Iryna Shcherbakova

Professional activity

Practical psychologist, certified gestalt therapist

Trainer of level two at the Kyiv Institute of Gestalt and Psychodrama (KIGiP)

Leads therapy groups and themed seminars

Themes I work with

The main focus of my work is codependent relationships, difficulty in recognising outer and inner boundaries, and difficulty in building relationships.

I work with shame, guilt and self-esteem, with crises and trauma, with anxiety and phobic disorders, panic attacks and depression.

Iryna about herself and about gestalt

«I remember coming to my first level in gestalt. Back then I was entirely certain that I knew everything about myself, and that I was there to be taught to work with people, to be given an instrument.

And I was given one.

Only to have it break down the thick walls of the armour that had once helped me survive. I remember my surprise and shock at realising what I do and why, what I want to say to people through my behaviour, how others respond to me.

And the deeper I went into that process of coming to know myself, the faster the glaciers of my soul melted; my defences cracked like clay walls in the blazing sun, and I became more vulnerable — but real, and above all understandable to myself.

It took me many years to realise that gestalt teaches you nothing, but helps you see what you already have and claim that unique wealth as fully your own; that awareness is precisely the instrument which lets you choose your priorities in life by leaning on who you are, rather than marching to someone else’s drum; that «here and now» is the only thing at my disposal, and that I build my future right at this point and on my own responsibility.

Gestalt became my philosophy.

Today I am glad, and moved, to share what I know myself, to be support and ground on the path of finding oneself for those who want it — and it is a great honour for me to be invited on this difficult but remarkable journey.»

Education and qualifications:

M. Drahomanov National Pedagogical University, Kyiv

Degree: Practical psychology

Qualification: Bachelor of practical psychology; practical psychologist

M. Drahomanov National Pedagogical University, Kyiv

Qualification: Master of practical psychology; lecturer in psychology; practical psychologist

Gestalt training and development:

Introduction to gestalt therapy / gestalt counselling (level one)

Issued by: Moscow Institute of Gestalt and Psychodrama

Gestalt therapy / gestalt counselling (level two)

The gestalt approach in work with groups (level three)

Teaching supervisors, international GATLA trainers: Jay Levin (USA), Irena Holuba (Latvia), Anna Tanalska-Duleba (Poland), Olha Dolhopolova, Oleksandr Yeremeiev (Kyrgyzstan).

Psychological trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder

Issued by: Kyiv Institute of Gestalt and Psychodrama

Participation in other programmes:

Propaedeutics of psychiatry

Issued by: Ukrainian Union of Psychotherapists, School for the Development of Psychotherapy

Research and practice conference «The clinical approach in gestalt therapy»

Issued by: «Gestalt approach» association, «Moscow Gestalt Institute» programme

Certificate of admission to clinical practice

Issued by: Ukrainian Institute of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Working with dysfunctional schemas and rules of living in CBT

CBT of simple phobias. CBT of social phobia.

Issued by: Ukrainian Institute of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy