Beatriz Azevedo
Forensic Psychologist
Warm, trauma‑informed support for adults and adolescents navigating trauma, anxiety, depression, and relational wounds. I help you understand your story, regulate your nervous system, and rebuild safety and self‑trust.
I specialise in:
About me
I’m a psychologist based in Porto, and my work is shaped by a long‑standing commitment to trauma‑informed, ethical, and compassionate care. My professional path has always revolved around understanding how trauma, stress, and relational experiences shape the nervous system, identity, and emotional life. This focus has guided my academic choices, my clinical training, and the way I show up with clients.
My background includes work in community organizations and educational settings, where I supported adolescents, adults, and families navigating trauma, violence, emotional dysregulation, anxiety, depression, and complex relational dynamics. I’ve collaborated with multidisciplinary teams, contributed to psychoeducational projects, and developed materials aimed at promoting emotional regulation, safety, and mental health literacy. These experiences strengthened my belief that healing requires both knowledge and connection: understanding what happened, and having a safe relationship in which to explore it.
I’ve also worked in contexts involving vulnerability, social risk, and high emotional intensity, which taught me the importance of pacing, clarity, and attunement. Over time, I became increasingly specialized in trauma‑informed intervention, and how trauma affects the body, how the nervous system adapts, and how therapy can help reorganize these patterns with gentleness and stability. My identity is grounded in the idea that people are not defined by symptoms, but by experiences, relationships, and survival strategies that once served a purpose.
In my practice, I welcome adults and adolescents who feel overwhelmed, disconnected, anxious, ashamed, or stuck in patterns they can’t explain. Many of my clients come to therapy feeling “too much”, “not enough”, or unsure how to relate to themselves or others. I work to create a space where these experiences can be explored without judgment, pressure, or urgency.
My goal is to offer a therapeutic relationship that feels safe, predictable, and grounded, and where you can understand your story, reconnect with your body, and build the emotional regulation and self‑trust needed for meaningful change.
If you’re looking for a psychologist who works slowly, safely, and collaboratively, I’m here to support you.
I speak:
Location:
Approach
My therapeutic approach is trauma‑informed, relational, and integrative. I work with the understanding that healing happens when the nervous system feels safe enough to explore, feel, and reorganize. Because of this, therapy with me is paced gently and collaboratively. I don’t push for disclosure or emotional intensity. Instead, I help you build the internal stability and regulation that make deeper work possible. Safety is not a step we “complete”, it's the foundation we return to again and again.
My style is warm, grounded, and transparent. I explain what we’re doing and why, and I invite you to participate actively in shaping the direction of our work. You decide what feels safe to explore, and I follow your pace closely. Some sessions are structured and skill‑based, focusing on grounding, emotional regulation, or cognitive strategies. Others are more exploratory, centered on relational patterns, attachment wounds, shame, self‑criticism, or the parts of yourself that feel disconnected or silenced. Both ways of working are valid, and we move between them depending on what your nervous system needs. I don't see them as flaws or failures, but as adaptations that once protected you. This perspective allows us to approach your experiences with curiosity rather than judgment, and to work with them in a way that feels compassionate and empowering.
I integrate cognitive‑behavioral strategies, trauma‑informed stabilization, somatic awareness, psychoeducation, and relational exploration. This means we might look at how thoughts influence emotions, how your body signals distress or shutdown, how early relationships shaped your expectations of others, or how shame and self‑criticism interfere with your sense of worth. When memories or past events arise, we approach them slowly and safely, always prioritizing regulation over catharsis. You never have to revisit anything before you’re ready.
In our work together, you can expect a calm and supportive environment where your boundaries are respected and your pace is honored. My role is to help you understand your story, reconnect with your body, and build the emotional stability and self‑trust needed for meaningful change. Therapy becomes a space where you can explore who you are, how you learned to survive, and how you can begin to live in a way that feels more grounded, connected, and aligned with yourself.
Experience
2025 - Present | Psychologist at It's Complicated - Providing 1-on-1 trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy sessions online in Portuguese and English
2025 - Present | Psychologist at ADDIM, in Porto, Portugal - Providing 1-on-1 trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy sessions with victims of domestic violence, both in-person and online, in Portuguese
2023 - 2025 | Junior Psychologist at ADDIM, in Porto, Portugal - Provided 1-on-1 trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy sessions with victims of domestic violence, both in-person and online, in Portuguese and English - Provided group therapy sessions with adult victims of domestic violence
2022 - 2023 | Psychology Intern at APAV, in Porto, Portugal - Provided 1-on-1 trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy sessions with victims of domestic violence, both in-person and online, in Portuguese and English
Education
2021 - 2023 | Master's Degree in Psychology of Justice at the University of Minho, Portugal
2018 - 2021 | Bachelor's Degree in Psychological Science at the University of Minho, Portugal
Services
Intro Call
Individual Session
Individual Session (Student Discount)
Insurances
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