I am Ioana Preda, a psychologist and Certified Transactional Analyst in Psychotherapy (CTA-P), with 18 years of experience working with adults. I have worked in both Romania and the United Kingdom, within the National Health Service, non-governmental organisations and private practice. I specialise in working with people whose current difficulties are rooted in early relational trauma.
In 2026, I also became a Provisional Teaching and Supervising Transactional Analyst (PTSTA-P). Alongside my clinical work, these roles allow me to support fellow therapists in the important work they do with others.
Before deciding to become a psychologist, I was a violinist. My musical education was imposed by my family from a very early age, and for the first twenty years of my life it brought me more unhappiness than fulfilment. I chose to study psychology primarily to understand myself and to find a way of helping myself. I had never intended to make a career of it. However, my own experience of psychotherapy fascinated me so deeply that I began to explore the possibility of becoming a psychotherapist myself. I could imagine doing this for the rest of my life.
Alongside my university studies, I started exploring different therapeutic approaches independently, looking for the one that resonated most with me. After several years of searching, I chose Transactional Analysis. I was drawn to its combination of depth, clarity and practical application, as well as to the atmosphere of collaboration and equality between trainers and trainees that I experienced throughout my training. Later, I also trained in AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy), a contemporary psychotherapy approach that integrates neurobiology with attachment theory.
This journey has shaped not only what I know, but also who I am and the way I understand people and relate to human suffering. Looking back, I realise that every change I have been able to support in someone else’s life began with a change in my own.
Today, my approach is deeply human, grounded in a profound respect for psychological defence mechanisms and for the reasons they once became essential, together with an enduring curiosity about what may become possible beyond them. I believe that, before trying to change anything, it is important to understand what that part of the person is trying to protect. For me, that is where the possibility of change begins.