Let's get acquainted!
My name is Natalia, and I am a psychotherapist. For me, it is more than a profession – it is something of a lifestyle :) It involves decades of education (literally!), continuous learning, and ongoing personal therapy, so that I can come to my work as prepared as possible, both personally and professionally.
I work with people going through difficult, confusing, or frightening periods in their lives, as well as with those living with long-standing psychological difficulties. A significant part of my work is trauma therapy – from painful childhood experiences to physical, emotional and sexual abuse, as well as other experiences that may continue to affect a person long after they are over. I also work with personality disorders, anxiety, depression, relationship difficulties, and neurodivergent people.
My first degree was in physical culture, followed by a degree in psychology. I later continued my studies at the University of Salzburg, where I completed both the basic and clinical training in Existential Analysis under Dr. Alfried Längle. This approach remains at the heart of how I understand psychotherapy and how I work with my clients.
An important part of my professional growth was at the Maimonides Center in Vienna, where I worked with elderly people and participated in research in geriatric psychotherapy. This experience taught me a great deal about what happens as life changes with age – how we deal with loss, loneliness, changes in health and independence, and questions about what still gives life meaning.
Currently, I live and work in the Czech Republic. Alongside my private practice at Hic et Nunc Therapy, I provide therapeutic support at Maják Psychotherapy Center. Wherever I work, my approach remains the same: to meet the person as they are, without judgement, and to create a space where even the most difficult experiences can be approached openly, honestly, and without fear of being judged.
I am a member of the Federation for Existential Therapy in Europe (FETE) and the Society for Logotherapy and Existential Analysis Austria (GLE-Ö).
My Philosophy
The well-being of my clients comes first. I will always do everything within my professional capacity to reduce suffering, ease emotional pain, and improve the quality of a person’s life.
At the same time, therapy has to take into account the boundaries, wishes, readiness of the client and ability to open up and make changes. The mind has its own limits and its own pace, and these cannot simply be pushed aside. This is why therapy takes time. Change happens gradually, as a person becomes ready and able to approach what was previously too difficult or painful.
Respecting a client’s pace does not mean that therapy has no structure. I always work within an agreed therapeutic contract, according to the client’s request and the conditions we establish together. Therapy is a process, and an important part of that process is the relationship we build. It is difficult to develop this relationship when therapy becomes something you enter and leave whenever the moment feels convenient. Meeting regularly – usually once a week – creates the continuity that meaningful therapeutic work needs. And when the time comes to finish, I believe that ending therapy properly is also part of the work, rather than simply disappearing from it.
I try to build a relationship that is as honest, open, and trustworthy. I hope for the same from my clients, but always within the limits of what they are ready and able to share. Trust cannot be demanded, and openness cannot be forced. They develop gradually through the experience of being in a relationship where difficult things can be spoken about and where the person behind them is not rejected or judged.
I am also rather old-school when it comes to the profession itself. I believe psychotherapy should rest on serious, long-term professional education, regular clinical supervisions, and the therapist’s own personal therapy. For me, these are not formalities or boxes to tick. They are part of the responsibility I take when another person trusts me with something vulnerable, painful, or deeply personal. The same applies to confidentiality: what happens in the therapy room – even when that room is virtual – remains strictly confidential, within the professional and legal limits stated in our therapeutic agreement.
Responsibility is probably one of the words that describes me best, both professionally and personally. I take my work, my commitments, my relationship very seriously. And perhaps this is what my philosophy ultimately comes down to: therapy should be a place where there is enough respect not to intrude, enough honesty not to pretend, enough time not to rush, and enough commitment from both of us to stay with the work when it becomes difficult.