Dr. Lucia Focella
For memory and attention, for ADHD and learning differences, and for grief after a traumatic loss. In English and Italian.
Dr. Lucia Focella is an English-speaking clinical psychologist in Padua. She receives patients in person in Padua and works online with people living elsewhere in Italy and abroad, in English and Italian, with adults, adolescents and children. Work with children is in person only.
She graduated with honours in Cognitive Neuroscience and Clinical Neuropsychology from the University of Padua, and completed MSc training in the United Kingdom and in Sweden. She is currently training in psychotherapy at the Narrative Constructivist Institute in Padua.
That neuropsychology background is the thing to know about her. It means cognitive rehabilitation, ADHD and specific learning differences are not adjacent interests but her core training: how attention, memory and processing actually work, and what can be done when they do not work as expected.
Her clinical experience has been built across a wide range of healthcare settings: the Family Clinic of Monselice, the Centre for Dementias and Cognitive Decline in Treviso, the Veneto Oncology Institute in Padua, the Intensive Care Unit in Treviso, and the Centre for Mental Health in Camposampiero. Intensive care and oncology are places where psychology is practised under real pressure and with no room for vagueness.
She has volunteered at the De Leo Fund in Padua, supporting people through bereavement after traumatic loss. Traumatic loss is its own clinical territory, distinct from grief in general, and the people who work in it are few.
She also runs preparation courses for parents-to-be and parenting workshops for families with adolescents, and is particularly committed to working with young adults from different cultural backgrounds, on change and on finding new ways to adapt.
Her approach is constructivist: understanding the specific difficulty a person is facing, and exploring alternative routes for their present and future, in a space where they feel heard rather than assessed.
She grew up with an American father, born and raised in the United States, and is at home in Italian-American culture as well as in the British and Swedish contexts where she studied.
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. Focella 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. Focella 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 where you can meet in person, not only online.
Lucia Focella 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: Lucia Focella, 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. Focella is registered with the Italian Order of Psychologists. She receives in Padua and works online with patients across Italy and abroad.
Book your first free assessment call now!
FAQ about Lucia Focella
Does Lucia Focella speak English?
Yes, in English as well as Italian, and a course of therapy can run entirely in English. Her own family has lived across languages, which tends to make the switching itself less remarkable and more workable.
Where does Lucia Focella see patients?
In person in Padua, and online for everyone else. People living in another Italian city, or outside Italy, work with her by video, and the choice is not permanent: many alternate depending on the period they are in.
Does Lucia Focella work with ADHD and learning differences?
Yes, and it sits close to the centre of her training in cognitive neuroscience. In adults an undiagnosed attention or learning difference is usually not experienced as a diagnosis at all, but as twenty years of being told to try harder, and part of the work is separating the two.
Does Lucia Focella work with grief?
Yes, including the kinds of loss that are hardest to talk about. She has worked in a service supporting people bereaved by sudden and traumatic death, where grief does not follow the shape other people expect it to take and the person is often left alone with that discrepancy.
What clinical experience does Lucia Focella have?
Unusually broad for her age, and mostly inside public health services: family services, a centre for dementia and cognitive decline, an oncology institute, an intensive care unit and a community mental health centre. Hospital work of that kind puts a clinician next to people at the worst point of an illness, which changes what feels unmanageable in an ordinary consulting room.
Does Lucia Focella work with parents?
Yes, and at two different moments: before a birth, through preparation courses for parents-to-be, and afterwards, in workshops for families raising young children. Parenting support is rarely about technique. More often it is about what a parent does with the gap between the mother or father they meant to be and the one they are on a bad Tuesday.
How do I start with Lucia Focella?
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How Therapsy works
1. Fill out the form
2. Personalized matching
Have a free dedicated conversation with our Clinical Director, who will carefully understand your needs, preferences, and language. Based on this, we will thoughtfully match you with the therapist who best fits your goals and personality.
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3. Free assessment call
Meet your assigned therapist for a free initial assessment call. This session is designed to get to know you, explore your concerns, and explain how therapy works.
4. Start your journey
Continue with flexible therapy sessions, online or in person across Italy. If the fit isn’t right, we’ll rematch you. No awkward conversations, no extra cost.
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