Iro Michael

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Iro Michael

Hi, I'm Iro Michael. Embark with me on an online psychotherapy journey for healing and self-discovery.

Our confidential sessions offer a space for understanding and growth. I'm here to guide and support you towards well-being, every step of the way. My Experience:

I am a registered member of BACP (397067) and a voting member of FETE, with over 10 years of experience providing confidential counselling and psychotherapy services to individuals aged 14 and older. My MSc in Existential Counselling and

Psychotherapy from the New School of Existential Psychotherapy and Counselling (NSPC) in 2014 has provided me with a strong foundation in Humanistic, Existential, and Phenomenological approaches. Additionally, I have received training in person-centered, psychoanalytic/psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, and meaning-centered psychotherapy for cancer care providers. I strive to tailor my approach to meet the specific needs of each client, utilizing an integrative approach as necessary. Furthermore, I have worked with several non-governmental organizations (NGOs), gaining valuable experience working with clients who face a wide range of issues such as addictions, anxiety, depression, family relationship issues, domestic violence, bereavement, victims of abuse, identity crisis, trauma, eating disorders, prisoners, and immigration issues. This experience has allowed me to develop my skills further and has enabled me to adapt my approach to meet the needs of each unique client. Currently, I am also pursuing further training in Family Systemic Therapy to continue expanding my skills. My Background:

I am a Cypriot woman who was raised in the Middle East for most of my youth. By the age of 24, I graduated from Kent University at Canterbury with my BSc Psychology degree. After living on three very different and diverse islands and being exposed to meeting people from all different backgrounds and cultures from around the world, I became intrigued and curious about life and human nature. Subsequently, after much research, I had the fortune to learn about psychotherapy and counseling, where I immediately felt I belonged. Therefore, ,I chose to continue my studies in London at NSPC where it felt right at ‘home’. I fell in love with Existential philosophy and I was delighted to find out that I could use it in my practice as a psychotherapist. While some philosophers were quite engaging, others were often obscure. Nevertheless, they were mostly thought-provoking and provided me with valuable insights into life and human existence. It suited my enquiring nature into my own and other people’s hearts, minds, and souls. Since then, I began a very demanding but rewarding journey into people’s inner world as well as my own self-discovery.

21/07/2025

Psychiatric medication can offer real relief. It can soften overwhelming symptoms, stabilize mood, and help people through moments of deep distress.

But medication doesn't heal you.

It suppresses symptoms—it doesn’t resolve their root cause. The pain, fear, grief, trauma or unmet needs that gave rise to your symptoms often remain untouched beneath the surface.

When medication is used long term as the only coping strategy, it can have detrimental effects on your:
– 🧠 Emotional world: Emotional blunting, loss of joy, flatness
– 🧍‍♀️ Body: Weight gain or loss, fatigue, hormonal disruption, sexual side effects
– 🧩 Sense of self: Disconnection from your intuition, identity, and aliveness
– 🫂 Relationships: Struggles with intimacy, reduced emotional responsiveness

This is not a post to shame or criticize those who take medication. Many people have been put on it quickly, with little support or exploration. Sometimes it’s the only help offered.

But if we rely on medication as a long-term solution without also addressing the underlying causes—through therapy, relational repair, body-based work, or inner inquiry—we risk suppressing the very signals that could lead us toward healing.

True healing doesn’t come from numbing.
It comes from listening. From feeling. From being supported in the process of becoming whole again.

If you’re curious about how therapy can support this deeper kind of healing, I’m here to walk beside you.

07/07/2025

When a parent’s anxiety or OCD-driven need for control shapes the home, the child often absorbs an unspoken message:
"You can’t be trusted with your own life."

Over time, this will:
– Hinder personal growth and autonomy
– Leave the child growing up without a clear sense of identity
– Lead them to doubt themselves, their abilities, and their intuition
– Lower self-worth
– Create fear and insecurity around making “mistakes”
– Instill guilt and fear as default emotional states
– Teach them to suppress and/or disconnect from their bodies and emotions

What may look like care or structure can feel like suffocation in the child’s nervous system.
They learn to survive by abandoning parts of themselves.

But the pattern can be named.
And once it’s named, it can be healed.

Whether you are a parent wanting to do things differently—or an adult healing from this kind of upbringing—there is space now to reconnect. To rebuild trust with yourself. And to become who you were always meant to be.

01/07/2025

Burnout often feels like simply being tired or overwhelmed. But beneath that exhaustion, it’s really a deeper message from your mind and body — a call to slow down, reconnect with yourself, and restore balance.

Instead of pushing through with guilt or shame, try to listen with compassion. What parts of your life are draining your energy? What needs are being neglected — rest, boundaries, creativity, connection?

Recovery from burnout isn’t about doing more self-care tasks on a checklist. It’s about tuning in to what truly nourishes you, setting gentle boundaries, and allowing yourself the space to heal.

If you’re feeling burned out, start small: a few mindful breaths, a moment outside, a kind word to yourself. These simple acts are the first steps toward reclaiming your energy and joy.
🩵🩵🩵

24/06/2025

Everyone wants their independence—often because they don’t want to be controlled, limited, or shaped by others. And yet, at some point, we realize that we still need others to feel alive, to grow, and to thrive. At the heart of many relationships lies this tension: the desire to be fully ourselves, free and self-directed, and the longing to deeply connect. This isn’t a flaw—it’s a fundamental part of being human. When we’ve been hurt, misunderstood, or controlled in the past, it can feel especially hard to trust that connection won’t cost us our freedom. Therapy offers a space to explore this paradox safely—to reclaim your independence without shutting others out, and to open to connection without losing yourself. You don’t have to choose one over the other. You get to have both. 🧡🧡🧡

16/06/2025

"I just want to be seen."
This simple sentence holds a universe of longing.

Often, when someone says this, they mean:
👉🏽 “I want to be acknowledged for who I truly am.”
👉🏽 “I want someone to notice the parts of me I usually hide — the fear, the shame, the vulnerability.”

To be seen is to have someone notice the truth of who you are —
Not just what you do, or say, or achieve…
but what you feel, carry, and quietly long for.

It’s when your vulnerability is met with care,
your silence is not ignored,
and your essence is recognized — without performance or explanation.

Many people grow up never being truly seen by their family.
They learned to be invisible, strong, or "easy."
But that need doesn’t vanish. It lives on in adult relationships —
waiting, aching, sometimes becoming overwhelming.

Because wanting to be seen isn’t just about being noticed on the surface.
It’s about daring to reveal those shadowed parts — the sides of ourselves that were kept hidden for lack of approval or out of shame.

Many hide their tender parts, afraid that showing them will lead to more pain or abandonment.

As a therapist, I hold space for that longing, and for the courage it takes to bring those hidden parts into the light.

I also gently invite a deeper question:
✨ Can you begin to see yourself?
✨ Can you turn toward your inner child — the one who was overlooked — and say:
“I see you now. I’m here with you.”

In therapy, and in safe relationships, this need can slowly find its way to the surface.
And be met. Gently. Patiently. Without shame.

Because being seen is not a luxury.
It’s a birthright.

🩵🩵🩵

11/06/2025

That’s what a client shared today — and it felt like a quiet revolution.

For so long, many of us are taught to seek approval, to please, to keep the peace — often at the cost of ourselves. But there comes a time when the mask begins to feel too tight. When the energy it takes to be liked by everyone drains the life out of us.

Choosing to be real instead of liked is a powerful shift.
It means:
— Letting your values lead
— Creating boundaries that honour your energy
— Letting go of those who only like the version of you that pleases them

When we start filtering out who truly sees and values us, we begin to reclaim something precious: our time, our energy, our space.

There’s a quiet kind of freedom in no longer bending ourselves to fit into every room.
It’s not rejection. It’s self-respect.

Filtering out who gets access to you isn’t rude. It’s wise. It’s liberating.
💛💛💛

02/06/2025

I was a VICTIM. And now I’m FREE.

Not because I forgot what happened.
Not because I minimized it.
Not because I pretended it didn’t hurt.

But because I finally stopped blaming myself.
Because I saw the child who had no choice.
Because I grieved what I couldn’t change.
Because I let anger rise where silence once lived.
Because I chose compassion over shame.

Naming what was done to me didn’t make me weak.
It made me whole.

I was a victim. And now I’m free.

💜💜💜

The Courage to Say: "I Was a Victim"

So many people struggle to say these words.

Not because they want to deny what happened—but because admitting it feels like defeat, weakness, or shame.
Because somewhere along the line, they were taught that being hurt was their fault. That speaking up was dangerous. That staying silent made it go away.

But refusing to acknowledge that you were a victim doesn’t protect you—it keeps you bound to the pain.
It turns the anger you couldn’t express outward… inward.
It replaces self-compassion with self-blame.

Saying “I was a victim” isn’t giving up power.
It’s reclaiming truth.
It’s breaking the silence that once kept you safe, but now keeps you stuck.

And it’s the first step to becoming something you were never allowed to be back then:
FREE!

💜💜💜

27/05/2025

When we resist change—when we cling to what’s familiar out of fear or habit—we begin to feel stuck, at a dead end, or like we’re going around in circles. Unfelt emotions harden into tension. Dreams that go unexpressed turn into restlessness. Staying still might feel safe, but it often comes at the cost of aliveness and growth. Flexibility is healthy—it allows us to adapt, heal, and evolve. Change doesn’t have to be drastic; sometimes it’s a subtle shift—a new boundary, a release, or a conversation we’ve been avoiding. What matters is that we stay in motion, embracing change and flexibility as natural and necessary parts of life, remaining in honest relationship with ourselves, awake to what’s shifting within and around us.

💚💚💚

20/05/2025

"Staying positive" does not automatically lead to healing. In fact, trying to be positive all the time can delay real healing.

Here’s why:

Suppressing emotions: Forcing yourself to “stay positive” often means pushing down anger, sadness, grief, or fear—emotions that need to be felt and processed to heal.

Invalidation: It can invalidate your experience. Telling yourself (or being told) to just focus on the positive can feel like your pain isn’t real or important.

Toxic positivity: This is the belief that we should only have good vibes all the time. But humans are wired for a full range of emotions. Healing often begins in the messy, uncomfortable, and painful places—not by glossing over them.

True healing comes from authenticity, self-connection, and emotional truth. That means giving space to what hurts, being honest about where you are, and finding support that meets you there—not bypasses it with forced optimism.

🩷🩷🩷

13/05/2025

This phrase has echoed through many of the stories I’ve heard in my work — and in my own life too.

Family is often assumed to be a given — a set of people bound to you by birth or name. But for many, these bonds don’t always feel safe, supportive, or nourishing. In fact, they can sometimes be the very relationships that wound the deepest.

Being “family” is not just about shared DNA or childhood memories. It’s about emotional safety. It’s about being seen, respected, and loved as you are. It’s about showing up for one another — not out of obligation, but out of genuine connection.

I’ve seen people build families from friendships, communities, and chosen kin. People who’ve had to grieve what they never received from their blood relatives and find healing in other kinds of bonds. And that healing is just as real. Just as valid.

If you’ve ever questioned your place in your family of origin, or felt alone because of it — you’re not broken. You’re not ungrateful. You’re human. And you deserve to feel connected and loved — whether that comes from people you were born to or those you choose along the way. 🧡🧡🧡

06/05/2025

Many adults with ADHD present as intelligent, capable, and even high-achieving. On the outside, everything looks fine — sometimes more than fine. But behind the scenes, it’s often a very different story: chronic overwhelm, emotional exhaustion, relentless self-criticism.

High-functioning doesn’t mean easy-functioning.
It means you’ve learned to mask the struggle.
It means perfectionism became a coping mechanism.
It means you’re often praised for the very traits that are quietly draining you.

For many — especially women — ADHD isn’t diagnosed until adulthood, after years of feeling like they’re “too much,” “not enough,” or just “bad at life.” But it was never laziness, or disorganization, or flakiness. It was a nervous system wired differently, doing its best to keep up in a world that wasn’t built with it in mind.

ADHD isn’t a flaw. It’s a different way of processing, sensing, responding.

If this speaks to you, please be gentle with yourself. You’re not broken — you’ve just been working overtime to fit into something that never quite fit you.
🩵🩵🩵

28/04/2025

👉 When Children Are Made Responsible for Adult Choices

A person recently shared that they’ve been in a loveless relationship for many years. Their child, now 10, has expressed a desire for their parents to stay together.
This individual feels torn — caught between their own unhappiness and the child's wishes.

But here's the hard truth:
It is not the child's job to decide the fate of their parents' relationship.
Children naturally want safety, security, and the fantasy of a happy family. They cannot comprehend the deep emotional, relational, or psychological complexities between two adults.

When parents put that weight onto their child — even indirectly — the child feels responsible for everyone’s happiness.
They learn:

- Love means sacrifice, even when it hurts.

- My needs come second to keeping others together.

- I must fix or hold together what is broken.

In the long run, this creates guilt, confusion, and distorted ideas of love and responsibility.

The role of the parent is to make the hard, painful decisions — and to carry the emotional burden for the child. Not the other way around.

Even if the child cries. Even if they beg. Even if it breaks their heart in the short term.

Because ultimately, living in an environment of hidden resentment, sadness, or silent withdrawal hurts the child far more than change ever could.

💙

Address

Limassol

Website

http://www.psychotherapycentral.org/

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