Dr. Filomena Rita Guarino

Dr. Filomena Rita Guarino is an English and French-speaking clinical psychologist in Bologna. She receives patients in person in Bologna and works online with people living elsewhere in Italy and abroad, in English, French and Italian, with people from 16 years old onwards.

She specialises in eating disorders, mindfulness and mindful eating, anxiety management and support for couples. Her therapeutic approach is biosystemic, which keeps the body in the room rather than treating it as the thing being discussed.

Her background is unusual for a clinician, and it is the reason to come to her specifically for anything involving food. She holds a degree in Psychobiology and Cognitive Neurosciences from the Department of Medicine at the University of Parma, and a PhD in Psychology from the University of Bologna on attention studies and human-food interaction. She has spent years studying, at laboratory level, what actually happens between a person and food, which lets her offer neuroscience-informed strategies rather than general advice about eating better.

She has extensive experience in psychological assessment, using specialised tests to map cognitive and emotional profiles, including ADHD and specific learning differences. An assessment answers a different question from therapy: it establishes how a particular mind works, which then determines what kind of help is worth starting.

Her clinical experience covers children, adolescents and adults, on anxiety, emotional difficulties and behavioural problems; her current practice is with people from 16 years old onwards.

She is a published author in scientific journals and has presented her research at national and international conferences. In a field where the evidence moves, a clinician who is producing it rather than only reading it is a meaningful difference.

She lived for a year in France and a year in Norway, and knows both cultures well. She works in French as well as English, which in Italy is not easy to find.

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. Guarino 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. Rita Guarino 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 Bologna where you can meet in person, not only online.

Filomena Rita Guarino 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: Filomena Rita Guarino, 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. Guarino is registered with the Italian Order of Psychologists. She receives in Bologna and works online with patients across Italy and abroad.