Dr. Thieny Ribeiro

Dr. Thieny Ribeiro is a Portuguese, Spanish and 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 Portuguese, Spanish, English and Italian, with children, adolescents and adults.

She holds a Master’s degree in Psychology from the University of Padua and is training as a psychotherapist in a constructivist approach, specifically Personal Construct Psychology. The premise is that each person builds their own working model of the world out of what they have lived, which means the therapy has to start from that model rather than from a general one.

She has extensive experience with young adults and adolescents facing psychiatric difficulties in vulnerable contexts: settings where support is thin and where a young person is often dealing with more than their diagnosis.

A distinct part of her work is palliative psychology. She supports people and families facing life-limiting illness, and works with grief, existential distress and the practical weight of that period. It is among the hardest areas in the profession and one of the least covered: most people in it are told to be strong and left to manage. Working in your own language matters here more than anywhere.

She also works with personality disorders and uses autogenic training, a structured relaxation method with a long evidence base.

Her therapeutic method centres on a collaborative and empathetic relationship, guiding people through their own narratives towards self-awareness, and she works with an explicitly intercultural perspective, adapting to each person’s background rather than expecting them to adapt to hers.

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. Ribeiro 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. Ribeiro 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.

Thieny Ribeiro 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: Thieny Ribeiro, 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. Ribeiro is registered with the Italian Order of Psychologists. She receives in Padua and works online with patients across Italy and abroad.

Further reading from Therapsy: grief therapy in English in Italy, therapy in your native language.