My Story

My Story

During my high school years it became clear that my professional direction would be humanistic. I have been fascinated by the uniqueness of our inner worlds and by our similarities as humans at the same time. We all want to be accepted for who we are, we want to be loved and respected. We want to enjoy a meaningful life. We want to feel safe and live our lives freely and give the world what we are good at. We are relational beings. We need to feel connected to others. We grow from relationships in our family tree. However we are most directly formed by our attachment to our parents. The way we were treated by our parents, how they responded to our needs and behaviors has a powerful impact on the neuronal networks in our brains and profoundly determines the functioning of our nervous system. Our parents are the first humans we encounter in our lives. The way they treated us implies how we define who we are today. Their voice becomes our inner voice in adulthood. Human relationships might be very nurturing but also quite hurtful. And it is often the pain that brings us to look inside and heal the hurts. We may learn to distinguish between the layers of waste and the treasures that we have accumulated in the course of our lives. We may learn how to find our way back to our core essence. We may learn how to draw on what is healthy and useful. And we learn to let go what we do not need anymore. I have been experiencing this adventurous journey myself but also with others for more than 24 years and I am very grateful for this. I still feel very honored when somebody asks me to accompany him/her on their journey.

Education and Experience

I have a Master’s degree in Psychology at the Faculty of Philosophy at the Comenius University, Bratislava (1993).
My professional qualifications are the following: registered Psychotherapist at the Register of Psychotherapists of Slovak Republic (1999), the European Certificate for Psychotherapy (2000), specialization exam in Clinical Psychology (2004),  the European Certificate of EMDR Practitioner (2008) and Consultant (2012).
I had been working as a psychologist and psychotherapist in the field of clinical and counselling psychology for 24 years. I was strongly affected by my work for MSF (Médecins sans Frontières/2005-2008) where I took part in humanitarian long term missions in Pakistan (earthquake) and Uganda (chronic conflict) as a Mental Health officer.
I have been working in Slovakia since then. During the counselling process I accompany my clients on their journey to their personal growth and to enjoyable life in the present. 

I am also a lecturer and consultant for the Slovak Institute for Psychotraumatology and EMDR – http://www.emdr-sipe.sk and I contribute to the postgraduate education of helping professionals in Slovakia. 

My Way of Work

My way of work is built on my experience, training and education. In my work I try to apply principles based on scientific research. I work with clients on the basis of verbal agreement on the goals and tasks of our collaborative work. In that I try to respect the client’s view on how we should address his or her issues. I apply an approach that is based on the sensitive, empathetic exploration of the client’s concerns, their better understanding and implementation of changes into the client’s life. I see counselling as a flexible process tailor-made according to the client’s needs. In the course of this process the client learns to better understand different aspects of his/her experiencing and discovers more of his/her inner resources as well as gets support during introducing desirable changes in his/her life. I try to create conditions that enable the client to feel more empowered and able to use his/her inner resources. Small steps may lead to great changes- to new healthier way of life.
Counselling process is confidential.

References

Karaszová, K.: Psychotraumatológia a vzťahová väzba: Ako uniesť dobré pocity, Psychiatria-Psychoterapia-Psychosomatika, 17, 2010, č.1, str. 80-83

Karaszová, K.: The Miraculous Moments in PCT- The Therapist’s Reflections, PERSON,
Klientenzentrierte Psychotherapie und personzentrierte Ansätze 1/2004, p. 13-20, Facultas, WUV/Universität /Európsky časopis pre na človeka zameranú terapiu/

Karaszová, K.: Zázračné momenty v terapii zameranej na človeka, EMPATIA č. 1/ 2004

Karaszová, K.: Krátka správa o rýchlych očných pohyboch /EMDR/, EMPATIA č. 2/ 2003

Karaszová, K.: Prípad klienta P., Časopis o psychoterapii zameranej na človeka č.3/1999, časopis PCAI-ISTER, p.9-22

Karaszová, K.: Prežívanie ako kľúčová oblasť zmeny v procese na človeka zameranej a experienciálnej terapie, Psychológia a patopsychológia dieťaťa 1998, ročník XXXIII, č.3, p. 264-273

Karaszová, K.: Príspevok ku štúdiu osobnostnej konštruktívnej zmeny klienta v na človeka zameranej terapii, Československá psychologie 1994 / ročník XXXVIII/č.4, p. 345-355

Karaszová, K.: PCA v terapeutickej práci Ch. Devonshira a F. Zimringa, Konfrontace, Hradec Králové, č. 1/94

References on the web:

http://www.diva.sk/poradna-otazka/24947/katarina-karaszova-ucim-sa-od-ludi-ktori-prezili/

http://zpravy.idnes.cz/zahranicni.asp?r=zahranicni&c=A080605_142303_zahranicni_ban

http://zena.sme.sk/c/5346435/hladanie-spriaznenych-dusi.html

http://www.pluska.sk/bajecna-zena/clanky/pribeh/naucim-vas-zvadzat.html

http://www.psychiatria-casopis.sk/files/psychiatria/1-2010/PSY1-2010-cla25.pdf

http://www.rtvs.sk/tv.programmes.detail/archive/2530?date=25.01.2013 – od 57. minúty

https://vimeo.com/432305070  

Depresia, úzkosti či narcizmus majú korene v detstve:

https://podcasty.sme.sk/t/8737/ludskost-tyzdenny-podcast-o-mentalnom-zdravi