Dr. Maria Sabunaeva was born in 1978 in Leningrad (St. Petersburg), USSR. She studied at the Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University and got the bachelor, master and PhD degrees in psychology and psychological counselling. Maria got further education in Existential Therapy and Lifespan Integration Therapy. From 2003 to 2013 she worked as assistant professor at the Psychological Help Department of the Herzen University. Maria left her work at the university after homophobic pressure in 2013 when the law about “propaganda of homosexualism” was adopted. In 2005 dr. Sabunaeva started her LGBTQ+ activism, and later she was employed as a psychologist in two LGBT organizations: Coming-out (St. Petersburg) and Russian LGBT Network. Maria started psychological services for LGBTQ+ community there. She wrote brochures about inner homophobia, coming-out, sexual/gender identities for LGBT community and methodical manuals for psychologists about the work with LGBTQ+ people. Dr. Sabunaeva provided more than 200 trainings, seminars, webinars on LGBTQ+ and feminists topics for LGBTQ+ and professional communities. In 2021 she finished her engagement in the NGOs and since then she has been offering Lifespan Integration Therapy in her private practice.