Sessions
about 6 minutes
Family constellations for a child
A child sets the family out in figures and knows where everyone goes. A psychotherapist on what a constellation looks like for a child, and what a parent does.
Read moreTherapy with Cecilia Altieri
Therapy that meets you
Cecilia is a psychotherapist. She works systemically, trauma-informed and client-centred, drawing on each according to what you need.
Trained widely, led by you
What you bring decides how she works
Cecilia starts by finding out what you need, then adapts to it. Her education spans systemic therapy, Gestalt, trauma therapy, family and structural constellations, client-centred therapy, written exposure therapy, listening therapy, and Polyvagal Theory. Her trauma practice is informed further by years of study, supervision and clinical experience, with a strong grounding in neuroscience and the body.
What follows are the three approaches at the centre of her practice. She draws on them according to what you bring, sometimes shifting between them within a single session. Constellation work is one part of that, not the framework for everything. Nothing here follows a fixed script. For the general shape of a session, from booking through to closing, sessions sets that out.
The red threads in her practice
Three threads that run through everything she does
Her training runs far wider than three methods. These are the threads that show up most, in whatever combination a given session needs.
Whatever brings you here rarely sits in isolation. A pattern that keeps returning, or a difficulty that will not shift however hard you work at it, usually has roots in the wider system you belong to: your family, your history, the roles you learned early and never questioned.
Cecilia has worked with family systems for fifteen years, developed the curriculum that teaches this approach, and built the institute that now trains others in it. She brings a systemic lens to sessions whether or not a formal constellation is ever set up.
Some of what you bring is not only difficult to talk about, it is difficult to be near without your body reacting. Cecilia works trauma-informed throughout: pacing the session to what you can actually hold, watching for when something is too much before it becomes too much, keeping you steady rather than re-living what happened.
This is further grounded in her training in Polyvagal Theory, the study of how the nervous system senses safety and threat, with Deb Dana and Stephen Porges, and neuroscience, and her certification as a Safe and Sound Protocol provider through Unyte, since 2020.
You are not a case to be assessed and treated. You stay in charge of the pace, the direction, and how much you share, and Cecilia works from where you actually are rather than steering you toward a predetermined outcome.
This is the same principle the training she teaches rests on: it stands, among its founding influences, with Carl Rogers, the originator of client-centred therapy.
Experience
Practising since 2010, trained and certified
Cecilia has practised since 2010. She holds a completed psychology degree from UNED, Spain, and a Diploma in Coaching from the University of Cambridge.
She trained substantially at ISPAB, Munich, under Ursula Franke-Bryson and Thomas Bryson, and later trained in Polyvagal Theory with Deb Dana and Stephen Porges. She is a certified Safe and Sound Protocol provider through Unyte, since 2020.
Starting
It starts with a message
Cecilia arranges her own sessions rather than working from an open calendar. She prefers working with children, couples and families, and replies herself to every message.
A short honest message about what brings you here is enough to get started.
What is this about?
1 / 2
Fields marked * are the ones we need.
In their words
There is a beauty, and sometimes things still to explore, in old-growth. I am learning that the past, while being a good resource to visit and gather information, is not necessarily a place to linger.
With respect for each person's inner timing, she supports you in your processes with great sensitivity and gentleness. She is very professional and very intuitive, you will be in good hands!
Notes
For children, couples and families
Three short notes on how each of these actually looks in a session.
Sessions
about 9 minutes
Family constellations with teenagers
A teenager can be carrying something real and have no sentence for it. A psychotherapist on a way of starting that does not run through your teenager explaining first.
Read more
Sessions
about 4 minutes
Constellations for couples, and why you can come on your own
What couples bring me, what happens in a constellation about a relationship, and why you can come on your own when your partner does not want to.
Read moreScope and safety
The right support at the right time
Sessions support change in how you live, relate and decide. They sit alongside medical and psychological care, and they do not replace it.
If you are in crisis right now, or you are having thoughts of harming yourself, please turn first to your doctor, to a crisis line where you live, or to the emergency services. If you are being treated for a psychiatric condition, or you have questions about medication, that care belongs with your prescriber, and our sessions can run alongside it.
If you are unsure where to start, ask us. We will tell you honestly whether this is the right support for you now.