My approach
My core professional training is in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), an evidence-based psychological therapy that explores the relationship between our thoughts, emotions and behaviour.
But people are rarely as simple as a single model.
My work is also informed by further training in Schema Therapy, alongside approaches and psychological understanding relating to trauma, attachment, relationships, self-esteem, body image and emotional regulation.
This means therapy can involve understanding what is happening in your life now while also recognising longer-standing patterns — where they may have developed, why they continue and what needs to change.
I want the people I work with to leave therapy not simply feeling better, but understanding themselves better.
The patterns beneath the problem
Sometimes the difficulty is obvious: panic, anxiety, intrusive thoughts, trauma symptoms or avoidance.
At other times it is harder to define.
You might repeatedly find yourself seeking reassurance. Becoming preoccupied with whether someone still wants you. Feeling responsible for everybody else. Struggling with uncertainty. Being highly self-critical. Avoiding situations that make you feel exposed. Trying to control things so that you can feel safe. Or finding yourself repeating relationship patterns that you understand intellectually but can't seem to stop.
These aren't simply personality flaws or “bad habits”.
Psychology can help us understand what the pattern is doing for us — and find healthier ways of meeting the need underneath it.
That is often where meaningful change begins.
Psychology beyond the therapy room
My interests extend beyond traditional psychotherapy.
I'm particularly interested in relationships and attachment, body image, identity and the psychology of cosmetic surgery including the expectations and emotional processes surrounding decisions to change our appearance.
I provide specialist psychological assessments for people considering cosmetic procedures and am developing psychologically informed resources to support people both before and after cosmetic change.
I also believe good psychology shouldn't only be available during a therapy appointment.
That is why Gina Zywicki Psychology is developing beyond one-to-one therapy to include courses, resources and thoughtfully designed psychological tools that help people understand themselves and use psychology in everyday life.
My professional background
I am a BABCP Accredited CBT Psychotherapist with experience across NHS services and private psychotherapy. My clinical work includes specialist experience in anxiety disorders, OCD, PTSD and trauma, relationships and attachment, self-esteem and body image, alongside my specialist work in the psychology surrounding cosmetic surgery.
My professional training includes:
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BSc Psychology
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PGCE
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PGDip Counselling & Psychotherapy
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Master’s-Level Postgraduate Qualification in High Intensity CBT
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Further Training in Schema Therapy
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Alongside my clinical work, I have developed a specialist interest in psychological assessment surrounding cosmetic surgery and continue to undertake professional development across the areas in which I practise.
Professional, but always human
Psychological expertise matters to me. So does the person sitting in front of me.
I don't believe therapy should feel like somebody is analysing you from the other side of the room, nor do I believe that understanding something intellectually is always enough to change it.
My approach is collaborative, curious and practical. We'll make sense of what's happening together, identify the patterns maintaining the problem and use psychological evidence to help you begin doing something different.
The aim isn't to create a perfect version of you. It's to give you greater freedom in how you think, feel, relate and choose to live.
Beyond the therapy room
Psychology is a huge part of my life, but not all of it.
Outside work, I love travel, spending time with family and friends, keeping active and discovering new places. I'm naturally curious about people and the lives we create for ourselves, our relationships, choices, identities and the things that make life feel meaningful.
That curiosity is part of what drew me to psychology in the first place, and it continues to shape the way I work today.
Understanding yourself changes more than symptoms.
I’m Gina Zywicki, a BABCP Accredited CBT Psychotherapist.
For me, psychology has never been simply about reducing symptoms. It is about understanding ourselves, how our experiences shape the way we think, feel and relate, why certain patterns keep repeating, and what allows us to genuinely change them.
I have worked across NHS and private psychotherapy, supporting people with a wide range of psychological and emotional difficulties. Over time, my work has become increasingly interested in the patterns underneath the presenting problem: the beliefs we develop about ourselves, the ways we learn to protect ourselves, the relationships we form and the strategies we use to feel safe or in control.
Often, those strategies make complete sense when we understand where they came from. The difficulty is that what once protected us can later become the very thing keeping us stuck.