An English-speaking therapist in Cremona is not something you stumble on by walking through the centre. Cremona is a small city with a very particular international population: people who come to study violin making or music, students at the university campuses, researchers and staff in the food and agricultural companies of the plain, and partners who followed someone here. It is a quiet, courteous place where almost everything happens in Italian and where, after a few months, it can feel as if everyone knows everyone.
What follows is a practical guide: who tends to look for therapy in English here and why, what to weigh between meeting in town and meeting online, how to verify a professional, what it costs, and how Therapsy puts you in touch with the right person.
Quick answer: an English-speaking therapist in Cremona receives in person in Via del Sale, and the same sessions can be held online wherever you are. Therapsy’s Clinical Director chooses the therapist for you personally, the first call is free, and individual sessions start from 70 euros.
Therapsy is a multilingual psychotherapy service in Italy that connects expats with therapists who speak their native language.
Key takeaways
- An English-speaking therapist in Cremona receives in person in the city; sessions are also possible in Spanish and Italian.
- In a small city, online sessions are also a way to keep therapy private.
- For languages other than English, Spanish and Italian, sessions are online with a therapist matched to your language.
- Individual sessions start from 70 euros. The first call is free.
- Any psychologist’s registration can be checked on the public national register.
Who looks for therapy in English in Cremona
Students of music and violin making
Cremona draws people from all over the world to its workshops and schools. They arrive with a craft to learn and often very little Italian. The work is solitary and exacting, the standard is set by masters, and comparison with the person at the next bench is constant. Perfectionism and, for performers, stage anxiety can come with this kind of training, and they are easier to work on in a language you do not have to translate from.
University students far from home
The university campuses bring students who are often abroad for the first time. A small city is affordable and easy to live in, and it can also feel lonely: fewer international events and fewer people in the same situation. When homesickness lingers well beyond the first months, talking to someone can help.
Professionals and the partners who came with them
People who move here for work usually have colleagues and a routine from the first day. Their partners often do not. Without a job, without the language, and in a city where social life can seem to run through families and long friendships, the first year can feel like waiting for a life to begin.
The small-city question: privacy
Being seen, and why it stops people
In a city this size, people worry about meeting someone they know in a waiting room, or about a landlord, a teacher or a colleague finding out. The worry is understandable and it is one of the quiet reasons people postpone asking for help.
What actually protects you
Psychologists in Italy are bound by professional secrecy, which covers what you say and the fact that you are a patient. Within Therapsy, only the clinical team involved in your care sees your request. The law allows exceptions only in rare cases, such as a serious risk to someone’s life. If the idea of being seen still weighs on you, online sessions take the waiting room out of the picture: you connect from wherever you have privacy.
Meeting in town or meeting online
Reasons to choose the practice in Cremona
Sharing a flat with other students, or living with a family, makes it hard to speak freely at home. A practice gives you a closed door and an hour that belongs only to you. Some people also find it easier to trust someone they have met in person, especially at the beginning.
Reasons to choose online
Online sessions suit people with irregular timetables, rehearsals and workshop hours that change every week, or a home outside the city. They are also the way to work in a language that is not available in person here. And the format does not lower the quality of the work: a 2021 meta-analysis of live psychotherapy by video found it no less effective than therapy delivered in person. More on how this works is in the guide to online therapy for expats in Italy.
Going home for the holidays without stopping
Students and musicians leave Cremona for weeks at a time. Online sessions let you keep the same therapist during the summer or a long stay abroad, instead of interrupting the work every time you travel.
Checking a professional before you commit
Registration is public
A psychologist practising in Italy must be registered with the professional order. You can search any name in the national register of psychologists. Psychiatrists are medical doctors and appear in the register of the Order of Physicians.
Three things to ask an English-speaking therapist in Cremona
- Have you worked with people in my situation: a student abroad, a musician, a partner who relocated?
- Can the whole process be in English, including documents and invoices?
- What happens to our sessions when I am away from Cremona?
What it costs, and what you can recover
With Therapsy, individual sessions start from 70 euros and couple sessions from 100. A psychiatric consultation starts from 110 euros, and a complete three-session psychodiagnostic evaluation from 255 euros. The first call, fifteen to thirty minutes with the therapist you have been matched with, is free.
If you file a tax return in Italy, therapy counts as a health expense: you get a 19 per cent tax credit on the part of your yearly health spending above 129.11 euros, provided you pay by traceable means. The Bonus Psicologo is a separate public contribution of up to 50 euros per session for residents within the income limit, usable only with psychotherapists on the INPS list. Therapsy does not accept it.
How Therapsy finds you an English-speaking therapist in Cremona
One request, read by a person
You fill in a short form: what is going on, which language you want to work in, in person or online. Dr. Francesca Boccalari, our Clinical Director, reads every request and chooses the therapist herself, looking at language, clinical approach and practical details. There is no algorithm and no list to scroll through. You then meet that therapist in a free first call, and if it is not the right fit we propose someone else. The process is described on the page about therapist matching.
The network behind it counts more than 50 therapists working in 14 languages, with 90 practices across 24 Italian cities and online everywhere else. Fewer than one applicant in a hundred is accepted.
The English-speaking therapist we work with in Cremona
In Cremona the in-person work is done by Dr. Paola Lazzarini, an English and Spanish-speaking clinical psychologist who receives in Cremona and in Brescia and also works online with people elsewhere in Italy and abroad. She works with adolescents, young adults, couples and families, and her clinical experience includes anxiety and mood difficulties and the strain of complex life transitions. If you need another language or a different clinical profile, the match widens to the rest of the network and the sessions happen online.
The practice location, the map and the request form are on the page for English-speaking therapy in Cremona. If you spend part of your week elsewhere in Lombardy, see also the guides to finding an English-speaking therapist in Brescia and an English-speaking therapist in Milan.
FAQ
Can I have therapy in English in Cremona in person?
Yes. Therapsy receives in person in Via del Sale, in English, Spanish and Italian. The same sessions can be held online if you prefer or when you are away.
I am a student with a limited budget. Where do I start?
Start with the free first call: it costs nothing and tells you whether the therapist is right for you. Individual sessions start from 70 euros, and if you file an Italian tax return part of the cost comes back as a tax credit.
Will my school, employer or host family know?
Not from us. Your therapist is bound by professional secrecy and does not share information with a school, employer or host family without your consent; the only exceptions are the rare ones set by law. If you are under 18, your parents or legal guardians must consent to therapy, so they will know that it is taking place, though not what you say in sessions.
My first language is not English. Can I work in it?
Therapsy works in 14 languages. In person in Cremona the languages are English, Spanish and Italian; for the others the sessions are online with a therapist who speaks your language.
How soon will someone answer my request?
Within 12 hours: that is how long Francesca and the onboarding team take to reply to a request. When the first call takes place then depends on your diary and the therapist’s.
What if I need urgent help?
Therapy is not an emergency service. If you or someone near you is in immediate danger, call 112, the emergency number in Italy and across the EU.
A first conversation
Asking for help in a small city, in a second language, takes more effort than it should. The first step is a short form on the Cremona page and a free call with the English-speaking therapist in Cremona or online who fits what you describe. Nothing else is decided until you have spoken.
Written by Dr. Francesca Adriana Boccalari, Clinical Director at Therapsy and licensed psychologist (Ordine degli Psicologi della Lombardia n. 16241), and reviewed in October 2026. This article is for information and does not replace a professional consultation.
