Qian Yang
Integrative Counsellor
I work with people who sense something isn't quite right — in their relationships, sense of self, or the life they've built. Particularly experienced with cultural identity, family dynamics and women's personal growth.
I specialise in:
About me
If you're reading this, something has probably been on your mind for a while. Maybe it shows up in your relationships, in a recurring sense of not-quite-enough, or in a feeling that the life you've built doesn't fully feel like yours. You're not sure exactly what it is — but you know something is getting in the way.
If that resonates, you're probably the kind of person I work with.
I work with adults navigating relationship difficulties, family dynamics, life transitions, and questions of identity — particularly where these overlap. Many of my clients carry the weight of love and high expectations that were tightly wound together growing up, where loyalty meant not looking too closely at what hurt. Others are caught between two cultures, two versions of who they're supposed to be, two sets of values that don't quite reconcile. Some are women quietly re-examining the story they were handed — looking back at their mothers, their grandmothers, the women who shaped them — and beginning to understand their own lives with different eyes.
Whatever brings you here, you're not looking to be fixed. You're looking to understand.
** A little about me **
I'm Qian Yang, a BACP-registered integrative counsellor based in London. I came to this work after nearly twenty years in finance, technology and startups — building a career that looked right from the outside but quietly wasn't. That experience of living a life that didn't fit, and finding a way through it, is close to the heart of how I work.
I'm Chinese and have lived in London for over fifteen years. I understand intimately the particular weight that comes with Asian family dynamics — the love that's real, the expectations that bind, and the guilt that makes it hard to acknowledge both at the same time. I also know what it's like to be in a relationship across cultures, and how much can get lost in translation — not just linguistically, but in the deeper assumptions we each carry about what love, family and commitment are supposed to look like.
I've also been on my own feminist journey — looking back at the women in my family, understanding their lives and what they carried, and sitting with the complexity of holding feminist values inside the reality of relationships and family. I know how isolating that process can feel, and I think it deserves proper space.
I work with clients from all backgrounds and offer sessions in English and Mandarin. I'm based in Shoreditch, London, and see clients both in person and online — including internationally.
I also co-host a Mandarin-language podcast 妇妇得正, exploring identity, relationships and women's lives. Available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
** How I work **
My approach is integrative and relational — more interested in genuine understanding than quick fixes. If you'd like to know more about how I work and the therapeutic traditions I draw on, you can read more in the Approach section below.
I speak:
Location:
Media Gallery
Approach
** Starting with you, not a method **
My training is integrative, which means I don't follow a single fixed model. Instead I draw primarily on person-centred and psychodynamic approaches, and am influenced by existential thinking — particularly around questions of meaning, identity and how we make sense of our lives. What guides the work is always you: your pace, your language, what feels alive in the room.
** The relationship is the work **
Across all the different therapeutic approaches, research consistently points to the same thing: the quality of the relationship between client and therapist matters more than any particular technique. I take that seriously. I aim to create a space that feels genuinely safe — not just professionally boundaried, but warm, honest and human. A place where you can say the thing you haven't quite been able to say anywhere else.
** Exploring rather than fixing **
I'm less interested in symptom management than in understanding. Many of the things people bring to therapy — anxiety, relationship difficulties, a sense of being stuck — are better understood as signals pointing to something deeper. My instinct is always to follow that signal rather than silence it. That means sessions can sometimes feel slow or circuitous, but the understanding that comes from that kind of exploration tends to be more lasting than quick fixes.
** The past in the present **
I'm particularly interested in how early experiences — especially family relationships and the stories we absorbed growing up about who we are and what we deserve — continue to shape how we relate to ourselves and others in the present. This isn't about blame or dwelling in the past. It's about understanding the roots of patterns that no longer serve you, so you can start to relate to them differently.
** Cultural awareness **
Culture shapes everything — how we express emotion, what we feel we're allowed to want, how we understand family obligation, what asking for help even means. I bring genuine cultural fluency to this work, particularly around East Asian and intercultural dynamics, and I'm attuned to the ways that cultural context can be invisible in a therapy room that doesn't acknowledge it.
I offer sessions in English and Mandarin.
Experience
I am a BACP-registered counsellor currently working in private practice, supporting clients from diverse cultural and professional backgrounds. Before moving into counselling, I worked in delivery and coordination roles within fast-paced professional environments, which gave me strong experience in communication, collaboration, and supporting people through pressure and change.
My therapeutic work includes supporting clients experiencing anxiety, stress, relationship and family difficulties, workplace pressures, identity-related challenges, and cultural adjustment. I have particular interest in working with international clients, immigrants, and individuals navigating life between different cultures. I work with clients both in the UK and internationally, and offer counselling in both English and Mandarin.
Education
- Professional Diploma in Integrative Counselling – Mary Ward Centre
- PGCert in Psychology – Northumbria University
- MSc in Computer Science - UCL
Services
Intro Call
Individual Session
Online individual session
Insurances
