A conversation that starts with you —
not with a diagnosis
This page describes the practical side of working with Atelier Virtus Mentis: what the conversation rests on, how the path from first contact to a session looks, and what is worth knowing beforehand.
You don’t have to arrive with a ready diagnosis, or be able to name what is happening. It is enough that something has stopped working the way it used to.
What the conversation rests on
Without judgement
You don't have to justify coming. The conversation does not begin with an assessment of your decisions, or with proving that the problem is serious enough.
Your pace
You decide what you talk about and when. Nothing obliges you to tell the whole story in the first session.
The contract
At the outset we agree a contract: how often we meet, how long the sessions last, and the terms of the work. In an emergency you can of course call or write between sessions.
From first contact to the conversation
Get in touch
You write through the form, call, or send an email. You don't have to describe the matter in detail — as much as you want to say at this stage is enough.
Agreeing a time
Together we settle on a time and a format: online, a home visit, or individually agreed terms.
The first session
At the first appointment we establish the scope of help, how often to meet, and the shared goals we want to reach.
Before you book a session
Atelier Virtus Mentis works from Mokotowska 45 in Warsaw. Online consultations — with no geographical limits.
Overload, relationships, decisions, tension, falling motivation and many other situations where the ways you used to cope have stopped being enough.
How I work
I work from the assumptions and tools of the cognitive-behavioural approach and of motivational interviewing. How each consultation runs, how we talk and which steps we take, I fit to you — to your needs, your capacities and the goal you arrive with.
What a session looks like
The first session is for getting to know each other and understanding your situation. We talk about what brings you here, how long it has been going on and how it affects your everyday life. Together we set a goal and a plan for the work ahead. The sessions that follow are work on specific thoughts, emotions and behaviours — at your pace.
Why this approach
The cognitive-behavioural approach is among the most thoroughly researched forms of psychological support in the world — its effectiveness is confirmed by a large body of scientific studies and by international clinical guidelines. Motivational interviewing is a way of talking with documented effectiveness, particularly in supporting changes of habit and in work with addiction.
Psychological support is usually not a single meeting but several, sometimes a dozen or more. Fifty minutes is rarely enough to get to know each other properly, understand your situation and gauge how severe the problem is. We work together until the moment you say: “I am myself again — I reached my goal, I am content, I have stopped being afraid.”
What you can count on
- •Our aim is to walk the rest of the road together — until you have a fulfilled and happy life back.
- •I will give you mental and emotional support and help you take the next steps, decisions and resolutions.
- •You can also bring someone close to you to a session — so that together we can confront, confirm or reject certain beliefs.
- Hofmann, S. G., Asnaani, A., Vonk, I. J. J., Sawyer, A. T., Fang, A. (2012). The Efficacy of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: A Review of Meta-analyses. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 36(5), 427–440. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Lundahl, B. W., Kunz, C., Brownell, C., Tollefson, D., Burke, B. L. (2010). A Meta-Analysis of Motivational Interviewing: Twenty-Five Years of Empirical Studies. Research on Social Work Practice, 20(2), 137–160. digitalcommons.usu.edu
- National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2022). Depression in adults: treatment and management (NICE guideline NG222). www.nice.org.uk
Sometimes strength is not about enduring even more.
Sometimes it is about changing something early enough.