counseling psychologist, psychotherapist, art therapist
private practice
مجموع سنوات الخبرة :34 years, 4 أشهر
I work in the general field of mental health, with a focus on psychological and psychosocial problems of young adults, adolescents and young parents. I carry out individual, group and family counseling or therapy, providing treatment to adults, adolescents or families as a whole, with the objective to help individuals acquire a strong and mature personal identity, and families to achieve attitude change and mutual understanding between spouses or between parents and children. I am also very involved in parental role strengthening and in supporting families with special circumstances.
I also offer counseling or therapeutic intervention for interpersonal relations’ difficulties in any kind of environment, such as working, learning, social etc and provide support and guidance to people who experience challenges in living, or seek personal development. I address needs ranging from academic, occupational and vocational issues, to anxiety, stress, or depressive reactions to failure, loss, disaster or other traumas. The aims of counseling and psychotherapy are to assist people achieve insight, increase their awareness of self and others, help them cope with anxiety, reduce their stress, enhance their self-image, self-esteem and motivation, and thereby bring about desired psychological and behavioral change. The ultimate purpose is soothing and healing, i.e., improving a person’s emotional and mental state, bettering his/her interpersonal relations and contributing to his/her maturity, well being and self - fulfillment.
In the sessions I conduct, I assess needs and build trust, encouraging the clients to talk about and explore their feelings, thoughts and behavior. My approach is eclectic, depending on the client’s preoccupations, personality, age, gender and socioeconomic, cultural and religious background. Besides talk therapy, I often employ art therapy, a method of choice in dealing with people from diverse cultures, due to its ability to directly bring out another person’s feelings by means of images rather than of words. Art therapy uses the creative process of art making to improve and enhance the physical, mental and emotional well-being of individuals of all ages. It is based on the belief that the creative process involved in artistic self-expression helps people towards personal and family welfare and self-fulfillment. It integrates the fields of human development, visual art (drawing, painting, collage) with models of counseling and psychotherapy.
Besides conducting one-to-one and group sessions, where drawing, painting and literary references are often applied as an alternative means of communication:
-I regularly hold seminars with the participation of a restricted number of persons, usually from local communities, where topics such as challenges of adolescence, youth and adulthood, learning - academic impediments, relations between spouses, relationships between parents and children, and other family issues, are thoroughly explored and discussed. Participants are always active and encouraged to express or exchange opinions.
-I periodically provide open art studios or reading clubs for adults interested in personal growth.
-I organize seminaries, either electively addressed to psychologists, pedagogists, teachers, and artists, or open to the community in general, about the ancient and fascinating issue of creativity, and about the role of art and literature as a
precious aid for other, verbal methods and techniques of counseling and curing. These meetings mean to deal with the connections and relations between art and psychology or, alternatively, to raise community’s awareness and appreciation of the potentials and merits of the creative arts.
Supervised internships in “Hippokration General Hospital of Thessaloniki”, Psychiatric Clinic and Pediatric Surgery Clinic.
I served as an intern in these clinical settings as a post-graduate trainee in art therapy.
In addition, I served as an intern in a municipal center of the prefecture of Thessaloniki, aiming to provide daily creative activities to adults with special needs.
In parallel, I was pursuing my career as consultant psychologist and psychotherapist.
2002 - 2007 / Freelance translator in literature and psychology from English to Greek & from Spanish to Greek / Greece
The 7 books I translated as an independent contractor are published in Greece by the following Greek publishing houses: “Synchroni Orizontes”, “Topos” and “Vanias”. Some examples are: “Forty studies that changed psychology - explorations into the history of psychological research”, by Roger R. Hock, 2009, “The science of logic and the art of thinking- an introduction to critical thinking”, by Philip Kargopoulos, 2008 and various novels such as “La isla de pasion”, by Laura Restrepo, 2008.
2000 - 2002 / Volunteer assistant manager in the old and rare books store “Palaia Vivlia - Nisos Lefkas” / Greece
The job required a combination of tertiary education with knowledge and fondness of literature, art, history, philosophy, and human sciences in general. It also required sensitivity to and respect for a diverse population of readers, in order to be able to make correct suggestions and accurate oral and written descriptions of archival material to a learned clientele.
1990 - 2002 / Self employed lawyer (attorney, barrister) and legal consultant, member of the Bar Association of Thessaloniki / Greece
Research and drafting of court papers, oral and written argumentation in courts and in administrative hearings, legal advice.
1995 - 1996/ Assistant judge appointed to the Court of First Instance in Piraeus / Greece
On the ninth month of this public service, I resigned from the Judiciary due to family reasons.
During my 12 years’ active and actual legal practice, private and public, I worked mainly on criminal and family law cases.
“AKESA - Center for Personal Development and Psychotherapy through Art” / Greece Post-graduate special training program in art therapy, which is a unique form of psychotherapy and of cognitive, emotional and psychosocial development via the artistic expression: Certificate of graduation. Dissertation: “Different aspects of narcissism emerging through psycho-dynamically oriented art therapy''.
Inter-University, Interdisciplinary post-graduate program “Advanced computer and communication systems'', supervised by the Hellenic Ministry of Education and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki / Greece Master of science degree (MSc) in artificial intelligence systems, first class honors. An interdisciplinary Master in Cognitive Science, which blends cognitive psychology with the philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, and with formal logic and artificial intelligence. Dissertation: “Semantic models: Meaning and knowledge representation in artificial intelligence systems''.
Studies in psychology, dissertation on logic and reasoning
The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, School of Law and Economics, Faculty of Law, Post-graduate studies Department / Greece Master of laws (LLM) in Penal and Criminological sciences, first class honors. Dissertation: “Crimes of common danger”.
Study of Law
