Átila Gargione

My therapeutic approach is grounded in Lacanian psychoanalysis, while remaining warm, thoughtful, and attentive to the individual person sitting across from me. I understand therapy as a space where you can speak freely and explore your experiences without being reduced to a diagnosis, a symptom, or a predefined explanation of who you are. Rather than offering ready-made answers, I work with you to listen carefully to what emerges in your speech, your relationships, your patterns, your doubts, and even the things that may be difficult to put into words.

Therapy isn't about rushing to erase your pain; it's about creating space to understand it, heal, and move forward.

Symptoms, anxieties, recurring difficulties, and patterns in our relationships can also tell us something about our history, our desires, our conflicts, and the ways we have learned to relate to ourselves and others. Therapy can therefore become an opportunity to understand what your suffering is communicating and to develop a different relationship with it.

A central part of my work is listening to what is unique about your experience. I am interested not only in what happened to you, but also in how you give meaning to what happened, the words you use to describe yourself, the expectations you carry, and the positions you repeatedly find yourself occupying in your relationships and life. Sometimes we can become caught in patterns that feel familiar even when they are painful. Exploring these patterns can create space for something new.

My role is not to judge you, tell you what you should do, or impose my interpretation of your life. Instead, I offer a space where you can speak openly and honestly, including about thoughts, feelings, desires, contradictions, and experiences that you may find difficult to share elsewhere. I believe that feeling genuinely listened to can be an important part of the therapeutic process.

At the same time, being non-judgmental does not mean being passive. I actively listen, ask questions, make observations, and at times highlight something in your speech that may deserve further exploration. In a Lacanian approach, the therapist's interventions can be deliberately concise or unexpected because sometimes a different question, a particular word, or a new way of hearing something you have said can open up an entirely different perspective.

I also recognize that every person arrives in therapy with a different history, culture, identity, relationships, and understanding of themselves. My international academic and professional experience has made cultural awareness and sensitivity an important part of my practice. I work with adults from different backgrounds and countries, and I am attentive to the ways that culture, migration, family expectations, social environment, work, relationships, and major life transitions can shape psychological experience.

Therapy with me is therefore not about becoming a "better" or more acceptable version of yourself according to someone else's expectations. It is about creating the conditions to understand yourself more deeply, question what may no longer be serving you, and develop greater freedom in how you relate to your desires, relationships, choices, and life.

You do not need to arrive knowing exactly what is wrong or what you want to change. You can simply begin by telling me what brought you here. We can start from there and, together, listen carefully to what your experience is asking us to understand.

If this way of working resonates with you, I invite you to get in touch to schedule an initial conversation. This first meeting is a space for us to get a sense of each other and to see whether this approach feels like the right fit for you. There is no obligation to commit right away, it's simply an opportunity to speak, be heard, and explore whether this is the beginning of a journey you'd like to take.

Private Practice – Psychologist (Online Practice)
2023 – Present
Provide individual psychotherapy to adults experiencing anxiety, emotional distress, relationship difficulties, life transitions, and other personal challenges. Practice grounded in psychoanalytic listening and reflective dialogue, with a warm, non-judgmental, culturally sensitive approach. Work with clients from diverse cultural and international backgrounds.

State Secretariat of Health of Rio de Janeiro – Psychologist
2023 – 2024 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Provided psychological care within the public mental health system, including support for people with complex psychosocial needs and individuals in conflict with the law. Collaborated with interdisciplinary teams and public services, contributing to psychosocial assessment, care planning, and mental health rights.

Center for Psychosocial Care for Children and Youth (CAPSi) – Psychologist
2021 – 2023 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Provided psychological care to children and adolescents experiencing complex emotional and psychosocial difficulties. Worked collaboratively with families, schools, social services, and multidisciplinary teams, addressing trauma, family difficulties, social vulnerability, and community violence.

Master’s in Social Work (2024-2026) – Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree
Focus: Mental health care, children and youth, urban violence prevention (studies in Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia, and Portugal)

Post-graduate Specialization Degree in Psychosocial Attention (2022-2023) - Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil.

Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology (2016-2022) – Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Brazil.
Emphasis on clinical psychology, public mental health, and community-based care

Additional Training:
Ongoing training in psychoanalytic psychotherapy, with a focus on trauma, child and adolescent development, and relational dynamics, public mental health, and community-based care.