Time to finally introduce myself!

Dear Steemit Community,

My name is Monica and I am a psychologist currently based in Constanta/Romania.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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!

Thank you for your attention and your patience to read my introduction!

Best Wishes,
Monica alias @aci7