About
Andreia Cigarro is a psychology practitioner working with young adults and adults with complex mental health needs. She has worked for Priory since 2019, both in inpatient and outpatient settings.
Her experience is primarily in inpatient rehab services with male adults with treatment resistant schizophrenia, comorbid substance misuse and personality disorders.
Andreia also has a number of years of experience working in outpatient settings, with individuals diagnosed with mood disorders, personality disorders, adjustment disorders, trauma and bereavement. She has worked for a number of years with young adults and adults with autism spectrum conditions and intellectual difficulties, supporting them to develop social and functional skills with intent to promote autonomy and independence.
Andreia has also worked as a researcher of clinical psychology, having collaborated to the Optimising Suicide Prevention Programme Europe (OSPI-Europe).
Before moving to the UK, Andreia worked for a number of years for the Portuguese national health system, both in inpatient and outpatient settings, working with individuals with a range of mental health disorders.
Andreia moved to UK looking to pursue more challenging career pathways, and has found her passion working with complex mental health disorders such as psychosis and emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD).
She uses a holistic and integrative approach that brings together different elements of specific therapies. In her view, there is no single approach that can treat each client in all situations. Rather, each person needs to be considered as a whole and counselling techniques must be tailored to their individual needs and personal circumstances.
In integrative approaches, the core idea is that there are many ways in which human psychology can be explored and understood - no one theory alone holds the answer. All theories are considered to have value, even if their foundational principles contradict each other - hence the need to integrate them.
The integrative approach also refers to the infusion of an individual’s personality and needs - integrating the affective, behavioural, cognitive, and physiological systems within one person, as well as addressing social and spiritual aspects. Essentially, the integrative approach tailors therapeutic intervention to clients and not the client to the therapy.
Languages
- English
- Portuguese