CARE · EXPERT INSIGHT

Psychotherapy is not only for the moments when life becomes difficult.

On support, understanding ourselves and why we do not have to wait until things become unbearable.

NIKOLINA ĐURIĆ LUMOS

ABOUT NIKOLINA

A space where children, adolescents and their families can be heard.

My name is Nikolina Đurić and I am the owner of Lumos, a child and adolescent psychotherapy practice. I am a child and adolescent integrative psychotherapist and a social worker, and my professional experience also includes working with children in residential care for children without adequate parental care.

Today, through psychotherapy, I try to create a space in which children, adolescents and their families can receive support, understand themselves better and find their own ways of coping with life's challenges.

Psychotherapy is not reserved only for crisis.

I believe the importance of psychotherapy extends far beyond childhood and adolescence.

We all go through periods when it is difficult to understand our own feelings, relationships or decisions. Sometimes experiences from the past weigh on us, sometimes we encounter the same patterns again and again, and sometimes we simply feel that we have become distant from ourselves.

Psychotherapy can help us understand what is happening within us, recognise our needs and boundaries, develop a more compassionate relationship with ourselves and build better relationships with others.

Nikolina Đurić · Lumos

THE THERAPEUTIC RELATIONSHIP

We are not given ready-made answers.

Psychotherapy is not a place where we receive ready-made answers or instructions on how we should live. It is a space where, through a safe therapeutic relationship, we can explore our experiences and gradually find answers that make sense specifically for us.

“It is as if we have to wait until things become unbearable before allowing ourselves to seek support. But what if we do not have to wait?”

The stigma is still there.

Psychotherapy is still accompanied by stigma. There is still a belief that it is only for people who have reached their limit, that we should solve our problems on our own or that seeking help means we are not strong enough.

It is as if we have to wait until things become unbearable before allowing ourselves to seek support.

Psychotherapy does not have to be the last option when we no longer know what to do.

It can also be a space for personal growth, understanding our patterns better, reflecting on relationships and making decisions that are more aligned with what matters to us.

Children do not have to wait either.

Children do not have to wait until their difficulties become severe before having the opportunity to be heard and understood.

Sometimes what adults see as disobedience, withdrawal or an overreaction may actually be communicating something the child does not yet know how to express in words.

That is why it is important to create a space where we do not have to look for a solution immediately, but can first try to understand what is happening.

SELF-CARE

We do not have to have all the answers.

Sometimes it is enough to feel that we want to understand ourselves, our relationships or the way we live a little better.

NIKOLINA'S MESSAGE Taking care of ourselves does not begin only when we can no longer cope. It can also begin when we decide that we deserve to know ourselves better.

Nikolina Đurić at Lumos

Psychotherapy as one way of caring for ourselves.

I would like us to speak about psychotherapy more often as one of the ways we can care for ourselves, rather than something we turn to only when we can no longer manage on our own.

We do not have to have all the answers. We do not have to know exactly what we want to change.

Sometimes it is enough to feel that we want to understand ourselves, our relationships or the way we live a little better.

EXPERT INSIGHT

Nikolina Đurić

Child and adolescent integrative psychotherapist, social worker and owner of Lumos, a child and adolescent psychotherapy practice. Her professional experience also includes working with children in residential care for children without adequate parental care.

We do not have to wait until it becomes unbearable.

Psychotherapy can be a space for support, understanding, personal growth and getting to know ourselves better — before the moment when we feel that we can no longer manage on our own.

Text and expert contribution: Nikolina Đurić · Lumos.
Editorially shaped for MOVE&TRY while preserving the author's message and substance.