms. I was born in Odesa, Ukraine, and my path through international study and practice has taught me how much of the psyche is written in the language, and between the languages, we live in.
The second conviction is that claims must be earned. Psychology is a science of the human, and a consultation is not a place for improvisation: methods should have evidence behind them, and honesty about what we know — and what we do not — is part of the care itself. This is the standard I hold my own work to, in the consulting room and on the page.
“A good consultation is a thinking space — protected, honest, and unhurried.”
Today my practice is based in Battersea, London, with online consultations worldwide. I am a member of the American Psychological Association and the International Council of Psychologists, co-author of the monograph Reconstructing General Psychology, and — first of all — a practitioner who believes that understanding is where change begins.
Services
Ways we can work together
Individuals, couples, adolescents and families — in the language you think in. Choose the format that fits your life.
In person — Battersea
A private consulting room in Battersea, London. A quiet, protected space a short walk from the river — the full address is shared upon booking.
What people bring to this room
- Anxiety and overthinking
- Life and career transitions
- Relationships and attachment
- Relocation, migration and identity
- Burnout and high-pressure work
- Self-worth and the inner critic
- Grief and loss
- Meaning, values and direction
- Emotions and their regulation
- Habits and automatic patterns
- Decisions, willpower and follow-through
- Communication and social confidence
Online £150 · In person £250, per 50-minute session. A limited number of reduced-fee places (−30%) is available — please ask.
Packages & programmes
Course of five
Online · £750 £675
Five 50-minute sessions to work through one defined question. Valid for three months.
Enquire →Best value −30%
Course of ten
Online · £1,500 £1,050
A full course for deeper work — the best per-session rate. Valid for six months.
Enquire →By application
Annual Premium
£9,999 / year
Up to 48 sessions, online or in person, priority scheduling, flexible rescheduling and between-session support on working days. One client.
Enquire →Packages are personal and payable in advance; unused sessions stay valid for the stated period. In-person courses and details — on request.
Booking
Book a consultation
01
Choose a format
Online, or in person in Battersea — whichever serves you better right now.
02
Pick a time
Pick a free slot in the calendar — times are shown in UK time.
03
Receive confirmation
You will get a confirmation and a short note on how to prepare.
Book online
Night rate −30%
Choose a date to see available times (UK time).
Booked! A confirmation with all the details has been sent to your email.
Confidential · Rescheduling up to 24 h · I reply within one working day
The online calendar is being connected — meanwhile you can book directly:
Email the office +44 754 412 1881 WhatsAppPublications & the book
Reconstructing General Psychology
Categories, Evidence, and Pluralism in a Human Science
What do we actually mean when we say “memory”, “emotion”, “personality”? This monograph — written with Vitalii Lunov and Viktoriia Turban — begins with an uncomfortable observation: the basic categories of psychology were built at different times, for different purposes, and rarely fit together as neatly as the textbooks suggest.
Across thirty linked chapters, every major category is treated as an “inferential contract”: what exactly is being claimed, what evidence can warrant the claim, which rival interpretations remain live, and where the claim stops travelling. The book’s answer is bounded integrative pluralism — categories and methods may stay plural, but their relations and limits must be made explicit and tested.
A distinctive table-atlas format makes every comparison inspectable: matrices and schemes expose what continuous prose can conceal. Psychology is treated here as a human science that is not opposed to the natural sciences — for psychologists, students and serious readers of the discipline’s foundations.
30 chapters · 6 parts · DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22002647 · Zenodo, 2026
Inside the book — six parts, thirty chapters
- Foundations of General Psychology
- The Architecture of the Psychological Person
- Psychological Processes and Forms of Organisation
- Development, Diversity, and Boundary Conditions
- Transversal Categories of Psychological Explanation
- The Mental, Normativity, and the Reconstruction of General Psychology
Official reviewers of the monograph
DSc in Psychology; Head, Department of General Psychology and Psychological Counselling, Odesa I. I. Mechnikov National University.
DSc in Psychology; Head, Department of Psychosomatics and Health Psychology, Mykhailo Drahomanov Ukrainian State University.
DSc in Psychology; Head, Department of Psychology and Pedagogy, Khmelnytskyi National University.
Recommended for publication by the Academic Council of the Mental Health Institute of Bogomolets National Medical University.
Selected papers & articles
Working papers with Assoc. Prof. Vitalii Lunov, posted March 2026 — full texts via the SSRN author profile · ORCID 0009-0009-2489-345X. Scans and details — on the Credentials & training page.
2026 Clinical Thinking in Clinical Psychologists: Contemporary State, Theoretical Frameworks, and Practical Challenges in the UK, USA, Canada, and Europewith V. Lunov · SSRN working paper · 29 pp. → 2026 Clinical Thinking in Clinical Psychology: A Methodological Framework Based on Cognitive Styles and Knowledge Transferwith V. Lunov · SSRN working paper · 22 pp. → 2026 Managerial Competence in International Projects in Medicine, Mental Health, and Developmental Neuropsychology: A Consensus-Assisted Literature Reviewwith V. Lunov · SSRN working paper · 18 pp. →Insights & discussions
Essays, questions, conversations
Writing on psychology, values and the examined life — with open discussion under every essay.
Essay · Categories
Why your categories quietly run your life
We rarely choose the words we use for our inner states — we inherit them. What happens when the inherited word is the wrong one?
Read the essay → Essay · EvidenceWhat counts as evidence when the subject is you?
Between a randomised trial and a lived life lies most of psychology. How to be rigorous about the part that cannot be averaged.
Read the essay → Essay · PluralismMany maps, one territory
On why a human science needs more than one method — and how to keep pluralism from sliding into “anything goes”.
Read the essay →Frequent questions
How does a first consultation work?
We meet for 50 minutes — online or in Battersea. You talk about what brings you; I ask questions, share my initial understanding, and we decide together whether and how to continue. There is no obligation beyond the first session.
Online or in person — is one better?
The research evidence for well-conducted online consultation is strong, and many clients prefer its flexibility. In-person work offers a different quality of presence. Both are full formats, not compromises — choose what fits your life, and feel free to alternate.
In which language will we work?
In the one you think in. Sessions are available in English, Ukrainian, Russian and Spanish — and switching languages mid-thought is welcome. Sometimes the switch itself is the most interesting material.
Is everything I say confidential?
Yes — confidentiality is the foundation of the work, within the standard ethical and legal limits (risk of serious harm to yourself or others, and legal requirements), which I explain plainly at the start of our work together.
How do I choose a psychologist at all?
Look for three things: verifiable credentials and membership of professional bodies; an approach they can explain in plain language; and — after a first meeting — the feeling of being understood without being judged. The third one matters more than people expect.
How many sessions will I need?
It depends on what you bring. Some questions resolve in three to five meetings; deeper work takes longer. After the first session I will tell you honestly what I see — including whether you need me at all.
How is this different from talking to a friend?
A friend consoles; a psychologist works. Method, confidentiality, evidence discipline — and the freedom to say what cannot be said anywhere else, to someone whose only agenda in the room is you.
What if we are not a good fit?
It happens, and it is information, not failure. If I believe another specialist or format would serve you better, I will say so directly and help you find them.
The discussion club
A simple forum by theme — the words we call ourselves, evidence in one’s own life, maps and territories, anxiety, burnout, meaning. Write in the language you think in; messages appear after light moderation.
Open the forum5
questions to ask yourself before a first consultation
Yuliia Kovalova · kovalova.uk
Free guide
Not sure where to begin?
Ten minutes with paper will save you half of your first session. Five questions, no right answers — in English, Ukrainian, Russian or Spanish.
Check your inbox — a confirmation email is on its way. The guide arrives right after you confirm.
Subscriptions are being connected — email us and we’ll send the guide directly: office@kovalova.uk
Contact
Write, call, or simply begin
Emailoffice@kovalova.uk
Phone UK+44 754 412 1881
WhatsApp+44 754 412 1881
Phone USA+1 516 321 4555
Consulting roomBattersea, London SW11Full address is shared upon booking
HoursMon–Fri, 10:00–19:00 (UK time)