Samane AlavianSchema Therapy Practitioner and Relationship Counselor
About Samane Alavian
People are more than a collection of problems.
I am Samane Alavian, a psychologist, therapist, and couples therapist.
Much of my work takes place in a space where people can step away from the speed of daily life, look at what is happening within them, and begin to see their experience more clearly.
For me, therapy is not a set of ready-made answers. It is a shared process of seeing, understanding, and experiencing. Sometimes the concern is clear: a difficult relationship, anxiety, a repeating pattern, or a decision postponed for too long. Sometimes there is only a sense that something is not moving as it should.
In either case, the starting point can be a pause.
Therapeutic perspective
Therapy begins with curiosity for me, not judgment.
I try to create a space where difficult experiences, relationships, needs, and long-standing patterns can be approached with greater safety.
Over the course of my professional work, I have trained and worked with approaches including Reality Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Schema Therapy. Schema Therapy is currently one of the main frameworks informing my work.
The client does not need to carry the names of these approaches into the room. Theory and training should serve a person’s experience. What matters most is finding a shared language for understanding what is happening in your life.
Professional journey
The journey began in a therapy room, and that is where it found meaning.
My professional activity began in the late 1380s in the Iranian calendar.
Alongside therapy, I have worked in education, university teaching, specialist workshops, work with adolescents, couples and families, and the facilitation of learning and reading groups.
These years have changed more than the number of trainings or clients I have met. They have changed how I understand therapy: less as a search for quick answers, and more as the ability to stay with the complexity of human experience.
Education and training
My academic foundation began with education and continued through professional training.
I completed an undergraduate degree in Educational Sciences, Educational Management, at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, followed by a graduate degree in Counseling and Guidance at Khatam higher education institution.
My professional learning has continued through training and workshops in couples therapy, Reality Therapy, ACT, CBT, Schema Therapy, play therapy, parenting, and relationship-focused interventions.
Professional learning has no final stop for me. A therapist must keep learning, reviewing, and remaining attentive to the quality of the work.
Couples work
Sometimes the concern does not belong to one person; it happens between two people.
A significant part of my professional experience has involved couples and relationship concerns.
In couples therapy, my aim is not to find a culprit. We try to understand the cycle between two people, how each person protects themselves, which needs remain unheard, and why conversations meant to bring closeness can sometimes create more distance.
Change can begin when both people can see the cycle they are caught in, rather than defending themselves against one another.
What therapy means here
A therapy session is not a place to perform a prewritten solution.
We may speak about the past, but not only to remain there. We may speak about relationships, family, anxiety, decisions, or difficult experiences, but the goal is not simply to describe them.
Together, we gradually clarify the relationship between past experience, present needs, repeating patterns, and the choices available to you now.
Some changes appear quickly and others take shape more slowly. We do not have to solve everything at once. Sometimes it is enough to begin by seeing more precisely.
Selected professional evidence
- BA in Educational Sciences, Educational Management — Ferdowsi University of Mashhad
- Graduate degree in Counseling and Guidance — Khatam higher education institution
- Selected training in Reality Therapy, ACT, CBT, and Schema Therapy
- Training and professional experience in couples therapy, play therapy, and parenting
- Supervision received from Dr. Ali Sahebi and Dr. Hassan Hamidpour
- Academic participation related to music therapy and child stress
Next step