Англоговорящий психолог онлайн. Private online-counselling in English

Yana Sheffer.
English-speaking private counselor & Youtuber

Native Russian speaker.
Was born and bred in the USSR/Russia. Have been working as a private counseling psychologist with Russian speakers around the world for the past 7 years. Since 2022, started working with living in Russia English speaking expats (providing help on cultural adaptation to Russia)

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When moving to another country, it may be not so easy to adapt to the unknown cultural code, habits, people and even local sense of humour!

Dear reader,

If you are visiting my page, you are probably looking for an English-speaking psychologist or counsellor in Russia

Russia is a country of opportunity.
People arrive in the capital (Moscow) and to other Russian cities from different countries to work, study, make a family or business, or change their lifes

When moving to another country, it may be not so easy to adapt to the unknown cultural code, habits, people and even local sense of humour!

I can imagine you came to Russia leaving your parents or friends so many miles away. You found yourself in different culture with different and maybe even strange people around

You do not feel entirely comfortable, you may feel lonely and have a great desire to be listened and understood. This is why individual consultations with an English speaking specialist could help you to adapt to your new country.

I am happy
to help you with

Russian shrink in casual

My expertise

"Psychology of Emigration"

"Features of psychotherapeutic work involving clients from other cultural backgrounds"

"Sexual abuse survivors in the counselling practice"

Basics of working with trauma

Work
I really enjoy working with clients from different cultural backgrounds, immigrants and expats! I have a warm, collaborative, and supportive therapeutic style, and I would make sure that you feel safe and cared for when we start consulting
Perspective
I have a degree in Soviet history as well. This knowledge is also helpful in my work. I am able to give my foreign clients a historical point of view on their issues related to Russian society if required
Methods
My consulting methods include cognitive-behavioral therapy and dialectical-behavioral therapy as well as mindfulness. I cannot prescribe medication
Promotion
Run a Youtube channel, write articles and make researches on international dating/marriage, immigration and refugee issues

Terms & Conditions

Is it legal being a psychologist and work with foreigners?

Here in Russia we do not have any restrictions or special laws about that at all. I can work online/offline with clients from any country including foreigners living around the world or those who are living in Russia

What does it cost?

60-minute online-session is 8.000RUB
I accept the payment on PayPal (GPB) and AlfaBank card (RUB).
100% prepayment is required for every session. Please note that I am not networked with any insurance companies. If the general price is not affordable for you, there is an option for a negotiable fee. Contact me, and we will try to find a solution

What can I expect?

In our first session, I will ask some questions about what brings you to me and what you'd like to change or focus on in our work. You will get to share what's important to you and how you'd like to grow

Being late for session

Being late for a session reduces the time of the session. For example, if your 50-minute session has been scheduled at 5pm and you come at 5:20pm, the session will last for only 30 minutes rather than for 50

The final meeting

If for whatever reason you have decided to finish counseling, please be so kind as to have a final meeting to discuss the results of the sessions

Confidentiality

Absolute confidentiality is provided in all cases except where I become aware of a threat to anyone's life (preparing for a terrorist attack, coup, murder, shooting). In that case I must report to the police according to the Russian law. Thanks for your understanding

Getting calm & relax

Living in Russia expats share to me their experience

I only have Russian friends here, I have however met a few foreigners living in Khabarovsk, but for me part of the experience living abroad is to chat with locals, and doing truly local things. Most Russian people respect any foreigner who speaks some Russian and most government officials and bank employees will speak slower, and try to communicate with you. And they like to know where I am from and how I ended up in Khabarovsk. I was struggling with differences in culture. And also understanding which paper work I should submit when. For example, the whole propiska thing does not exits in South Africa.

Christian, 40, South Africa. 3 years in Russia

The most difficult for me was actually not being able to use my bank card in Russia because of the sanctions. I'm mostly struggling in my home country were people see me as a traitor and as a crazy person because I decided to move to Russia on my own. I have been treated like a terrorist or like one of these women who were joining ISIS and going to Syria, this is insane! One thing I have noticed though, is that Russian men can never admit to being wrong

Milla, 35, France. 5 months in Russia

Most Russian people live in the 21 st century being stuck in the 16 th. That is, they behave like there is no other civilisation beyond the borders of Russia. For this reason, they are not friendly with other nations and culture. They think that every one should live and stay where they were born. They don't understand the concept of globalisation in the sense that the world is just one country and every one has the right has to settle down where they feel comfortable. Most of them are stuck at the USSR era, where Russian were not allowed to go abroad and where Russians were cut off the outer world. As result, most Russian people have problems fit in or to accept others who are different to them in terms of culture , skin colour, etc.

James, 31, Ghana. 4 years in Russia

My main problem was dealing with university administration. Unfortunately they didn't speak English in general, and there were many steps involving visa, registration, dormitory and so on, which no one could explain to me. (My Russian was not sufficient then) I don't know any other Irish people who have come to Russia. There are several Irish pubs! But no Irish people are working there haha! It's a big tragedy for Russia that so many young educated people are leaving. Of course I guess this means that there are opportunities for employment here and people from poorer countries would be very interested in getting those jobs

Dónal, 31, Ireland. 1,5 years in Russia

I definitely think that it's necessary to be at least conversational in the language of the country you live in. Not knowing the language is rude and uncultured. Everything was difficult when I first arrived in Russia! The language was challenging, the sense of isolation when everything around is a mystery (not knowing the language), certain people's judgemental attitudes, adjusting to a new country and work regime, etc. I have now adapted, and I even have Russian citizenship! Now I spend part of the year in Russia, and part of the year traveling, while being self-employed.

Nicholas, 33, Canada. 8+ years in Russia

The daily racism might occur in different ways. For example, you order a taxi. The taxi comes and refuses to take you just because you are black. And state that : « Я не буду взять тебя , ты черпая жопа» . Or some even come look at you, and drive back and cancel the order. This happened to me , to my friends and acquaintances a lot of times. Plus , sometimes you call for jobs , they bluntly tell you they don't hire black people, just slavic people.

Robert, 22, Algeria. 2 years in Russia

About Russians being too judgmental, I've heard and seen all kinds of stuff. In my first few years, I was criticised for being lazy/ unsuccessful for not knowing Russian language. Some women also seem to think that the most interesting guys have corporate jobs and a Mercedes, and obviously I don't. What else? Some Russians interpret being tactful in speech as a sign of a weak character… and a few other things.

Peter, 40, USA. 5 years in Russia

I have been living abroad for ten before, including 2 in Uzbekistan, 1 in China and 2 in Oman. So Russia was new, but not even the strangest place I've lived I am leaving Russia in the summer [2023]. Covid and the special operation have taken a lot out of me. I do love Russia and Russian people but all the good ones are leaving. I'm married to a Russian, so my wife is joining me. She was ready to leave Russia when I met her. We've already applied for her UK visa so we're just waiting out the clock to leave

Alex, 36, Great Britain. Part I. 5 years in Russia

I like Russian people. Compared to the middle east for example where everyone is trying to be your friend, Russians tend to try and understand if someone is an idiot first I see it as a healthy skepticism of people, but others see it as being hostile. Once you get past this barrier, Russians are amazingly caring people. I also like the Russian sense of humour which I see as similar to the British. You can make fun of yourselves and your predicament. Americans and the Chinese cannot

Alex, 36, Great Britain. Part II. 5 years in Russia

I lived and worked in Moscow from January 2022 to March 13 2022. I previously visited Irkutsk 5 times as well as Moscow and Spb on separate occasions. The main difficulty for me was having to force myself to use Russian all the time. I visited medical clinics and the dentist quite a few times and they use much more detailed language that was harder to understand. I adapted to living in Russia really quickly, I was previously living in London, so getting around on the metro was very familiar to me :)

Edwin, 32, England. Part I. Already left Russia

Getting a work permit is the most long winded and painful experience. First it's the mandatory medical exam and then I had to go to Sakharovo [the main office in Moscow, which provides immigration and naturalization service] and wait an entire day surrounded by other foreigners for a process that should really last 10 minutes. I left Russia in March 2022 because of my career… I'm not sure what other foreigners have in terms of roles, but I can't risk a bad reputation, especially in my field (Cyber Security).

Edwin, 32, England. Part II. Already left Russia

Travel and learn languages, so infinite worlds will be inside you and you won't be the same anymore ©️ Leonardo
Я изучаю русский с 2008, с начала учебы в университете. После окончания курсов, в 2011 как раз, у меня был примерно уровень В1, а в 2016 уровень был уже выше, продвинутый В2- начальный С1. Я так долго хотел переехать в Россию, что просто радовался. Можно сказать, что были некоторые проблемы связанные с работой, так как я переводчик и раньше в основном работал с иностранных языков на мой родной итальянский, а тут получается, что нужны переводчики на

Leonardo, 33, Italy. Part I. In Russia since 2016

А так, конечно, пришлось еще привыкнуть к немногим жизненным ситуациям, которые отличаются от итальянских, даже например как заправляют машину в России. Кажется ерунда, но это как будто научиться жить заново. Но я относился довольно позитивно к этому всему, поэтому не считаю, что это сложности. Лично я не понимаю, как можно переехать заграницу и общаться только со своими соотечественниками. Никого не сужу, но это не для меня. Я постараюсь по возможности общаться в основном с русскими и контактироваться с итальянцами как можно реже.

Leonardo, 33, Italy. Part II. In Russia since 2016

Из-за работы придется общаться с итальянцами чаще, чем хотелось бы и этим я немного недоволен. У меня есть русские друзья, родственники (жена русская) и даже крестная дочь, можно сказать, что погрузился полностью в русскую жизнь. Стараюсь и общаться с другими иностранцами (не итальянцами) для практики речи, или просто потому что мне интересно узнать о их культуре.

Leonardo, 33, Italy. Part III. In Russia since 2016

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Yana Sheffer, 2023