Agnieszka Walczuk

We may even think of it as our personality – we are hyper-vigilant or high-strung, cantankerous and easily frustrated, or low energy, cautious and conflict avoidant or with tendency for melancholy. We may also experience psycho-somatic symptoms and experience physical signs like chronic pain, panic attacks, stiffness in our bodies or trouble breathing.

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Somatic Experiencing and NARM with Agnieszka Walczuk

Somatic (body based) healing practices help us think about traumatic imprints as a language of somatic intelligence instead of pathologising human fight, flight, fawn and freeze responses. The broad array of tools I have at my disposal help individuals heal by unlocking frozen or stuck layers of potential, creativity, resilience, imagination, love and care. We experience restoration of dignity and a loving sense of ourselves.

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Areas I work with:

I help people overwhelmed by intense events, difficult childhood experiences or chronic stress regain a sense of purpose and get their lives back.

• personal difficulties: low self-esteem, fear of taking up space, emotional reactivity (rage, panic, overwhelm), anxiety, depression, loneliness
• relational difficulties: defensive & avoidant behaviours, overly rigid or poor boundaries, avoiding or seeking conflict, over- or under-functioning in relationships
• intense grief, bereavement & loss
• developmental trauma following difficult childhood experiences including abandonment, abuse, neglect, control, violence, anger, conflict or silence
• overwhelming experiences following an accident, assault, sexual assault (PTSD)
• physical difficulties: breathing difficulties, panic attacks, flashbacks, medical trauma (following a surgery, anaesthesia or even objectively minor procedures)
• work difficulties: loss of meaning, burnout & chronic stress or workaholism and insecure overachiever compensatory adaptations (compulsive pleasing, perfecting, controlling)
• major life transitions or loss of identity (loss of health, becoming a leader or parent, empty-nesters, mid-life crisis, retirement)
• cultural difficulties: alienation experienced by expats and immigrants including when coming from systems of political oppression, violence or war

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Somatic Practices for Leaders (special interest group)

When we become leaders, it’s no longer just about us. We have responsibility over other people, to lead, to advocate for and to nurture. However, ‘leader’ is also just another label and underneath we’re just as human, with history, hurts, wounds, aspirations, plenty of unused potential and multiple ways of protecting ourselves. Sometimes traditional training and coaching falls short and we unable to address and renegotiate some of the triggers that prevent us from stepping into our roles fully and joyfully. We experience a form of loneliness at the top. We may feel guilty or ashamed that we are unable to act ethically and with moral courage or maturity expected in these positions.

You can read more on my how I work with Leaders and Executives on my website.

I work both with individuals who are self-funding and assignments sponsored by organisations.

All individual work is done on a strictly confidential basis, there is no reporting to organisational stakeholders, unless the individual chooses to do so themselves.

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People ask me – Is what I experience ‘trauma’?

The word ‘trauma’ is perhaps being overused these days but if you’re curious, these are some examples of traumatic imprints and symptoms that we may experience a daily basis:

• Lack of purpose, numbing of one’s vitality and sensitivity, untapped potential, feeling of living a small life, experiencing professional plateaus, inability to access internal motivation
• Putting up a shield or guard, relational alienation and isolation, defensiveness (seen as relational barrier and seen in the other rather than in me), simplifying the stories of people, flattening people instead of seeing them as multidimensional beings
• Emotional hot buttons and triggers or emotional coldness, lack of warmth and presence
• A lot of unhealed scar tissue that we have become habituated to (2008 economic crisis, multiple redundancies, past experiences of bullying or harassment we can’t shake off in a new job)
• Chronic lack of safety and seeing risk where there isn’t any, returning pattern of lack of trust and cynicism, scarcity mode – never enough protection, love, recognition, resources, support, despair & hopelessness
• Chronic stress that looks like over-functioning or inexplicable losses of energy (feeling like we move through treacle), stressful compensation mechanisms: workaholism, perfectionism, chronic pleasing
• Performance mode (fear of failure) v learning (capacity to embrace challenges), highly transactional modes of operating, overly fast or overly slow speed of operation that’s aimed at avoiding the emotional undertones of the task at hand

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How My Own Path Unfolded

I was born in 1970’s in what was then still a communist Poland. Political context matters here but my family, schooling and friendships certainly didn’t focus on making any of us believe we should strive to have an impact on the world. I didn’t realise it for years to come, how deeply seeds of self-doubt were planted during that time. Because… I always knew what I wanted to do but it would take me 20 years to express it in a way that felt meaningful and impactful. On top of that, for me as a woman, to grow out of an unhealthy kind of modesty and understand that being my-full-self and having an ambition to make a difference (beyond just having a passion), was and is about my dignity, the strength to overcome whatever limitations my circumstances might have put me in.

Looking back, what helped me survive, was my relentless curiosity (perhaps even obsession) about people, and really not much tolerance for anything else. I was amazed by what people were amazed by, curious about what made them tick, encouraging of their wildest idiosyncrasies. And, following my very early experience of group therapy, perhaps more aware of, compassionate and accepting of their unique stories of struggle.

My first degree was in Languages and I became an English and Spanish teacher to people of literally all ages: from 4 to 70 years old. I loved it. The classes felt personal, almost like therapy, because I was simply teaching folk to express themselves in another language and I was very successful at it. It felt natural. I then lived in Madrid, where I met, and New York, where I married my husband, Jaime. In 2004 we moved to Edinburgh and I faced a professional, a ‘what’s next?’ dilemma. I knew I wanted to work with people so HR or Psychology felt like a natural choice. I chose post-grad masters in HR. My self-doubt had an upper hand. A few years later I was pacing the pavement outside a very respectable legal establishment where I was forging my way through HR with a very clear sense that this work wasn’t the best expression of my strengths or values. It wasn’t my difference to make. I was good at it but I knew I was never going to be outstanding.

Shortly after I enrolled on the Advanced Counselling Skills training and spent the next decade going through intense Coach Training, Leadership Development Training and Therapeutic and Trauma Training. I attended over a hundred smaller events and read twice as many books on trauma, mental health, therapy, personal and professional development. Half way through in 2013 Jaime and I moved to London and I transitioned from HR to L&D and almost immediately stepped into a leadership role spearheading the function in two organisations before finally surrendering to self-employment by becoming an Executive & Team Coach & Somatic Therapist. It’s the hardest thing I have ever done. My overnight success truly required 20 years of preparation. I never take it for granted.

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Training and Qualifications:

As of March 2026, I reached approx. 4000 client hours. My most relevant credentials are listed here, a full list of training is available on my website.

Professional Memberships

• I am a Professional Certified Coach and since 2015 a member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF). I adhere to the ICF Code of Ethics. 
• I am a Member of Somatic Experiencing Association UK (SEAUK)

Training

• Higher National Certificate in Counselling, Telford College, Edinburgh
• Somatic Experiencing, SEUK, Edinburgh
• Neuro-Affective Relational Model (NARM) – Trainee, London
• Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes, Metanoia Institute, London
• Co-Active Professional Coach Training, London
• Advanced Adult Development Series, London
• Integral Coach Training, London
• Certified Practitioner of the Enneagram, a psycho-spiritual psychometric instrument, used for discovery of core personality and motivation, London
• Leadership Circle and Co-Active Leadership Development Programmes, London

I work in English, Polish and Spanish.

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Please read this before contacting me. You will find good information here on my availability, logistics and practicalities.

Contact:

Agnieszka’s Contact Details
agnieszka@leaderkind.com

Rates:

£90 per 50-minute session
Please email me with your initial enquiry or simply use this link to book a free 20-minute phone consultation (available on Thursday or Wednesdays at 17:10).

Sessions:

In Person Sessions:
I work in-person at Barnsbury Therapy Space (Angel, London) on Monday afternoons and evenings between 12:00-21:00.

Directions to Barnsbury Therapy Space

On Line Sessions:
I offer online sessions on Zoom on Tuesday mornings between 08:00-12:00.