Dr. Mario Cesareo

Dr. Mario Cesareo is an English, Italian and Spanish-speaking clinical psychologist in Trieste. He receives patients in person in Trieste and works online with people living elsewhere in Italy and abroad, in English, Italian and Spanish, with adults and young people.

His background brings together clinical psychology, psychological assessment and educational psychology. He is continuing his training in psychotherapy and Ericksonian hypnosis, a specialisation that shapes the way he works well before it appears on a certificate.

That approach is worth explaining, because it changes what happens in the room. It gives particular weight to a person’s own resources, to their subjective experience, and to their capacity for change. Its premise is that people arrive already holding what they need to move, even when they cannot reach it at the moment, and that much of the work is finding those resources and putting them back within reach.

What this means in practice is that the work is shaped around the person rather than around a one-size-fits-all model. It rests on empathy and active listening: he follows the way each person actually tells their story, and does not hurry them towards a formulation that was decided in advance.

People usually come to him carrying anxiety, emotional distress, difficulties in their relationships, a life transition that turned out heavier than expected, or a low opinion of themselves they have long stopped questioning.

Others arrive with something harder to name: a sense of being stuck, or of being overwhelmed by a life that seems to be carrying them along rather than being lived. None of this has to amount to a diagnosis to be worth bringing, and it is often the part people are most reluctant to say out loud.

What he offers is a safe, respectful and non-judgemental space where it is possible to look at your own experience without having to defend it, and to understand your emotions and the patterns you keep repeating. He treats the work as a collaborative process: goals are set together rather than prescribed, and the direction of travel is towards greater awareness, greater autonomy and a steadier sense of wellbeing.

Working in three languages matters for the people he sees in Trieste, a city where a great many lives are lived across a border. Being able to describe what is happening to you in the language it happened in, rather than translating yourself as you go, is often the difference between naming something and circling around it.

You do not have to pick him yourself. At Therapsy every person is matched by a human being, not by an algorithm: our clinical team reads your request, and if Dr. Cesareo 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. Cesareo was personally vetted by our Clinical Director, Dr. Francesca A. Boccalari, on three non-negotiable criteria: he shares our values, he speaks at least one language beyond Italian, and he has a physical practice in Trieste where you can meet in person, not only online.

Mario Cesareo does not work alone. He 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 his 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: Mario Cesareo, or one of his 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. Cesareo is registered with the Italian Order of Psychologists. He receives in Trieste and works online with patients across Italy and abroad.

Further reading from Therapsy: finding an English-speaking therapist in Trieste and therapy for low self-esteem.