I am Ramona Carmen Cotruș.
I hold space for people who want to reconnect with themselves.
I work with people who have carried a great deal, survived in their own ways, adapted, stayed silent, loved, lost, remained in painful relationships, or reached a point where they no longer recognize themselves.
In therapy, I look beyond the symptom. I see the whole person: body, story, emotions, relationships, shame, values, courage, meaning, and the ways life has asked too much of them.
With gentleness, and a sense of direction.
Your safety matters to me, and so does helping you see a clearer way forward.
You may be arriving with a story you are tired of explaining.
Perhaps you have not been believed, or have been rushed, judged, or made to doubt yourself. Perhaps you have learned to look as though you are coping, even when everything inside feels too much.
In this space, I want you to be able to breathe.
To feel seen and supported with professional care. To speak your truth, understand what has taken shape within you, and leave with more hope than you arrived with.
You may see only your exhaustion. I see how much you have carried.
I see what it has cost you to get here. I see how you have changed to survive. I see the resilience you have developed and the ways you have learned to keep going.
You remain the expert on your own life. I am not here to take your place, tell you who you are, or map out your life for you. I bring presence, knowledge, questions, and techniques suited to you.
Sometimes I will remind you to breathe. At other times, we will find words together for what hurts. Step by step, we can develop a sense of the path towards how you want your life to feel.
Why people choose to work with me
Because they need someone who truly listens, and a psychotherapist who can help maintain a sense of direction when the story becomes difficult.
Safety
I do not push or rush you. I do not add blame to trauma. We work at a pace that respects your nervous system.
Clarity
We seek to understand what keeps repeating, what it means, the purpose it once served, and what can gradually change.
Presence
I want you to feel not only heard, but met as a person — with attention, humanity, and respect for what you have carried.
Knowledge
I work with trauma, emotions, relationships, the body, shame, guilt, loss, boundaries, and the ways the past is still felt in the present.
Respect for values
I take account of dignity, equality, gender roles, power dynamics, and the ways people have been taught to stay silent, carry too much, or make themselves smaller.
Direction
It matters to me that we do more than revisit your story. We look for practical steps, resources, meaning, and freer ways of living.
The ultimate aim of my work is not simply to make a symptom disappear.
It is to help a person live with a broader sense of well-being: greater safety in their body, more tolerance of uncertainty and distress, clearer relationships, direction, self-care, and enjoyment of life.
To be less overwhelmed when strong emotions arise.
To feel less need to control everything in order to be safe.
To stay present even when life is not perfect.
To know how to reconnect with themselves, listen to their needs, and choose their next steps more consciously.
For me, healing does not mean becoming a person without fear, sadness, or doubt. It means having more resources when those feelings arise. Being able to feel without abandoning yourself, and to choose without being guided only by the past. Having more room, in your body and your life, for calm, meaning, joy, and desire.
My experience has brought me close to difficult stories.
I have worked with people who have experienced sexual abuse, emotional violence, control, divorce, betrayal, loss, abusive relationships, anxiety, shame, anger, guilt, and periods when life felt overwhelming.
I work with women, men, parents, expats, and people navigating different cultures, languages, and senses of belonging. Beyond the issue they bring, I am interested in the individual in front of me.
I do not work with a label. I work with a person.
I am interested in what you are experiencing, how it feels in your body, the meaning you have given events, and the ways you have coped in order to keep going. Some once protected you. Some have a cost today. We look at them with respect.
Education, training, and practice.
I have a background in psychology and training in psychotherapy. I am authorized to practice as a psychologist and psychotherapist.
I continue my professional development through study, practice, supervision, professional reading, and ongoing work on trauma, relationships, emotions, attachment, abuse, and healing.
The foundations of my work
This is where SafeSpace began.
SafeSpace grew from a wish to bring together psychotherapy, writing, emotional education, and resources that can help people reconnect with themselves with greater clarity.
My books, workbooks, quizzes, and materials are created with respect for human dignity, gender equality, safer relationships, and healing. I write for real people, not perfect people.
Books and resources written with respect.
My resources draw on psychology, but use warm, clear, accessible language. At their heart is the same idea: every person deserves dignity, even when they are hurt, confused, angry, exhausted, or in the midst of change.
You can start with what feels possible now.
Sometimes the beginning is a session. Sometimes it is a quiz, a book, a message, or a resource you read quietly. What matters is that you no longer have to be alone with everything you have carried.
If you feel you have arrived here for a reason
You can begin simply. With a message, a question, a first session, a quiz, or a book. Sometimes the first step is choosing a space where you no longer have to carry everything alone.
Choose your first step
If you would like us to work together, you can write to me. If you would prefer to start on your own, you can explore the SafeSpace resources.