Individual Therapy

My consultation and therapy services are for people that may reside all over the world that are looking to tackle life-long negative patterns and increase their sense of well-being through a collaborative and evidence-based therapeutic process. Clients are guided towards achieving lasting positive transformations in their lives.

For more information on in-person sessions please see the fees and FAQs page and for my availability see "Contact me" page.

I offer therapy both online or in-person in Bologna to support adults who are struggling with:

Recurrent negative thinking patterns
Emotional difficulties
Anxiety and/or depression
Grief and loss
Anger issues
Traumatic experiences
Couples' conflict management and healthy communication
Chronic illness
Women's issues
Self-acceptance and self-esteem
Stress, life changes and transitions
Cultural identity and living as an "expat"
Existential issues and meaning-making
Eco-anxiety, climate anxiety, eco-grief, and eco-despair

My approach

The overall framework for my work is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, an evidence-based approach.

I am a trained practitioner of Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy therapeutic approaches that empowers individuals to identify and challenge irrational beliefs, fostering healthier thought patterns and emotional well-being with an overarching goal of embracing unconditional self-acceptance and acceptance of uncomfortable emotions. Through a collaborative and evidence-based process, clients are guided towards achieving lasting positive transformations in their lives.

I integrate various evidence-based and clinical practices and techniques, like mindfulness, cultivating compassion, promoting nature connection, personalizing and tailoring my offering based on client needs and difficulties.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

My therapeutic approach is grounded in evidence-based psychological therapies that have been extensively researched and shown to be effective for a wide range of emotional and interpersonal difficulties. I integrate different approaches depending on each person’s needs, goals, and life experiences, creating a collaborative and personalized process.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is one of the most widely studied forms of psychotherapy and has strong evidence supporting its effectiveness for anxiety disorders, depression, stress-related difficulties, and many other concerns. CBT helps clients understand the connection between thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, and identify patterns that may contribute to distress, such as perfectionism, self-criticism, overthinking, or catastrophizing. Together, we work on developing more balanced perspectives, practical coping strategies, and healthier ways of responding to challenges, while fostering greater self-compassion and self-acceptance.

When helpful, I integrate elements of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), an evidence-based approach that has been shown to support people experiencing anxiety, depression, chronic stress, emotional difficulties, and challenges related to avoidance or feeling stuck. ACT focuses on developing psychological flexibility: learning to make space for difficult thoughts and emotions, relating to them in new ways, practicing mindfulness, clarifying personal values, and taking meaningful steps toward a life that feels more authentic and fulfilling.

For clients who experience intense emotions, emotional sensitivity, or difficulties managing strong reactions, I incorporate Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills training. DBT is an evidence-based treatment originally developed for complex emotional regulation difficulties and has demonstrated effectiveness for problems such as emotion dysregulation, interpersonal difficulties, self-destructive coping patterns, and challenges associated with borderline personality disorder. DBT skills, including mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness, provide practical tools for navigating difficult emotions and relationships with greater balance and awareness.

I also draw from constructivist and attachment-informed perspectives, which emphasize how our personal histories, early relationships, and experiences shape the ways we understand ourselves and connect with others. Exploring attachment patterns and interpersonal schemas can be particularly helpful for individuals struggling with recurring relationship difficulties, low self-worth, difficulties with trust or vulnerability, or patterns that continue to repeat despite conscious efforts to change. This work supports deeper self-understanding, self-compassion, and the development of healthier ways of relating to oneself and others.

Ultimately, therapy is a collaborative process tailored to each individual. By combining evidence-based approaches with attention to each person’s unique story, my goal is to help clients better understand themselves, develop effective coping strategies, heal from past experiences, and create meaningful and lasting change.

Trauma-informed approach & EMDR

Trauma-informed therapy recognizes that experiences of trauma, adversity, and overwhelming stress can have a lasting impact on emotional, psychological, physical, and relational well-being. This approach is grounded in the understanding that healing occurs within a safe, respectful, and collaborative therapeutic relationship, where clients feel supported, empowered, and able to move at a pace that feels right for them.

Evidence-based trauma therapies have been shown to be effective in helping individuals process traumatic experiences, reduce distressing symptoms, and develop healthier ways of coping. Trauma-informed approaches can be beneficial for people experiencing the effects of single or repeated traumatic experiences, including symptoms related to post-traumatic stress, anxiety, depression, emotional overwhelm, difficulties with trust or relationships, shame, self-criticism, and a sense of feeling disconnected from oneself or others.

Therapy may include psychoeducation to help clients understand the impact of trauma on the mind and body, as well as practical skills to support emotional regulation and a greater sense of safety. Techniques such as grounding, mindfulness, and self-compassion practices can help clients reconnect with the present moment, manage distress, and build internal resources before and during trauma processing.

When appropriate, I incorporate Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), an evidence-based trauma therapy with strong research support for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and trauma-related difficulties. EMDR helps clients process distressing memories and experiences so that they become less emotionally overwhelming and have less influence on the present. It can also be helpful for experiences that continue to affect self-esteem, relationships, emotional responses, or feelings of safety.

Throughout the therapeutic process, respect for each person’s boundaries, autonomy, and readiness is central. Trauma-informed therapy is not about forcing clients to revisit painful experiences, but about creating the conditions for healing through safety, compassion, and choice. The goal is to support greater emotional regulation, resilience, self-understanding, and the ability to move forward with a stronger sense of connection and well-being.

Climate-aware Therapy

The realities of climate change—from extreme weather events to environmental degradation—can profoundly affect individuals' emotional well-being and contribute to feelings of eco-anxiety or climate anxiety, eco-grief, and despair. Ecological emotions like eco-anxiety, are not something to get rid of, but something to transform into something meaningful.

Climate-Aware Therapy is not a specific psychotherapeutic technique, but a clinical orientation that integrates awareness of the climate crisis into the understanding of psychological distress. It recognizes that emotions such as eco-anxiety, ecological grief, fear, anger, and helplessness are often understandable human responses to environmental change and its consequences, rather than signs of mental illness. This approach acknowledges the climate crisis as one of the many contexts that can shape psychological well-being, without reducing every personal difficulty to climate change.

Grounded in a systemic perspective, Climate-Aware Therapy understands mental health as emerging from the interaction of individual, relational, social, cultural, and ecological factors. Within therapy, this means exploring how the climate crisis may affect a person's sense of identity, safety, meaning, hope, and ability to imagine the future. The therapeutic goal is to provide a space where these experiences can be understood and integrated, fostering resilience, adaptive coping, and a sense of agency, so that individuals can respond in ways that are aligned with their values rather than becoming overwhelmed or immobilized by distress.

This approach can support both people experiencing anticipatory climate distress and those who have been directly affected by climate-related disasters or environmental injustice. It also encourages therapists to reflect on their own emotional responses to the climate crisis and on how these may influence the therapeutic relationship, promoting a reflective, ethically grounded, and contextually informed clinical practice.

As both a psychotherapist and researcher deeply concerned about the ecological and climate crisis, I view climate emotions as precious signals and messengers of our sense of care for others and the world, that nonetheless can become in some cases debilitating and needing of understanding and extra support to get "unstuck".Feeling and holding space for our grief, learning to manage our anxiety, creating connections and community, and reaching for resiliently cautious hope and meaningful action, are my go-tos.

Ecotherapy
and
Walk & Talk Therapy

Walk and Talk Therapy: Nature-Informed CBT

The form of Walk and Talk Therapy I offer can be understood as a nature-informed form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) (BABCP, 2025), combining evidence-based psychological approaches with the therapeutic benefits of movement and contact with natural environments. Research suggests that nature-based interventions and outdoor therapeutic approaches can support psychological well-being by helping reduce stress, improve attention, increase emotional regulation, and create opportunities for reflection and meaningful change.

Walk and Talk Therapy may be particularly helpful for people experiencing anxiety, stress, low mood, burnout, rumination, life transitions, or those who find that movement and a less formal setting help them feel more comfortable and engaged in therapy. It can also be beneficial for individuals who feel disconnected from themselves, others, or the natural world, or who wish to explore questions of meaning, values, and their relationship with the environment.

We typically meet at a pre-arranged park or quiet outdoor location and begin with a brief check-in before starting our walk. We move at a comfortable pace, allowing space to talk about what feels most important that day. The structure remains that of a therapy session: thoughtful, confidential, and focused on your personal goals, with the outdoor environment becoming an additional resource within the therapeutic process.

As we walk, we explore your thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and recurring patterns in a natural and unhurried way. The movement itself can support reflection and emotional processing, while the outdoor setting offers opportunities to engage with the present moment. We might use the feeling of your feet connecting with the ground, the rhythm of your breathing, or awareness of your surroundings as grounding and mindfulness practices. Nature can also provide meaningful metaphors and perspectives, such as observing change, growth, adaptation, and resilience, to support insight and new ways of understanding yourself.

Nature-informed approaches recognize that our relationship with nature can be experienced in different ways. Nature can be:

A supportive environment and therapeutic setting, the physical space around us can influence our mood, attention, stress levels, and ability to reflect (Kaplan & Kaplan, 1998).
A part of our sense of self and our experience of being in the world, connecting with nature can support a deeper sense of belonging, presence, and connection (Bragg, 1996).
Part of our identity, beliefs, and values, exploring how we relate to the natural world can reveal important aspects of who we are and what matters to us (Clayton, 2003).
A moment-to-moment experience, noticing sounds, sensations, movement, and the surrounding environment can encourage mindfulness, presence, attention restoration, and a greater sense of flow (Stokols et al., 2009).

Being outdoors can also create space to step outside the pace and demands of modern life. Many of us move through daily routines on “autopilot,” shaped by constant stimulation, productivity pressures, digital demands, and expectations about how we should live. Spending time in nature can create a pause, an opportunity to reconnect with our bodies, slow down, and reflect on the patterns, choices, and environments that influence our well-being.

From a systems perspective, therapy can also explore how our personal experiences are connected with wider social, cultural, and ecological contexts. The ways we live, work, consume, and relate to one another are influenced by larger systems that can contribute to stress, disconnection, inequality, and environmental harm. Exploring these connections does not mean searching for individual blame, but rather developing greater awareness of the relationship between ourselves and the world we are part of. This awareness can help us clarify our values, recognize what matters most, and consider meaningful actions that support both personal well-being and a more connected way of living.

On a deeper level, sessions may include exploration of your relationship with nature, environmental concerns, or the emotional impact of the ongoing ecological and climate crisis. For some people, experiences such as ecological grief, climate anxiety, helplessness, or a sense of disconnection from the natural world can become important themes in therapy. Together, we can explore your beliefs and values, reconnect with forms of nature connection that feel meaningful to you, and identify ways of expressing these values through concrete and personally meaningful actions.

The work remains grounded in evidence-based psychological principles, including CBT, mindfulness-based approaches, and values-oriented work from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). The aim is not simply to spend time outdoors, but to use the relationship between movement, nature, and psychological processes as a pathway toward greater awareness, emotional flexibility, and meaningful change.

We end each session with a few minutes to gather insights, reflect on what emerged during the walk, and identify something practical to carry into the week. The process is thoughtful and intentional, supported by movement, nature, and the therapeutic relationship — helping you develop greater self-understanding, resilience, and connection with yourself and the world around you.