Elena Salvia

"It’s capitalism that made us rush... we used to go slow because we thought that’s how life worked: that you just had to tear along the edges, little by little..." – Zerocalcare My name is Elena Salvia. I am a Philosophy student at the University of Verona and a psychotherapist-in-training at the interactionist school Psycopraxis, where I carry out my internship at the AIED family counseling center in Verona.

I graduated with honors with a Master’s degree in Developmental and Educational Psychology from the University of Padua. After graduation, I completed an internship at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, where I analyzed the approach of Italian and Norwegian educators working with unaccompanied foreign minors, through interviews and thematic analysis.

My academic background has a strong international and methodological focus, shaped by courses that deeply influenced both my psychological and human perspective: Developmental Neuroscience, Economic Inequality, and Cultural Developmental Psychology. It was in the latter course that I found the inspiration for my internship and thesis project with Professor Moscardino, a project implemented in secondary schools in Padua with 14-year-old students, centered on the concept of cultural identity.

I have always felt the need to complement experimental psychology with a more humanistic vision, to give depth to the context in which people live: environment, culture, history, politics. Extra-curricular courses in sociology, philosophy, and pedagogy sparked my interest in the impact of the socio-economic context on development. In particular, the General Pedagogy course, through authors such as Marx, Dewey, and Gramsci, opened me up to critical, historical, and systemic thinking.

During my Master’s internship, I implemented the Identity Project, a program aimed at fostering ethnic-racial identity development in adolescents, under the supervision of Professor Moscardino and Dr. Bossi. I worked with 14-year-old students in Italian schools, addressing identity-related themes in multicultural contexts. At the same time, I actively participated in a debate titled “Multiculturalism has failed,” contributing data and reflections in support of the argument.

My academic journey began in the Faculty of Law in Trento, driven by an interest in the social and political organization behind legal norms. After one year, I switched to psychology, earning my Bachelor's degree with a thesis on the civic value of disobedience and dissent, co-supervised by a philosophy professor. An Erasmus experience in Chester (UK) introduced me to academic scientific literature and the critical method of peer review.

My English proficiency has been nurtured through language immersion programs (study holidays, Canada, Toronto Summer School), and I have achieved a C1 level (IELTS 7.5). There, a course on modern genocides perhaps planted the seed for many of my future choices.

Outside of university, theatre has been a constant in my life. From early workshops, I moved on to work with directors like Carlos Alsina and theatre companies such as Ad Punctum and Ruzzante. I performed on the stage of the Teatro Stabile del Veneto with the project Universerìe. Theatre has always been a crossroads I’ve never fully abandoned: I came close to applying to drama school, but in the end, I chose to “tear along the edges” of my psychology studies.

Finally, I serve as vice president of the cultural association LiberaMente Cavaion, where I coordinate events, draft grant proposals, and manage cultural activities. From this experience, I developed a keen interest in digital media marketing, which led me to complete a specific course offered by the University of Padua.

After graduating from classical high school, I was unsure about the future: I wanted to be a war surgeon, a psychologist, a kindergarten teacher, a journalist, a diplomat. In the end, I followed a thread woven between the desire to help, to study, and to travel. My final high school project was titled Awakenings, and today, just like back then, I feel I’m still at the beginning of many paths, waiting for an awakening to guide me toward the authenticity Heidegger spoke of.