Qualifications & Training

My work is informed by formal psychological training, ongoing professional development, and sustained clinical practice. While my approach is relational rather than technique-led, it is grounded in recognised psychological frameworks and ethical standards.

This page offers an overview for those who wish to understand my professional background in more detail.

Academic Background

I hold postgraduate training in psychology and mental health, with a particular interest in the relational, emotional, and embodied dimensions of psychological experience.

MSc Mental Health & Wellbeing, University of Wolverhampton, UK| (expected completion November 2026)

MSc Mental Health Psychology, University of Liverpool, UK | 2021

My academic work has focused on attachment, emotional regulation, and the interplay between cognition, affect, and lived experience, rather than on diagnosis or manualised intervention alone.

Alongside this, my professional development is informed by foundational studies in health sciences and integrative health, completed prior to my UK postgraduate psychological training. This background supports my understanding of physiology, nervous-system regulation, and whole-person approaches to wellbeing.

Clinical & Therapeutic Training

Alongside academic study, I am completing professional training in integrative counselling and psychotherapy.

Diploma in Integrative Therapy, Inter-Psyche Training Institute, UK| (expected completion July 2026)

This training emphasises relational depth, attachment-informed practice, psychodynamic and somatic perspectives, and reflective, ethical therapeutic work.

Prior Professional Career

Senior Finance & Organisational Leadership

Before training as a psychologist and therapist, I held a senior professional career in finance and organisational leadership within UK healthcare and corporate environments.

I worked in roles including Finance Director, Group Financial Controller, and Finance & Operations Manager, with responsibility for:

  • organisational strategy and operational leadership
  • governance, compliance, and ethical oversight
  • organisational restructuring and periods of change
  • leadership of multidisciplinary teams
  • sustained decision-making under pressure

 

This experience informs my consultative work and my capacity to work with complex systems, responsibility, power dynamics, and organisational reality.

Selected Professional Development

My ongoing professional development reflects a sustained interest in relational trauma, embodiment, nervous-system regulation, and systemic dynamics, particularly where early developmental injury and complex relational systems continue to shape adult emotional and professional life.

Selected training includes:

  • “Unmasking the Somatic Super-Syndrome: Linking ADHD, Chronic Health, and Nervous System Regulation” — The Grove, UK (2025)
  • Systemic & Family Constellations Training — London School of Systemic & Family Constellations, UK (2025)
  • “The Wildness of the Body” — workshop with Nick Totton and Robert Rees, The Grove, UK (2025)
  • “Impact of Child Sexual Abuse on Adult Survivors and Their Relationships” — Into the Light, UK (2025)
  • “When Mothers Wound” — Deep Release, UK (2025)
  • “When Fathers Wound” — Deep Release, UK (2025)
  • UK Psychological Trauma Society (UKPTS) — conferences and professional events (2018–2019)
  • Janina Fisher — Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors (2018)

 

This work informs my therapeutic and consultative practice alongside formal academic study, clinical experience, and ongoing supervision.

Professional Orientation

I am trained and practise within the UK professional context and work in accordance with recognised ethical standards. I offer therapy and consultancy online to clients in the UK and internationally, with care taken to practise within appropriate professional boundaries.

I do not work in a diagnosis-driven or prescriptive way. Psychological theory is held as a support to understanding, rather than a substitute for lived experience.

A note on approach

Qualifications matter — but they do not replace presence, judgement, or ethical care.

My training provides a foundation for the work; how that training is held is what shapes the therapeutic and consultative relationship.

© Ruta Gabalis Integrative Psychology & Therapy

Online Therapy (UK & International) | Reflective Consultancy (Online & International) | In-person bodywork by arrangement (Integrative Therapy only).