A lot of what shapes our relationship with food, body, and emotion goes back to childhood — and for many of us, that childhood happened in Russian. The phrases our mothers used about food. What “eat your plate clean” actually taught us about hunger and control. The specific shame that comes from a culture where feelings weren’t really discussed, just managed.

You can describe all of that in English, to an English-speaking counsellor. But something gets lost in the retelling. Working with a Russian-speaking counsellor in your first language means we skip that step and go straight to the thing itself.

There’s also something useful in being able to move between languages within a single session. Some things are easier to say in Russian. Others, oddly, are easier in English, especially if English became the language you learned to talk about feelings in as an adult. You don’t have to pick one and stick with it.