About Sureyya
Professional training. Personal understanding. No assumptions.
I’m a BACP-registered integrative counsellor, former A-level Psychology teacher and creator of the R.I.S.E. reflective framework.
From people-pleasing to a different way of being
My story is part of the work — not proof of what will work for you.
At 27, I was teaching by day, singing in restaurants by night and training as a counsellor alongside it all. Rest barely existed. I later became severely unwell following glandular fever and was diagnosed with ME/CFS. At my worst, I report sleeping for up to 20 hours a day, experiencing many symptoms and using a wheelchair.
My own experience changed how I understood limits, uncertainty, self-criticism and the need to feel met as a whole person. It also led me towards counselling. Today, I work with people whose stories may include anxiety, low self-esteem, neurodivergence, people-pleasing or chronic illness.
Personal recovery stories can offer hope and empathy, but they are anecdotes. I will not treat my experience as evidence that another person’s symptoms have the same cause or promise the same outcome.
I offer counselling, not neurological or ME/CFS diagnosis and not a medical cure. Where relevant, my work sits alongside care from a GP, neurologist, ME/CFS team or other qualified professional.
Training & approach
I trained in person-centred therapy and now work integratively, drawing from more than one therapeutic approach to meet the person in front of me. The relationship is collaborative: warmth, curiosity and gentle challenge, without forcing a story or pace.
A professional register is an important trust signal, but it does not make a counsellor a medical specialist in ME/CFS or FND. The new site makes that boundary explicit.
R.I.S.E.
A reflective structure, not a clinical protocol.
I created R.I.S.E. to give our conversations and exercises a gentle shape. It is proprietary practice language; it has not been clinically validated as a treatment for a medical condition.
Recognise
Notice the pattern and the need beneath it.
Integrate
Meet difficult parts with context and compassion.
Stabilise
Build supportive practices, choices and boundaries.
Empower
Act in ways that feel aligned with your values.
See if we feel like a fit
A conversation before a commitment.
Arrange a free 15-minute connection call, or read through the current session and programme options.