Chapter 10 Participatory Video as a PsychosocialIntervention in Migratory Trauma:Theories and PracticeAlessandro Ciardi

If you’re browsing this site and reading these pages, perhaps you’re looking for someone to lend you a hand. Whatever the reason.

When we seek help, the first thing we do is try to determine whether the person we’re asking inspires trust and professionalism. We wonder if they’ll be able to listen, understand, and help.

So, the first important thing we do, before accepting help, is to get to know the person we’re dealing with better. So, first, let me briefly tell you what I do and who I am.

• I work as a Psychologist (Registration in the Lombardy Psychologists’ Register n° 03 / 13790) and Psychotherapist.
• I am a consultant at the Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Unit of the Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico in Milan.
• I am a supervisor and trainer (in clinical, educational and corporate settings).
• I collaborate with the IEPSM (European Institute of Psychotraumatology and Stress Management) in Milan.
• I teach at the School of Transcultural Psychotherapy – GRT Group for Transcultural Relations – in Milan.
• I have been working with narrative methodologies (storytelling, video storytelling) for years as a leader and facilitator of clinical, training, and psychosocial groups.
• I lead Mindful Compassion groups
• I carried out clinical activity at the “La Famiglia” clinic in Milan
• I was responsible for the “Psychology and Cinema” project for OPL – Order of Psychologists of Lombardy

If you would like more details, I refer you to my complete CV .

These, in a few lines, are my most recent professional experiences. But I’d like to add something.

Because up to this point I’ve told you “what I do”.

But “who I am,” of course, can’t be told by my work alone. I’ve chosen and love it, but it can’t tell you the whole story. So, here’s a little more biographical information.

I love nature and confess my weakness for the mountains, perhaps because some of my roots lie in an area surrounded by mountains. I love the company of friends, especially at the table, where many of life’s important things happen and are shared.

And I love cinema—I still remember precisely the moment, the place, the sequence of the film that led me to imagine a career as a screenwriter. I pursued it for a certain period of time.

I conclude with this. I enjoy being at the intersection of different disciplines (Psychology, Anthropology, Philosophy, Ecology), where, in my opinion, one can enjoy the best panorama of the human being, where rigor and flexibility work together to build, side by side, more effective ways of listening and caring.