About me
I am a member of the Italian Society of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (SITCC), of the International Society of Schema Therapy (ISST), of the Italian Academy of Schema Therapy (IAST) and of Compassionate Mind Italia.
MY CLINICAL TRAINING
I graduated in Psychology at the University of Padua in 2009, specializing in Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Behavioral Neuroscience.In 2011-2012 I carried out the professional university internship at the Psycho-Social Center of Malegno (Mental Health Department of the ASL Vallecamonica-sebino, now ASST Valcamonica), a public service that deals with the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of mental disorders in adults.
Here I trained in diagnostic clinical assessment and in conducting psychological support interviews; for a substantial part of the internship I was involved with two innovative projects:
- Bulimia Project, already active since 2009, dedicated to the implementation of an outpatient service for patients suffering from Eating Disorders, followed according to a precise cognitive behavioral treatment protocol (Fairburn, 2010);
- the implementation of an online guided self-help group for patients suffering from Multiple Sclerosis, based on the use of social networks and in collaboration with the Italian Multiple Sclerosis Association - Vallecamonica section.
I also conducted emotional literacy groups for patients being treated at the High Assistance Rehabilitation Community (CRA) of the same department.
After passing the State Exam at the University of Padua, in 2012 I obtained the qualification to practice the profession.
From 2013 to 2016 I attended the specializing school in cognitive psychotherapy “APC-SPC” in Verona, while I was spending my practical training at the Psycho-Social Center of Concesio (Mental Health Department of the Spedali Civili of Brescia, now ASST Spedali Civili), where I dealt with diagnostic clinical assessments, psychological support interviews and individual psychotherapy for adult patients.
Finding myself working more and more often with young adults and adolescents, also for the research projects I was involved with in those years, I decided to dedicate more clinical space to services for the developmental age.
Between 2018 and 2019 I therefore collaborated for seven months as a clinical psychologist with the ASST Valle Olona, at the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Unit of Saronno Hospital, as part of an innovative regional project dedicated to psychopathological urgency in adolescence (GR48 ).
Between 2019 and 2020 I contributed as a volunteer to the local mountain therapy activities at the CSRTA “Raggio di Sole”, a semi-residential therapeutic facility (daily center) of the Fraternità Giovani group, in direct cooperation with the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service of the ASST Spedali Civili.
THE CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL GROWTH
After completing specialization school I continued to train through courses/workshops and periodic supervision. I attribute a lot of value to professional updated training and sharing ideas with other more experienced colleagues: there is always something new to learn or new ways of looking at the same aspects of one's work and I find all this stimulating and precious for my growth as a human being and as a therapist.- In 2018 I met Schema Therapy and immediately felt it like "mine", so I undertook and completed the training course in 2022 to become a certified individual therapist in the use of this approach. That same year I followed a specialist course on the applications of Schema Therapy in Eating Disorders, thus being able to combine my strong clinical interest in this pathology with this beautiful therapeutic approach. In those times I also conceived the idea of translating the manual Schema Therapy for Eating Disorders by Susan Simpson and Evelyn Smith, published by Fioriti, into Italian. I am very happy to be able to contribute to making this model and its tools accessible to colleagues interested in going beyond the first-line approaches used for this type of pathology.
- In 2020, shortly before the advent of the pandemic, I decided to enter the world of Compassion Focused Therapy, intrigued by Paul Gilbert's research on self-criticism, as a transversal element in many forms of psychopathology and emotional suffering, and on the possibility of train in each of us a more benevolent and kind attitude towards ourselves and others. It proved to be a very powerful enrichment, both in personal and professional terms, during such a tiring period for the entire world. In the following months and years I had the opportunity to deepen my training in this area, attending advanced courses, conferences, trainings and an experiential retreat, putting myself on the line personally, in order to be able to offer to my clients not only adequate scientific preparation with these experiential techniques, but also as much authenticity as possible.
Neuroscience and mental health: a professional path from the University of California to European and national projects
RESEARCH ACTIVITY
I have always been fascinated by the connection between mind and brain. This interest pushed me towards a path of neuro-scientific studies, in which research plays a fundamental role. Thanks to a scholarship awarded to me by the Education Abroad Program, I spent my last year of university in the United States, at the Department of Psychology and the Brain Imaging Center of the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), in a motor neuroscience lab. After obtaining my degree, the experience continued for a further year, as a guest researcher at the same lab group.From 2012 to 2019 I worked as a psychologist-researcher at the Centro San Giovanni di Dio IRCCS Fatebenefratelli in Brescia. Here I was involved in national and international research in various areas including psychiatric evaluation/rehabilitation and evaluation of mental health services.
Since 2014 I have mainly followed the promotion of youth mental health, in particular regarding:
- the prevention of psychological distress in children of patients suffering from mental disorders;
- the prevention of substance abuse and self-harm among young adolescents;
- improving the transition from mental health services for children and adolescents to those for adults (European project MILESTONE).
From 2018 to 2020 I was a member of the editorial board of European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, an international peer-reviewed scientific journal that works to disseminate the results of the most recent studies relating to child and adolescent psychopathology within the scientific community.
The world of research has enriched me with numerous experiences in the international field, including collaboration on projects, various presentations at conferences and the drafting of manuscripts for scientific publications of which I am the author or co-author. Furthermore, it allowed me to develop and maintain a critical and evidence-based approach towards the clinical field. This allows me to better explain to my clients what happens in our brain when we suffer and how therapy fits into the process of change and healing: there is nothing magical in which one should "believe" or not when we talk about mental health, everything is already well documented by the work of many researchers!