About
Hello and welcome!
My name is Rada Man. I am a psychologist based in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, with specialized training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca) and Schema Therapy (Schema Therapy Institute, London, UK). I am an accredited facilitator of the Circle of Security parenting course and support group, a facilitator of the Safe & Sound Protocol developed by Stephen Porges, and a member of both the Romanian Board of Psychologists and the Romanian Association of Cognitive and Behavioral Psychotherapies. I am also a Hatha Yoga practitioner and instructor — but most importantly, I am a work in progress.
My mission is to support you within an environment defined by safety, acceptance, and empathy — guiding you go beyond your limits and build a healthier relationship with yourself and with others, through a journey guided with care, authenticity, and an openness to transformation. To this end, I integrate scientifically validated approaches with emotional and somatic regulation techniques, in order to help you develop a deeper understanding of your own experiences and to integrate them through the realignment of your inner perceptions.
If you feel you are ready to embark on a journey of inner discovery, the integration of your life experiences, and the uncovering of your personal potential — I warmly invite you to reach out.
The mentors and professors in psychology who have accompanied me throughout my various training programs have helped me shape a working approach that is both effective and deeply attuned to the needs of those who seek my support.
Even those whom I have never met in person have, through their books, courses, training programs, and conferences, succeeded in conveying both their own wisdom and that of their predecessors, alongside the findings of the most recent scientific research.
University Professors Dr. Mircea Miclea, Dr. Adriana Baban, Dr. Daniel David, and many others, guided my first steps in the journey of understanding the human psyche from the most scientifically rigorous perspective possible. Dr. Alina Rusu, in turn, helped me appreciate the significance and effectiveness of animal-assisted therapy for those who benefit from this particular approach.
Kent Hoffman, co-founder of Circle of Security alongside Bert Powell and Glen Cooper, as well as Camelia Maianu, Joe Coyne, and Caroline Andrew, opened for me a pathway into the profound depths of "Being With" — a quality of presence so essential in any interaction with a person navigating difficult moments. With attachment science at the heart of their research, I came to understand that the authentic Self needs both connection and autonomy in equal measure. When these needs are acknowledged, validated, and supported, we have the opportunity to avoid the construction of protective strategies that, over time, can become barriers to reaching our personal potential — and equally, to fostering a secure attachment style in the relational world of our children, for those who are parents.
John Bowlby, Allan Schore, and Jude Cassidy helped me understand the profound importance of attachment science in the development of a healthy life trajectory — through the emotional and relational template that is shaped during the earliest years of life.
Aaron Beck, Judith Beck, Albert Ellis, Robert Leahy, William Knaus, and many others helped me build a strong foundation in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) — one of the most effective forms of short-term, goal-oriented therapy, with the significant advantage of empowering the individual to become their own therapist. This is achieved through the learning of scientifically validated techniques for restructuring the way we perceive and interpret the events around us — particularly when those events cannot be changed in reality — as well as for managing states of anxiety, depression, chronic stress, burnout, and related challenges.
Jeffrey Young, Janet Klosko, Agnes Sullivan, Eckhard Roediger, and others — through their courses, conferences, and publications — helped me deepen my practice from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy into Schema Therapy: a unified working model that integrates attachment theory, experiential therapies, object relations theory, Gestalt, emotion-focused therapy, and more. This integrative approach serves to help the individual identify which core psychological needs went unmet throughout their life, and to recognize the cognitive defensive schemas that formed as a result of those experiences.
The integration of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) into my client guidance process — developed by Steven C. Hayes and shared in Romania by specialists such as Russ Harris and Rikke Kjelgaard — has helped me support clients in cultivating psychological flexibility. Through learning to accept difficult internal experiences and committing to actions aligned with their personal values, clients are able to reduce the impact of emotional suffering, break free from patterns of avoidance, and build a life that feels coherent, meaningful, and deeply purposeful.
Gabor Maté, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Gaspar Györgyi, Tara Brach, and many other authors have helped me integrate into my client sessions scientifically validated techniques for developing psychological flexibility, compassion, acceptance, mindfulness, the identification of core values, and the recognition of subconscious patterns.
Marshall Rosenberg has been, for me, the cornerstone of assertive communication, the non-conflictual resolution of differences, and the cultivation of relationships grounded in compassion, mutual respect, and cooperation.
Peter Levine, Bessel van der Kolk, Stephen Porges, Pat Ogden, Deb Dana, Janina Fisher and others have, through their work, guided me in completing my approach to the processing of painful and traumatic experiences and the healing of the Self — through techniques centered on the physiological processing of trauma and dissociation, drawing upon the fight/flight/freeze/fawn/faint model and a range of complementary psychological techniques.
The integration of the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model — developed by Richard Schwartz — has helped me approach the various "parts" of a client's personality, whether wounded and vulnerable child parts, or protective or critical parts, in an empathic and non-judgmental manner. Through this approach, clients learn to access their authentic Self: an internal resource of calm, clarity, and compassion. This process facilitates the integration of life experiences, the reduction of inner conflict, and the development of a more balanced and harmonious relationship with both oneself and others.
My professional journey has also been deeply influenced and enriched by my personal life, particularly when I encountered the profound challenge of parenthood. The numerous books and conferences on parenting by authors and trainers such as Kent Hoffman, Daniel Siegel, Oana Moraru, Janet Lansbury, Jude Pawel, Alfie Kohn, and Rosemary Clark have served as both a foundation and a guiding light through one of the most intense and fulfilling experiences of my life.
Book a session
Should you feel I can accompany you on your journey of Self-discovery and healing, I warmly invite you to reach out.
