Dr. Roberta Donatone

Dr. Roberta Donatone is an English and Italian-speaking clinical psychologist in Padua and Venice. She receives patients in person in Padua and nearby, and in Venice, both in Mestre and in the historic centre, and works online with people living elsewhere in Italy and abroad, in Italian and English, with pre-adolescents, adolescents, young adults, adults and couples.

She is in her second year of specialisation in psychotherapy, and her way of working is integrative: it draws on contemporary cognitive-behavioural therapies, in particular Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Compassion Focused Therapy, and on Transactional Analysis. In practice that means choosing the tools around the person, not fitting the person into a protocol.

Her academic and professional path has run between Italy and the UK, and it shows in what she pays attention to: how family background shapes the way we feel, what it means to live in a country different from the one you grew up in, and how moving for work can quietly reshape identity and relationships. For someone who has built a life away from home, that is not a detail to explain from the beginning.

She offers psychological support for anxiety, low or unstable mood, difficulties with emotional regulation and self-esteem, and for the stretches of life when something important is changing. Much of the work is also about relationships: the patterns that keep repeating, and the needs that never quite get said.

She has specific experience with neurodivergence, including autism and ADHD, and with high sensitivity. Her starting point is each person’s emotional and sensory experience: understanding how your mind and your senses actually work, rather than measuring them against a norm.

With couples, she works on communication, emotional needs and the conflicts that come back in the same form. She also offers parenting support, including to separated parents and to families going through changes in their relationships.

She offers an affirmative and respectful space for LGBTQ+ and queer clients, and she sees the therapeutic relationship itself as the foundation from which understanding and change can gradually develop.

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. Donatone 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. Donatone 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 Padua and Venice where you can meet in person, not only online.

Roberta Donatone does not work alone. She takes part in Therapsy’s internal clinical supervision, a standing group where clinicians bring their most demanding cases, train together and ask for help when a situation calls for it. Every clinician 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 clinician 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 person she believes is right for you: Roberta Donatone, or one of her colleagues. Then you have a free introductory call, 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 clinician 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. Donatone is registered with the Italian Order of Psychologists. She receives in Padua and in Venice and works online with patients across Italy and abroad.