Alessandra Galusso
Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist
Dip, MA, BACP
Alessandra is an Integrative Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist and Adult Counsellor. With over five years' experience, Alessandra is passionate about delivering high quality psychotherapeutic and emotional support to children, young people and their families. Alessandra offers a collaborative approach, working with parents and carers in order to bring about a holistic understanding of the young person's unique needs. Alessandra’s goal is to provide a supportive space to explore existing strengths in the family that will promote empathy and build resilience. Alessandra’s therapeutic framework comprises principles from psychoanalysis, attachment theory and trauma informed approaches whilst taking into consideration a systemic view of the individual's difficulties.
Alessandra’s work is aided by the therapeutic use of the arts, play and metaphor and the use of creative techniques such as story-telling, creative writing and empathy drawings. Alessandra has experience in the therapeutic use of clay, sand play, collage making, puppetry and other creative interventions that facilitate the exploration of feelings and experiences that are often hard to put into words.
Alessandra has offered therapeutic and emotional support to children and adolescents in primary and secondary schools since 2017 gaining an insight in a variety of challenges and emotional difficulties that young people experience. She has also worked for the charities Family Friends and Place2Be using the arts to support young people and their families, in the capacity of mentor and assistant project manager/ counsellor respectively. She has continued to work with children and adolescents during the pandemic by offering online and phone sessions to existing clients.
</br As an adult therapist, Alessandra has worked for the Latin American Women’s Rights Services offering counselling to migrant women survivors of gendered violence. During the pandemic, Alessandra worked for London Black Women’s Project providing counselling phone sessions and parent-child sessions online.
Specialisms
Relational and developmental trauma, attachment difficulties, anxiety, depression, bereavement, self harm, intellectual disability, oppositional and aggressive behaviour, autistic spectrum condition, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, cross-cultural issues.
Qualifications
MA in Integrative Child Psychotherapy, Advanced Diploma in the Therapeutic Application of the Arts, Certificate in Counselling Skills and Counselling and Therapeutic Interventions for Working with Women Overcoming Experiences of Violence. Alessandra is an individual member of BACP and is currently working towards accreditation with UKCP. She holds a membership of the Institute for the Arts in Therapy and Education as a qualified Integrative Psychotherapist.