Malgorzata Zolek, MPsy, LMHC, LMFT, CASAC, ICADC, CHt

Everyone who has been inquired for reasons of leaving homeland has different story to tell. Even though we all came different ways and from different life paths, what all immigrants have in common is their strong desire to change and  hope for better life than the one they left behind.  Often courage to make such a decision is not enough to find self in the new and unknown world that not only speaks different language but is also driven by different rules and principals then the one we have always know and understood. A wish that the very thing we wanted to run away from is going to disappear just by changing environment is a common illusion that people often fall into.

Immigration gives each of us a chance for victory but whether we became winners’ depends more on us than the external circumstances.

Read the article in Polish…. It will be translated into English soon.

Even thought it is not rare that men find their ways to my office, it is much easier for women to ask for help. Old saying teaches: “You can’t turn off the darkness, but you can turn on the light”. Sometimes it is very difficult to move around in the darkness. Someone has to turn on the light for you.

Regardless of social and cultural stereotypes that often lock up a man in the cage of suffering, hi is the one who has to decide whether he wants to stay in or find his way to freedom. Reaching out for help could be a natural move for some especially at times when the road to freedom is too challenging and risk of falling into isolation, addictions, or superficial relationships are tempting coping strategies. The man who do chose them condemn themselves to life of emptiness, loneliness, and confusion.

Read the article in Polish…. It will be translated into English soon.

Psychotherapy does not help to change the world we live in. Psychotherapy can help to change our inner world. It depends on us what use of our experiences we make: whether we allow them to destroy us or we utilize them in our way to self-growth.

Read the article in Polish…. It will be translated into English soon.

Every extremely stressful experience that leaves emotional and psychological injury is human’s psyche is called trauma. Fear of repetition of the injury is common barrier that affects person’s capability to build healthy relationships, preventing from experiencing true intimacy, sometimes for entire life.

Read the article in Polish…. Translation into English is in progress.