I am Kamila Szymecka-Owen

I am a psychologist and a certified cognitive-behavioral psychotherapist (no. 1182) with clinical experience in Poland and Australia. I hold the Standard Level Certified Schema Therapist certificate issued by the International Society of Schema Therapy (ISST), certificate number IND - 4525. I provide individual psychotherapy using Schema Therapy and EMDR, psychological consultations, and personal development workshops. I work with adults and adolescents in both Polish and English.

I provide individual psychotherapy using Schema Therapy and EMDR, psychological consultations and personal development workshops. I work with adults and adolescents, in English and in Polish.

Professional experience

I have run a private psychotherapy practice in Gdańsk since 2020 (previously named Przystanek Po-MOC). I spent a year in Melbourne, Australia, working clinically at Laburnum Psychology, a private practice in Blackburn.

Before that I worked at the mental health clinic of the Przychodnia Morena healthcare centre in Gdańsk (2020–2022), and with adolescents at the community psychological and psychotherapeutic care centre for children and young people at NZOZ Rumia. For many years I worked with the Women's Rights Centre, providing individual psychological consultations and short-term psychotherapy. I also gained clinical experience at the Professor Tadeusz Bilikiewicz Regional Psychiatric Hospital in Gdańsk and at the Gdańsk Centre for Addiction Prevention.

Working across cultures

I have a working understanding of different cultural backgrounds and what they mean for mental health practice, developed both in Gdańsk with expats living in Poland and in Australia — where one of the core competencies required by AHPRA, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, was working with people from diverse groups.

What I work with

Through years of clinical practice I have continued to gain experience working with clients who have experienced trauma in adulthood and in early childhood, including sexual trauma; difficulties coping with stress and in interpersonal relationships; adjustment disorders; disturbed self-esteem; anxiety problems and depression; and disorders of self-perception.

Qualifications

I am a certified cognitive-behavioural psychotherapist, certification no. 1182, having completed a four-year postgraduate course at the School of Cognitive-Behavioural Psychotherapy at SWPS University in Sopot.

I completed the ISST-approved Schema Therapy training programme run by Remco van der Wijngaart and Hannie van Genderen (Dutch Institute for Schema Therapy), as well as two levels of EMDR training — the first in Poland with the VITAMELIUS Foundation, the second in Australia with Psychology Training.

Further Schema Therapy training includes working with narcissistic clients with Wendy T. Behary, EMDR and Schema Therapy with Chris Hayes and Sarah Dominguez through Schema Therapy Training Online, Transformational Chairwork with Dr Scott Kellogg, Imagery Rescripting with Chris Hayes, and using polyvagal theory in therapy with Nadene van der Linden. I have also completed training on the rights of people experiencing domestic violence and sexual violence through the Women's Rights Centre Foundation, Gdańsk branch.

Supervision and membership

I keep my work under continuous supervision, which I see as central to further development, and I regularly take part in international conferences and webinars organised by the International Society of Schema Therapy.

I am a member of the Polish Association of Cognitive and Behavioural Therapy, the Polish EMDR Therapy Association and the International Society of Schema Therapy — see my ISST profile.