Access:
The cross-cultural counseling concept
Evangelia Lambidoni, Ed.D.
Developmental & Integrative Counselor
MY professional JOURNEY
I was born and raised in the capital of Greece, Athens, while my parents and our ancestors came from the islands of the Aegean Sea. To them I owe my cross-cultural curiosity and to all of them, known and unknown to me, along with my life and academic mentors I was fortunate in this journey away from home, I dedicate "TheFourSeas" (4Cs).
My first Higher Education degree in Philosophy, Pedagogics and Psychology at the National University of Athens just grew my curiosity for (my) human condition. The multicultural environment of Boston, and Boston University in particular, was a perfect match for this quest. Boston University became my academic home for my master's and doctoral education in Counseling and Developmental Studies. My professional journey continued with a post-doctoral year in clinical psychology at the Trauma Center, JRI, and an one year fellowship in psychoanalytic psychotherapy at BPSI. I am grateful for the series of fortuitous events that allowed for this comprehensive training in several major models of development throughout the life-span and psychotherapy (psychoanalytic, systemic, the new wave of cognitive-behavioral therapy that incorporates mindfulness, internal family systems). In Boston's diverse community, I enjoyed working with children and adults of different socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds, in a variety of settings: schools, hospitals, community and university mental health clinics.
In 2012, my vessel returned to Europe. I joined the Center for Mental Health for students at the RWTH Aachen University Hospital in Germany, where I have been working with international students individually and in groups. In 2017, I founded TheFourSeas to provide psychological services to ex-patriots in developmental crisis. In my counseling work, I integrate common principles across the models I have been trained, in light of recent advances in neuroscience. I closely look at how body and mind develop in-tandem, via ordinary but also extra-ordinary experiences, in the family or other systems, including culture. Through this professional journey, ACCESS: the Cross-Cultural Counseling Concept was born.
The ACCESS concept
ACCESS is a cross-cultural counseling concept that integrates theories of human development and counseling with the advances in neuroscience in order to understand and promote the life-long task of maturation and sustainable health in the systems within and outside ourselves. It interweaves interventions in six spheres of experience:
Affect & Attachment: learning how affect regulation is rooted in attachment experiences; how to self-regulate and start developing healthy relating patterns with ourselves and others.
Cognition & Creeds: identifying cognitive strengths and weaknesses; how core creeds develop from childhood experiences; how we can harvest the potential of our brain neuroplasticity so we can re-install healthy and helpful creeds.
Coping with Compassion for Self and Others: understanding how coping strategies develop since childhood; how some of them may have served as well in the past but maybe unhelpful in the present; how we can learn new helpful ways to cope with compassion towards ourselves and others.
Existential Meaning & Exploration: looking into how personal and cultural values develop and affect each other; what values do we choose to live by in all areas of life; how our values can help us reach our goals.
Systemic Synergy: recognizing the systems inside and around ourselves: how they interact with each other and how they can work with each other instead of against each other to promote mind and body health and prosperity.
Sustainable Success: learning ways to sustain the balance within our mind-body systems and with the systems that surround us which eventually leads to life satisfaction and continuous success in our goals.
How I can help
Personal counseling on managing developmental crisis throughout the life span; workshops on how stress affects mental and physical well being and on ways to promote mind and body resilience.
CONTACT
If you wish to make an appointment or inquiry, please contact: access@thefourseas.org
Pictures & Content Copyright: Evangelia Lambidoni, January 2017, May 2021
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