Raffaella Torrisi

Specialization:
PhD, federally recognized clinical psychologist and specialist in child and adolescent psychotherapy. I currently hold the position of reference psychologist for psychological and psychotherapeutic follow-ups conducted at the Swiss Center for Pediatric Liver Disease (CSMFE) and within the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG). My clinical specialization also includes perinatal mental health and the care of the parents and the family, with particular expertise in the effects of early potentially traumatic experiences on psychological development and inter‑ and intra‑generational processes within families.


Academic background:
I completed a Bachelor’s degree followed by a Master’s degree in psychology. An initial internship at the University Service of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (SUPEA‑CHUV) led me to pursue a Master of Advanced Studies in clinical psychology, where I developed a strong interest in the study of potentially traumatic experiences and their impact on psychological development. This academic path culminated in 2014 with the completion of a doctoral thesis examining early trauma, stress responses, and their associations with mental health, attachment processes, and oxytocin.

I subsequently led a research team for over ten years, in collaboration with dedicated colleagues, and obtained several research grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF/FNS). My academic career then brought me to Canada, where I worked in Quebec on the neurophysiological mechanisms involved in stress responses to trauma. I later joined the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG), where I was appointed as a clinical psychologist at the Swiss Center for Pediatric Liver Disease. This position marked a significant transition from research to clinical practice, allowing me to integrate my academic expertise into direct work with patients and their families.

Current clinical practice:
I currently divide my clinical and psychotherapeutic activity between my private practice in Lausanne and the Children’s Hospital of the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG). Since 2017, I have been working in the liaison unit of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Service (SPEA), intervening in pediatric somatic care services, particularly in the pediatric intensive care and pediatric surgery units. I have expanded my scope of practice by becoming involved in the training and supervision of medical and nursing teams working in acute care settings, in order to provide dedicated spaces where extremely difficult events experienced in clinical practice can be re‑elaborated. I serve as the reference psychologist for supervision sessions provided to pediatric intensive care and pediatric surgery teams.

My working tool:
Attentive and compassionate listening, aimed at assessing and supporting the specific needs of patients and their families by mobilizing their resources. Strength, courage, and determination are examples of capacities that, although present even in extreme situations, may sometimes remain hidden and difficult to recognize, giving way to physiological, physical, psychological, or relational dysfunctions.

My motivation:
I firmly believe that meeting another person within a protected and dedicated space is one of the key tools that enables us to understand and mobilize our psychological resources when we need them.

My main areas of expertise include:

• Early trauma of various kinds, as well as acute traumatic events.
• Traumatic birth experiences, prematurity, the discovery of severe illnesses at birth or early in development, and child maltreatment—any traumatic event occurring during an individual’s development and within their family context.
• The impact of trauma on emotional regulation and on psychological development, for example on functions involved in managing stress states.
• The impact of trauma from inter‑ and intra‑generational perspectives, such as the effects of a traumatic event on siblings, parents, or the family system as a whole.
• Perinatal mental health, encompassing all events occurring before birth, during pregnancy, and after birth, as well as their impact on changes within the conjugal couple, the parental couple, siblings, and the family more broadly.
• The role of attachment representations in psycho‑affective development.
• Child and adolescent psychopathology: assessment and therapeutic care.