About

Education

Zoe Giannousi is a Health Psychologist and Systemic Psychotherapist. She completed her first degree in Psychology at the University of Crete (1998) and her MSc in Health Psychology at the University of Surrey, UK (2000). In 2010, she completed her PhD thesis at the Medical School of the University of Crete with a focus on patients’ and caregivers’ psychological adjustment to cancer. She is working as a psychologist since 2005 and she is a certified systemic psychotherapist by the European Family Therapy Association. .

Training in Systemic Psychotherapy

In parallel to her clinical work, she completed her basic training in Systemic Psychotherapy at the Systemic Institute of Thessaloniki, trainer Dr. Tasos Zisis (2013-2016) and Institute of Family Systemic Counselling and Therapy in Chania, trainer Dr. Achilleas Prokopiou (2005-2011). Both Institutes are certified by the European Family Therapy Association (EFTA).  She continues her training, attending specialised seminars (e.g. anxiety, depression, panic attacks, psychosomatic disorders, couple therapy, obsessive compulsive disorder etc) and receiving constant supervision for her clinical work.

She is a certified systemic psychotherapist from the European Family Therapy Association (EFTA) and a member of the Association of Greek Psychologists, Hellenic Psychological Society and the European Federation of Psychologists’ Association.

Experience in Systemic Psychotherapy

Having worked in departments of Medical Oncology, for almost 15 years (Dept of Medical Oncology, University Hospital of Heraklion, Crete and Bank of Cyprus Oncology Centre, Nicosia) between 2005 and 2019 with a main focus on psychological support of patients and families in the cancer trajectory, always applying the principles and under constant training and supervision in systemic psychotherapy, she worked in collaboration with individuals and families who coped with issues of anxiety, depression, panic attacks, caregiving burden, anxiety and depression in young adults, relationship dysfunctions and couple/family communication, important life events, grief/loss, psychosomatic dysfunctions and also fertility issues after medical treatments.

Participated in multidimensional teams with healthcare providers in a close collaboration, working with issues of burnout and challenging priorities in health care.

Teaching experience

Her position as an Assistant Professor in Clinical Communication at the Medical School of the University of Nicosia, between 2019 and 2023 enhanced her ability to train medical students and other healthcare professionals in clinical communication.

Her teaching experience in higher education started in 2013, and focused mainly on applying health psychology in medical settings, basic principles of health psychology, theories of grief and loss and basic principles of psychology in medicine in the Departments of Medicine and Psychology at the University of Cyprus and the Department of Psychology of the University of Neapolis in Cyprus, in undergraduate and postgraduate programs. Since the academic year 2023-2024, she maintains an external collaboration with the Family Institute of Cyprus, where she provides training for mental health practitioners.

Research Publications, Conferences, Workshops Facilitator.

Her research has been published in peer reviewed journals and she has taken part in numerous national and international conferences with oral presentations, participation in symposiums and workshops. She has organised and facilitated workshops for healthcare professionals, in psychology but also oncology conferences.

You can find her complete CV here.