Dr. Marisa Gennari

Dr. Marisa Gennari is an English-speaking clinical psychologist in Milan. She receives patients in person in Milan and works online with people living elsewhere in Italy and abroad, in English and Italian, with adolescents and adults.

She graduated with honours in Clinical Developmental Psychology from the University of Padua and is specialising in psychotherapy at Area G in Milan. Developmental psychology is the reason she reads an adolescent differently: at sixteen, what looks like a symptom is often a stage doing its work badly, and telling the two apart is the whole job.

Her approach is relational, psychodynamic and constructivist. In practice that means she works on the personal meaning behind a difficulty rather than on the label attached to it, in a space explicitly built to be safe and non-judgemental, because most people arrive having already decided that what they are about to say sounds ridiculous.

Her stated conviction is that difficulties, painful as they are, can become catalysts for growth and self-awareness. It is not a decorative idea in her work: her method is grounded in empathy, respect and collaboration, and aimed at turning what is going wrong into something that changes for good rather than something that is merely survived.

She has worked in diverse cultural contexts through her international experience, and that has sharpened how she reads perspectives and emotional landscapes that are not her own. She works in Italian and English with equal fluency, so the language of the sessions is a choice rather than a compromise.

She is committed to continuous professional development, which in a field where the evidence keeps moving is less obvious than it sounds.

You do not have to pick her yourself. At Therapsy every person is matched by a human being, not by an algorithm: our clinical team reads your request, and if Dr. Gennari is the right fit for what you are bringing, they will introduce you. The first call is free, and it is there to check that the fit is real before anything begins.

Fewer than 1 in 100 therapists joins the Therapsy team. Dr. Gennari was personally vetted by our Clinical Director, Dr. Francesca A. Boccalari, on three non-negotiable criteria: she shares our values, she speaks at least one language beyond Italian, and she has a physical practice in Milan where you can meet in person, not only online.

Marisa Gennari does not work alone. She takes part in Therapsy’s internal clinical supervision, a standing group where therapists bring their most demanding cases, train together and ask for help when a situation calls for it. Every therapist in the network, Case Managers included, can turn to our Clinical Director for clinical questions and further training, and Therapsy runs regular professional training with senior therapists and external trainers. Scheduling, invoicing, payments and the rest of the paperwork are handled by Therapsy, so that her time with you stays clinical work and nothing else. On your side, the same platform gives you one place to see your sessions, invoices, payments and documents.

At Therapsy you do not have to pick your therapist from a list: you start by speaking with Dr. Francesca Boccalari, our Clinical Director, who listens to what you are going through and matches you with the therapist she believes is right for you: Marisa Gennari, or one of her colleagues. Then you have a free introductory call with that therapist, and only after that do you decide whether to start.

And if the fit turns out not to be right, you are not back at square one. Dr. Boccalari and her team find you another therapist inside Therapsy, at no cost, without you having to tell your story from the beginning. Choosing a therapist while you are struggling, in a language that is not your own, is a lot to ask of a person. That is the part we take on.

Dr. Gennari is registered with the Italian Order of Psychologists. She receives in Milan and works online with patients across Italy and abroad.