Yeshe Leyens

Overview

• For whom: Adults, teenagers, and couples

• Languages: English, French, and German.

• Therapy formats: Individual, couples, and group sessions.

• Approach: Warm, collaborative, flexible (short-term or deeper work).

• Methods: Person-centered and experiential, trauma-informed, integrative.

• Location: Private practice in Etterbeek (Brussels), near European institutions.

My Services

As a state-licensed clinical psychologist and psychotherapist, I offer individual, couple, and group therapy for adults in English, German, and French. I welcome clients in my private practice in Etterbeek, ideally situated between the European institutions and the vibrant Place Jourdan.

Depending on whether you want to explore specific questions or challenges, address deeper pain (depression, anxiety, isolation, grief, trauma, ...), or seek personal growth, therapy can be short-term and focused or longer-term and exploratory. Areas in which I am experienced are:

• Depression

• Stress, anxiety, burnout

• Emotion management

• Self-criticism, or low self-worth

• Attachment disorders and unhealthy relationship patterns

• Trauma and complex PTSD

• Grief, loss, and major life changes

• Existential concerns, identity, or questions of meaning

• Substance use or unhelpful coping mechanisms

• Challenges in expat life

• Psychological and personal growth

• Deepening and integration of spiritual practice

• Preparation and integration of psychedelic and/or mystical experiences

About Me

Fueled by an endless curiosity about our potential as human beings, I began my journey as a neuroscientist at the University of Freiburg, studying the effects of meditation on the brain. A series of meditation retreats and my desire to support others in their personal growth eventually led me to practice psychotherapy. Since 2019, I have been practicing as a clinical psychologist in different public and private mental health centers. In 2024, I joined the Institute for Essential Psychotherapy as an assistant teacher in the three-year training curriculum. In 2026, I finally opened my own practice in Brussels. 

Professional Training

I hold a Master’s degree in clinical psychology from the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL). Over the years, I have trained extensively in various therapeutic modalities, including person-centered psychotherapy, experiential therapy, trauma therapy, autism therapy, and yoga therapy. I have a special expertise in essential psychotherapy, an innovative approach that integrates practices from contemplative wisdom traditions with modern psychotherapy. My practice is supervised by a senior person-centered psychotherapist.

My Philosophy of Therapy

The areas in our lives in which we experience most challenges often also hold the greatest potential for personal growth. It is as if the resistance we feel also provides the necessary traction for us to move forward. 

In psychotherapy, we are invited to explore those parts of ourselves that we ordinarily want to avoid because they seem too painful to bear or just plainly unacceptable. By holding these parts in gentle awareness, we can slowly start to befriend them and open ourselves to the messages they have been carrying. We may discover a grain of wisdom inherent in even the most painful experiences. As we come to understand our unconscious patterns more fully, their grip on our lives loosens. We gain more freedom to make the choices that truly align with who we are and how we want to lead our lives. We begin to feel more integrated and whole. In this process, new and sometimes unexpected meaning can emerge. 

Yet, just as cleaning a cut burns, the process of therapy is not always smooth sailing either. Tending to our inner wounds also implies attending to the pain they carry. In therapy, we do not have to do this on our own, however. We can rely on the help of another person who trusts in our capacities even when we feel hopeless. This help may come in the form of a holding and non-judgmental presence, allowing us to explore ourselves at our own pace. At other times, we might be gently guided to experience our feelings more fully and in new ways or to question the views and beliefs that shape how we approach life and others. In the case of more severe trauma, therapy may include the use of trauma-specific methods to reprocess painful memories and release tension in the nervous system.

-- For more information, please consult my personal website: yesheleyens(dot)com