I relocated to The Netherlands 20 years ago, due to family reunification reason and after many years of work in academic teaching in The Netherlands I continued my education path and I gained the credentials needed to become system family therapist and systemic practitioner in The Netherlands.
My credentials as a psychologist, combined with extensive professional experience and life experience recommend me as a mature professional, highly equipped with the required competences to assist people in suffering, by different stages and life transition moments, such as mourning or loss, separation or divorce, relational trauma and reallocation.
Attuned to the stories of migrants and their struggles
The career shift I made in my professional path and my return to work as a psychologist—after many years of academic teaching and research—was intentional and carefully prepared over time. With the foundation of ERIMIS in 2014, I grew increasingly attuned to the stories of migrants and their struggles to build a life far away from their place of origins:
1.- As a researcher exploring immigration policies in The Netherlands, I have gained profound insight into the societal context in which people with different cultural identities must organize and make sense of their lives.
2.- As a member of the Romanian diaspora in The Netherlands, I have listened to people’s stories, felt their pain, and understood that an experiential and culturally embodied approach is much needed when offering professional companionship on a therapeutic journey.
3.- As a former member of the research Standing Committee on Youth and Migrant Families (IMISCOE), I recognize that the lived experiences of migrants cannot be fully understood by someone who has never experienced the loss and despair that “people out of place” do, often far from their place of belonging, far from their beloved or lost ones.
The Inner Self Journey
The career track shift to become system therapist and my determination to pursue a career as systemic and family therapist in the Netherlands was accelerated by a life event which made me reflect on my own life path and question drastically my roots and my belonging. It was the sudden and tragic death of my father whom I lost in a car accident in 2019. Far away from where I was born. Far away from having the chance to say him “Good bye”!
That experiential moment of profound loss prompted deep reflection on my childhood, leading me to revisit and reshape my own narrative. I have done it many times since then, again and again, in my InterVision sessions, in supervision and in my sessions of learning therapy. I have learned the power of therapeutic intervention and growth, using different tools from experiential and existential therapy to relational, narrative and emotional focus therapy. By the end of the journey, my story became more fathomable and complete, I learned who I am and where my belonging rests – I learned to walk the path again by integrating my pain and the loss into a beautiful frame of vivid memories and love. I learned I am alive again – I learned my sense of belonging got stronger and my loss became my driving force into existence!
Role of the therapist
As a relational therapist, I believe the process of identity reconstruction is rooted into a deep understanding of our roots and sense of belonging. The difficulties and obstacles we face on the path to healing after a traumatic event can only be overcome by taking full responsibility for the process. Because there is no healing without confronting unbearable pain, and there is no growth without diving deep into our ultimate existential layer. Taking responsibility for how we want to continue our life after a significant event, which leaves us drained, demands considerable resources and supportive people around us before we can take charge of our lives again.
Our journey together
Remembering conversations
In narrative therapy, we recover people’s team of supporters and in therapy sessions we play with definitional ceremonies, where we learn to say “hello again!” to those who are no longer with us—those we have lost, under circumstances beyond our control. Instead of locking away our pain in an unresolved past, where despair and the sense of loss cast a dark shadow on our existence, we learn to share memories and celebrate every moment we had with those who are unreachable, by reprocessing the pain and integrating it into a new frame of existence and lived experience.
Togetherness, connectedness, the sense of belonging and mattering are key concepts in relational therapy.
The healing process is centered on the patient-therapist relationship, where the patient is the expert on his or her own life, and the therapist is the companion on the journey. The beauty and uniqueness of systemic therapy lie in the acknowledgment of the patient’s internal resources and power. Vulnerability is explored from patient’s own perspective, and his or her potential is unlocked as part of the identity reconstruction and re-assessment of one’s own life context. The empowerment of your therapist in this process is subtle, and the leadership of the journey is a shared responsibility patient-therapist.
Join me and make sense of your tomorrow
If you want to learn more about how relational therapy works, if you struggle with relational and reallocation issues, trauma and loss, if you cannot make sense of tomorrow, if you have lost the sense of where you belong and if you trust me as a professional partner and companion in re-writing your story, you are welcome to visit me and sign up for an intake session. It is free of charge.
By the end of the therapeutic journey with me, you will learn what gives you internal coherence and consistency, making you an authentic player and true owner of your life!
