Time to finally introduce myself!
Dear Steemit Community,
My name is Monica and I am a psychologist currently based in Constanta/Romania.
About my work
I hold two licenses in Special Education and in Psychology. As a psychologist, I attended four years a training program in Integrative Psychotherapy ''Richard Erskine current from Canada'' and now I work as a certified Integrative Psychotherapist in private practice.
I do therapy sessions with individuals, children, adults or elders and groups. My areas of expertise include depression, anxiety, loss, anger, addiction, relationship issues, and job stress, to name a few.
I use art therapy to work with my clients and I am described as a very empathic person and a good listener.
If you read Romanian language, you can find some interesting articles on my blog.
Here is the link.
Something about my early life
I grew up in a small village on the edge of the Danube Delta. This is what I take now as a privilege, because it has given me the space for a really beautiful childhood.
The most important thing I learned in my childhood was to love and respect people, to appreciate nature and to be in harmony with it. The village I was living in is surrounded by forests, the delta and beautiful plains. Part of the Danube Delta is no longer there anymore because Ceausescu has set it up to make agricultural lands.
Half of the inhabitants of my village have not recovered from that shock even today because they were from generation to generation fishermen with fishing being their basis of existence.
What could a child do then in a communist era? Believe me, a lot! Exploring nature has been an activity for me which has allowed me to learn many things about plants, animals, and phenomena of nature.
When I look back I realize how much the society we live in changed. Most of the children today are playing with their tablets, computer games, or surfing the net. When I was a child I was ‘’surfing’’ the surroundings.
Short diary about my artistic path
Since the middle school I have developed a tendency towards art in general, but especially for painting. In the gymnasium I studied drawing and painting with artist Dragos Vitelaru for two years.
In my youth my favorite painters were Leonardo da Vinci and Nicolae Grigorescu. The last one is one of the most loved Romanian painters.
I made a break for almost twenty years and I have turned back to painting at the end of 2009.
In 2011, I have studied Mische-Technique-egg tempera and oil with Professor Philip Rubinov Jacobson and acrylic painting with Peter Gric, alias @gric.
I have to thank to my friends @gric and @leoplaw. They have drawn my attention to the Steemit platform.
Today I feel my work influenced by the style of many artists, even contemporaries. I participated in group exhibitions and some of my works are in private collections.
Why I paint?
Because painting for me is a pure joy!
Ending my introduction
I have to say that although I joined this social platform in March, I started to involve myself seriously in June. I gradually began to understand how things are going on here and I discovered interesting friends and very useful articles.
It is also very interesting for me to observe the dynamics of the platform. The way people try to ‘’sell’’ themselves as best they can.
What I wish is to share with you my passion for painting and psychotherapy.
I am also a beginner in photography and sometimes I will post my own photos or impressions of my journeys.
Thank you Steemit Community for welcoming me so nice!
Thanks to those who are following me, upvoting, commenting and resteeming my posts!
I really appreciate it!
Monica alias @aci7
Welcome to steemit :D
Thank you! :)
I've just resteemed your post. I really like art and painting but I'm afraid that I don't have enough talent to do it myself. I also follow @gric and @inber because they are really good.
Thank you very much! :)
Welcome! Just started on Steemit today as well. Great to see other people from Romania! Keep up the good work!
Welcome to you too! It is a great platform. You will certainly like it!
I've enjoyed interacting with you and it brings me comfort to know where you came from and how you became who you are now. I am glad to know you @aci7 and I think you make wonderful contributions to the Steemit platform and with your training help those who struggle with trauma conditioning through making art!
Thank you @reddust! It was a pleasure to meet you here as well. I strongly believe that art can break rigid barriers and change people's lives for the better.
@aci7 - Monica, you are really doing good for the society. I like you work and your post. Looking forward to get more posts like this.
Thank you for your comment! I am tying to do my best! :)
Hi Monica! Nice introduction. 😊
Wishimg you all the best on steemit!
That is very encouraging! :) Wishing you the same!
Art therapy eh? I was an inmate at Netherne hospital in Coulsdon England where Edward Adamson started art therapy going, I was there in 1973, 1977 and 1980.
The art therapy rooms there were a miracle of sanity, calm and creation, this is what saved me, the paintings I did.
I will visit the Wellcome Trust, maybe I can see some of my paintings on show there? If not there could be ones painted by people I knew and loved.
Kind Regards to you Monica.
Yes, indeed, art therapy can do miracles. I'm glad it helped you so much! I would love to see your paintings. :)
Unfortunately I don't have any left, this is why I want to visit the Wellcome Trust, to see it any of them are still around. I was told that a couple of them are there.
I am writing a manifesto of sorts for outsider artists, art manifesto templates are not the sort of item that can be produced as a downloadable one size fits all template as a legal or business one can. I will post it on Steem soon.
Hey @aci7 !!
welcome........... nice to know about you. i like your intro.....do good work. keep it up.
upvoted you.
That is very kind of you! Thank you! :)
welcome..........:)
Welcome to Steem @aci7 I have upvoted and sent you a tip
Thank you! I can remember you starting from tomorrow morning, otherwise you might wait to long, or even more lives! Kidding! :)
Dear Monica,
what an incredibly beautiful and interesting introduction! Makes mine look pretty poor. Only excuse is, that I'm a painter and not so good with words.
I live close to the river Danube too... on the other end though, in Germany and I always wanted to travel to the Danube Delta. I saw a documentary once and it seemed to me like one of the last paradises left in Europe.
What you say about your childhood reminds me of the way we grew up here. The area was a bit... how should I say... remote. A few decades back, the Bavarian Forest was pretty much the end of the (western) world. But for us kids it was a huge playground and we had the freedom to explore it. Unlike today, our parents only saw us when we came home to eat and sleep ;-)
Thank you for welcoming me here and making it possible for me to "meet" you here. Looking forward to see more about you and your beautiful art.
Thank you so much! Your introduction is just fine! I am not such a good writer too. It's so interesting what you say about your childhood and I realize that we both had fantastic time when we were children. It would be great for you to see the Danube Delta which is an incredible place, except mosquitoes. :)
I know I will see it some day (soon). One time I actually made plans to go down the whole river on a kayak. Thank good Europe is coming together the way it should be and we are no longer seperated by unnatural borders.
If not by kayak, I might just plan one of my next trips on the motorcycle to Romania. A friend did that and he really loved it.
And by the way, you are a very good writer... many times I just read "over" a text and often skip a few lines. All you wrote is so interesting and written in a way, that one does not want to miss a word!