How did the “Therapy with Love” project begin? It started from my love for children and for my profession, but of course, the story is much longer. If someone had told me 10–12 years ago that I would end up doing what I do now, I would have told them they didn’t know what they were talking about.

All the important decisions I’ve made in my life were taken quite quickly. At first, I didn’t overthink them, but I haven’t regretted any of them so far. I decided to enroll in the Faculty of Psychology just three months before the entrance exam. I studied 24 hours a day and… I managed to get in. Of course, when I started university, I thought I would already be a successful psychologist by the end of it. Life showed me that things are not that simple: you need a master’s degree, training, supervision, volunteering, and more.

So, starting from my third year of university, I began fighting for my dream. I started volunteering at a children’s home. The first week was terrible for me: I was learning the children’s stories, which were devastating, and I couldn’t understand how such things were possible—how a child so young could go through so many emotional traumas… I would go home and cry. But crying solved nothing, so I got to work and seriously began counseling the children there (around 40 of them). When I started my master’s degree, I also got a job, and for four years I never thought about leaving. Being able to bring a smile to those children’s faces was the greatest reward for me.

Then I heard about a child diagnosed with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) who needed a companion at kindergarten. I could help another child while still continuing my work at the children’s home. That sounded great, but I knew nothing about children with ASD, and I thought I would never be able to understand them, and therefore not be able to help them. Still, I decided to try. The child’s therapist was also my friend and promised to teach me everything I needed to know, so… I moved forward and succeeded. After a year, with great difficulty, I left the children’s home—I had grown very attached to all the children—and I started working at a center specialized in children with ASD. I completed my courses and became an ABA therapist, and since then, this is what I’ve been doing, and I don’t think I will give it up anytime soon.

In the same spontaneous way, my “project of the heart,” as I like to call it, began: why not have my own practice where I can work with children in my own style—combining ABA therapy, psychotherapy, personal development groups, and support groups for parents, educators, etc.? I couldn’t do all of this as an employee in a center… so “Therapy with Love” was born—a place where I could combine everything I do best in order to help as many children and adults as possible.

Lavinia Chirvase