Clinical practice
Psychotherapy with adults and couples, in English or in Italian.
I am a clinical psychologist and a Gestalt psychotherapist, and I have been in practice for close to twenty years. English is my mother tongue. Alongside the private practice I teach clinical psychology at the University of Milan and I direct the clinical psychology service of a research hospital, so a good deal of my working life is spent with people who are unwell, and with the people who look after them.
Who I work with
I see adults and couples. People come for many reasons, and they do not need to arrive with the reason already worked out. The first few sessions exist precisely to understand together what is happening, and whether therapy is the right sort of help at all.
In practice, the difficulties I most often meet are these:
- Anxiety, low mood and depression.
- Stress and burnout at work.
- Life changes, losses, and the periods that follow them.
- Difficulties in relationships, whether or not the other person comes too.
- The psychological weight of illness and medical treatment, for the person who is ill and for the people around them.
That last one is the area I know best, and it is the one people most often assume is not a matter for a psychologist. A serious diagnosis, an operation, a long treatment, a chronic condition that will not resolve: these are psychological events as much as medical ones, and they change how a person sees their own body, their future and their place among other people. It is entirely reasonable to want help with that part, and it is worth saying clearly that wanting it is not a sign that anything has gone wrong with you.
How I work
My training is in Gestalt psychotherapy, which is an approach concerned with what is happening now, in the room and in your life, rather than only with reconstructing the past. In practice that means I am fairly direct, and that I would rather work with what you actually bring than with a diagnosis.
I am also certified in EMDR, a structured method for working through traumatic experience. Where something has been genuinely traumatic, and where it keeps returning, EMDR is often the more useful instrument, and I will say so.
Some people come for a short, focused piece of work. Others stay longer. I do not think one of those is more serious than the other, and I would rather we decided that together, out loud, than let it drift.
Where
I see patients at Studio Metafora, in Via Mercadante 8 in Milan, a short walk from Milano Centrale, and I also work online. Online sessions are not a lesser version of the work. For people who travel, who have moved recently, or whose week does not bend easily, they are frequently the thing that makes therapy possible at all.
Fees and appointments
The practice runs through Studio Metafora, and the studio looks after booking and invoicing. If you hold international health insurance, an invoice is issued for every session and can usually be submitted for reimbursement, where your policy covers psychotherapy.
This site is informational. It is not a crisis service, and nothing here is a substitute for medical advice. If you need urgent help, contact your doctor or the emergency services.