Dr. Irem Gunay is a Chartered Psychologist and the founder of Threshold Work, a method that makes the examined life practical.
Threshold Work draws on a philosophical lineage that runs back to Socrates, who held that the unexamined life is not worth living. It returns philosophy to what it was in its origins: a way of living, brought into the real decisions of a person’s life. Alongside philosophy, the method draws on psychology and the science of human flourishing.
Her work is for people at threshold moments. A threshold is, by its nature, the place where transformation happens: the old no longer fits, and the new has not yet taken shape. Clients often sense a gap between their external life and internal experience, or feel that something fundamental needs to reorient, before they have clear language for it.
The work centers on change: helping clients understand themselves and their emotional lives more deeply, see what has been shaping their choices, and begin to live differently. Part of that is understanding what sustains each person: what nourishes, what depletes, and what conditions allow them to thrive.
When a person’s relationship to their own experience changes, the rest follows: the quality of their decisions, the coherence between conviction and action, and the depth of their relationships. As this happens, a life that was full becomes one that is also fulfilled.
The work asks three things: the willingness to stop looking away, the honesty to name what is found, and the courage to act on it. It is not concerned with diagnosing or treating conditions.
Dr. Gunay holds a PhD in Psychology from the University of Cambridge, followed by four years of postdoctoral work at Imperial College London, and a BA in Philosophy and Psychology from Columbia University. She also holds master’s degrees in Social and Developmental Psychology (University of Cambridge), Applied Positive Psychology (University of Pennsylvania), and Existential Psychotherapy (Regent’s University London). She is a certified Health and Wellbeing Coach (Duke University) and a certified Mindfulness Teacher, following a two-year program at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center. She is an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, in recognition of her contribution to the field.
The work is conducted with discretion. An initial conversation is the place to explore whether this work is right for where you are.
Chartered Psychologist
