It's Complicated

José Manuel dos Santos

(he/him)

Psychotherapist in training & Counsellor

Available for new clients

I specialise in:

At a glance
A dos Francos, PortugalAvailable online only

About me

(English version below.) As pessoas chegam até mim com questões que não cabem bem em respostas - sobre quem são, o que querem, porque as coisas se sentem como se sentem. Caminho ao lado delas, não à sua frente. Com mais de duas décadas em liderança organizacional, estive presente nos momentos mais expostos de muitas pessoas - profissional e pessoalmente. Essa experiência foi moldando em mim uma curiosidade genuína sobre o que significa ser uma pessoa, não um papel, não um problema a resolver. É essa curiosidade que está agora no centro da forma como trabalho. Tenho formação em abordagens que levam a sério a totalidade da experiência de cada um - o sentido sentido das coisas, as perguntas por baixo das perguntas, a liberdade que muitas vezes é mais difícil de suportar do que os próprios constrangimentos. Trabalho em português e inglês, online, e trago para cada sessão o mesmo que peço às pessoas que encontro: presença, honestidade, e uma disponibilidade para ainda não saber. ********************************************************* People come to me carrying questions that don't fit neatly into answers - about who they are, what they want, why things feel the way they feel. I work alongside them, not ahead of them. With over two decades in organisational leadership, I've sat with people in their most exposed moments - professionally and personally. That experience shaped something in me: a genuine curiosity about what it means to be a person, not a role, not a problem to solve. That curiosity now lives at the heart of how I work. I'm trained in approaches that take seriously the whole of a person's experience - the felt sense of things, the questions underneath the questions, the freedom that's often harder to bear than the constraints. I work in Portuguese and English, online, and I bring to each session the same thing I ask of the people I meet: presence, honesty, and a willingness to not know yet.

I speak:

PortugueseEnglish

Location:

A dos Francos, Portugal

Approach

Treatment Approaches
CounsellingRecommended for those who want to talk through their emotional challenges with a professional in a safe, supportive environment.
Existential analysisRecommended for those who are searching for deeper meaning in life or are struggling with big questions about existence, freedom, and purpose.
Psychotherapy Recommended for those who want to work through emotional or mental health challenges by talking with a trained psychotherapist.
(English version below.) Trabalho a partir de uma tradição existencial e fenomenológica - o que significa que me interessa menos o que está errado contigo, e mais a forma como experiencias o teu mundo, e o que essa experiência te está a pedir. A par disso, recorro ao Focusing - uma forma de atender ao que o corpo já sabe antes de as palavras chegarem - e a práticas do Social Presencing Theater e da comunicação não-violenta, que trazem atenção ao que se move entre as pessoas, não apenas dentro delas. As sessões não são diretivas. Seguimos o que trazes. O ritmo é teu. O que tende a acontecer, com o tempo, não é que os problemas desapareçam - mas que te encontres com mais espaço para te moveres dentro deles. ********************************************************* I work from an existential and phenomenological tradition - which means I'm less interested in what is wrong with you, and more in how you experience your world, and what that experience is asking of you. Alongside that, I draw on Focusing - a way of attending to what the body already knows before words arrive - and on practices from Social Presencing Theater and non-violent communication, which bring attention to what moves between people, not just within them. Sessions are not directive. We follow what you bring. The pace is yours. What tends to happen, over time, is not that problems disappear - but that you find yourself with more room to move inside them.

Services

Intro Call

€25 15 min Online
Um primeiro encontro sem compromisso. Perguntas o que precisas de perguntar, eu digo-te honestamente como trabalho, e decidimos juntos se faz sentido. Sem qualquer obrigação para além dos 15 minutos. \\******** English *********// A low-stakes first meeting. You ask what you need to ask, I tell you honestly how I work, and we both decide if this feels right. No commitment beyond the 15 minutes.

Individual Session

€55 50 min Online
Cinquenta minutos de atenção inteira. Trabalhamos com o que trouxeres - um sentimento que não consegues nomear, uma situação a que continuas a voltar, uma pergunta sobre a tua vida que não desaparece. A sessão é tua. \\******** English *********// Fifty minutes of undivided attention. We work with whatever you bring - a feeling you can't name, a situation you keep circling, a question about your life that won't go away. The session is yours.

Focusing

€45 30 min Online
O Focusing é uma forma de escutar para dentro - para o sentido subtil, muitas vezes pré-verbal, de que algo importa, mesmo quando ainda não sabes porquê. Em trinta minutos, abrandamos o suficiente para o ouvir. \\******** English *********// Focusing is a way of listening inward - to the subtle, often pre-verbal sense that something matters, even when you don't yet know why. In thirty minutes, we slow down enough to hear it.

Coaching

€70 1 hr Online
Para quem quer pensar com clareza sobre um desafio concreto - profissional, pessoal, ou algures entre os dois. Uma hora, organizada em torno do que queres mover. \\******** English *********// For people who want to think clearly about a specific challenge - professional, personal, or somewhere in between. One hour, structured around what you want to move.

Insurances

Private Pay
At a glance
A dos Francos, PortugalAvailable online only

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