Hi, I'm Christina Theo
For years, I looked like I had it all together. Senior leadership roles. A life that seemed successful. But behind the scenes, I was crumbling. Chronic pain, exhaustion, and the toll of an abusive marriage were eroding me from the inside out. I kept pushing through, because that’s what high achievers do. Until my body made the choice for me.
Why You Can Trust Me
I’m a Coaching Psychologist with 25 years of experience across the NHS, the voluntary sector, private practice, and international work. I’ve designed, delivered, and assessed health services that significantly improved mental and physical health outcomes.
I’m trauma-trained and practice in a trauma-informed way.
My work blends some of the most effective research-based methods for chronic pain, emotional overwhelm, and burnout:
- Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT)
- Emotional Awareness & Expression Therapy (EAET)
- Somatic Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Integrative Somatic Parts Work
- Somatic Experiencing (SE)
- Internal Family Systems (IFS)
- And traditional coaching & psychology methods
Each method is powerful on its own.
Together, they allow me to create a tailored, integrated approach for real, lasting change.
My Story
What if the very thing you’ve been pushing through is the key to your freedom?
The Collapse
On the train to a high-stakes client meeting, I thought: “I’m going to pass out. I can’t hold this together.” My colleague leaned in: “You have to present. The client’s team is expecting you.”
The thought thudded through me: “My body is begging to stop, but I can’t. That would be failure.”
I gave the presentation. I don’t know how. Then came the applause, relief all around. But me? I wasn’t there.
On the way home, I collapsed. I never went back to that job again.
In the months that followed, my entire body crashed. I lost my health and my career, and as I became more vulnerable, the abuse in my marriage intensified, taking the last pieces of the identity I had been holding together.
I saw how my second-generation Greek Cypriot “good girl” conditioning had shaped my leadership, my relationships, and my body. Pain was the language my body used when my voice couldn’t.
That collapse wasn’t a failure. It was the beginning of something deeper.
The Surrender
I realised another pill, another round of therapy, or another attempt to “push through” wasn’t going to change anything.
I was too unwell to work. Too exhausted to even watch TV. All I could do was sit alone with the grief, the rage, and the fear. It was excruciating. But it was also where healing began.
“Healing didn’t come from fighting my symptoms, it came from surrendering to them.”
That shift, from fear to trust, became the foundation of my recovery.
Pain wasn’t proof of injury. It was my body’s clumsy attempt to protect me: from overwhelm, from burnout, from the behaviours that kept pushing me past my limits.
It wasn’t weakness. It was wisdom. My body wasn’t failing, it was finally asking me to stop.
The Rebuilding
Surrender began to shape how I lived, not as a dramatic overhaul, but through everyday choices:
- Listening instead of fighting
I learned to notice sensations without panic, recognising them as signals, not threats, and understanding what they were really telling me. - Letting emotions surface
I made space for grief, anger, and fear to move through me. And when they did, there was finally room for joy, connection, and peace. - Living differently
I created small, sustainable rhythms that supported my nervous system day by day. - Living my truth
I began setting boundaries, resting without guilt, and choosing self-expression over silence.
Step by step, these changes rewired how I related to myself.
I rebuilt my health, my voice, my boundaries and my life.
Until I no longer had to brace against my own existence.
Life Today
Where I Am Now
My symptoms no longer rule my days. Flare-ups still happen, but they’re quieter now. Less intense. And they pass, instead of holding me hostage.
Fear is no longer the backdrop of my life. There’s space now, for joy, for laughter, and for peace to sit alongside whatever else shows up.
I’ve stopped staying in relationships that erode me. I live honestly, and in alignment with my values.
My business supports my health instead of sabotaging it, shaped around my nervous system, not someone else’s deadlines or metrics.
And with my daughter, I’m present in the small, ordinary moments that matter most. We paint at the table side by side, and I’m there, truly listening as her world unfolds.
This is what life beyond pain looks like: not perfect, not limitless, but free.
What This Means for You
I work with ambitious people who push hard in their careers, relationships, and personal growth, but find themselves stuck in symptoms and patterns that just don’t make sense.
What You Might Be Facing
- Pain no scan can explain
- Burnout from holding everything (and everyone) together
- Silencing yourself because of what it might cost to speak up
- Struggling to progress, no matter how hard you push
- Over-giving, over-committing, or under-valuing yourself, and paying for it in your body
- Trying everything (therapy, medication, self-help, “tools”) and still not finding relief
My work helps you unlearn that. Through evidence-based approaches that combine brain science with body wisdom, I help you restore safety, reclaim your voice, and rebuild a life your body no longer resists.
“Because pain isn’t your identity. Silence isn’t your destiny. And freedom, in body, in voice, in life, is possible.”
How I Work
Healing from chronic pain or burnout isn’t about one quick fix.
It’s about helping your brain, body, and emotions work together, so change actually lasts.
Most people only get pieces: Therapy that stays in the head, Bodywork without the brain, or “Mindset hacks” that miss the deeper emotions.
Each helps a little. But none solve the whole picture.
Because momentum matters, I work in longer, more intensive sessions, so your brain and body don’t slip back into old patterns. You build change more quickly, with less chance of losing momentum.
This isn’t about tools you’ll forget.
It’s about change you can feel, less pain, more peace, and a body that no longer runs on overdrive.
My approach brings it all together, practical and grounded in evidence:
- Awakening awareness – Recognising the patterns, signals, and triggers that keep you stuck.
- Retraining your brain – So everyday stress isn’t read as danger and new habits can form.
- Easing your body – So you feel more at home in your skin, steady instead of braced.
- Processing emotions – So anger, grief, and fear don’t stay stuck, and joy, peace, and connection can return.
- Shaping life differently – With boundaries, rest without guilt, and choices that feel true to you.