You deserve space to grow, heal, and reconnect with yourself.
© Cristiana Vica
Hi there! I'm Cristiana.
My journey into psychology has deep roots in my personal story. Shortly after I was born, my family immigrated to Canada, but I moved back to Romania for a few years as a young child. Throughout my childhood, I returned most summers, drawn by a deep desire to connect with my roots, and it was there, in Romania, that I often felt most connected to myself. That sense of belonging has stayed with me ever since.
That longing eventually led me back to Europe, and since 2020 the Netherlands has been my home.
As a child, I was fascinated by real-life stories, especially my own family's, I had little interest in fairy tales, but always wanted to understand the people and experiences that shaped us. That curiosity grew into a love for psychology, and today I draw on it to help others find their own sense of self, belonging, and healing.
My journey, shaped by movement, return, and reconnection, has given me a personal understanding of adaptability, belonging, and identity. Becoming a psychologist felt like a natural extension of that: a way to keep exploring the richness of human experience, while helping others navigate their own journeys with curiosity, compassion, and a sense of grounding in their own story. I know, in a personal way, what it means to weave a scattered story into one that makes sense and that's the same work I do alongside my clients.
My approach
I primarily work from Schema Therapy, an integrative, evidence-based approach that draws on CBT, psychodynamic, attachment, and Gestalt models. In practice, this means looking at the patterns you learned early in life: the "blueprints" for how you relate to yourself and others, and gently updating the ones that no longer serve you.
Every person's therapy looks different. I regularly draw on EMDR to help process difficult or stuck experiences, alongside Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and mindfulness-based approaches. What stays constant is the space itself: safe, judgment-free, and paced around you. A place where your story can be heard and understood, not just analyzed.
My goal is for you to leave sessions with more clarity about your thoughts and emotions, and more access to your own strengths. Not because I hand them to you, but because they were there to begin with.
If this feels like a fit, I invite you to book a free 20-minute consultation call so we can talk through what you're navigating and whether we'd work well together.
Qualifications and Memberships
2025 – Basic EMDR Training, Levels I & II – EMDR Toronto (Approved by EMDRIA)
2024 – 2029 Integrative Psychotherapy Trainee – at The Association of Integrative Research, Counselling and Psychotherapy (ACCPI)
2023 Schema Therapy Training [Van Genderen Opleidingen B.V.]
2023 Imagery Rescripting, Chairwork, Managing inner critics in Schema Therapy [Van Genderen Opleidingen B.V.]
2022 MSc Clinical Psychology from the University of Leiden
2019 BA Psychology with a minor in Education from Wilfrid Laurier University
Registered NIP Psychologist [Nederlands Instituut van Psychologen, (NIP)] Credential ID 242715
Full member of The International Society of Schema Therapy [ISST]
Nr. 76744643