About me

You have carried what you carried for a reason. I take that seriously.

8+ years experience100+ clientsEATA certifiedARAT certifiedCOPSI code 438297
Catrinel Ștefan, psychotherapist

What you might bring

I specialise in identity, attachment, transgenerational patterns, complex PTSD, shame, and anxiety. Many of the people I work with carry things they did not choose: inherited responses to family silences, repeated ruptures, or emotional strategies that once kept them safe but now limit their sense of self. Others come to therapy in the middle of a relocation, a role change, or a cultural shift that has quietly destabilised who they thought they were.

Clients often arrive feeling stuck in relational patterns they cannot explain, ashamed of responses that once protected them, or uncertain who they are outside the roles they have carried for family, work, or migration. Some have done therapy before and want work that goes deeper. Others are beginning for the first time and want to be taken seriously, at a pace that respects what they have already survived.

How I work

Body therapyEgo-state therapyTransactional analysis

My work is grounded in Transactional Analysis, which gives me a precise relational framework for the Parent-Adult-Child patterns that shape how we think, feel, and relate. I pace the work carefully, particularly around trauma, so therapy feels containing rather than overwhelming. You are never pushed further or faster than feels right.

I work online in English and Romanian with clients across Europe and worldwide. I have worked with expats and cross-cultural clients, and I am particularly at home with adults rethinking inherited identities. Sessions are 50 minutes. I offer a free 20 minute introductory call so you can decide whether we are the right fit before committing.

Therapy with me is a space to understand what shaped you, develop self-compassion, and create room to choose differently.

I specialise in

TraumaTransgenerationalAnxietyComplex PTSDIndividuationAttachmentDepression

Experience & training

Work experience

  • Psychotherapist

    Private Practice — Catrinel Ștefan

    Nov 2018 – present

  • Child Psychotherapist

    Seeding Knowledge

    Mar 2018 – Jul 2019

  • Psychotherapist

    Filia Center

    Aug 2020

Education & training

  • Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology

    Universitatea Ecologică din București

    2022 – 2024

  • Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology

    Faculty of Psychology and Educational Studies, University of Bucharest

    2006 – 2009

  • Certificate of Practice Under Supervision

    ARAT — Romanian Association of Transactional Analysis

    2015 – 2019

  • Certificate of Free Practice

    College of Psychologists of Romania

    2018 – present

Let’s talk

Book a free 20-minute introductory call, online or in person in Cotroceni, Bucharest.

Book a session