Piero Stanley Pirro

Supervisor: Professor Barbara Giangrasso, PsyD

This was my first semester of my postgraduate internship which I carried out at the Department of Health Psychology, University of Florence. During this internship I actively participated in a research project concerning Mindfulness meditation, during which I collected the relevant data, and studied the wide research literature on the subject. 

Duration in months: 6 months

Supervisor: Dr Valentina Silvani, PsyD

This was my second semester of my postgraduate internship, which I carried out in the Psychiatric Ward of the Villa dei Pini Clinic. During this period I closely observed the work done in a psychiatric clinic, I participated as an  observer in meetings and discussions about the patients and received constant and careful supervision during the entire period of my internship. I administered diagnostic tests such as the MMPI-2 and the MMSE.

Duration in months: 6 months

RESILIENCE TRAINING COURSES

I have created and taught a 5 week course to promote Resilience in the face of the growing economic, cultural and social crisis in Italy. Within the context of the course I used a battery of techniques such as value clarification, stress management, negative emotions management, cultivation of positive emotions, and consolidation of practice for lifelong growth. At the beginning of the course and at its end the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-Risc) was administered to measure the changes experienced by participants. 

Work with clients is based mainly on Stress Management, Psychoeducation and general Psychological Support for non clinical populations. When clinical cases are met, I proceed with CBT and or Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy interventions effective for the particular psychological issues that have been presented. 

RESILIENCE AND STRESS MANAGEMENT FOR VOLUNTARY WORKERS IN THE AVIS OF REGGIO EMILIA

Following what are now well tested guidelines I have illustrated the essentials of Resilience and Stress Management both theoretically and with a practical evidence-based exercise. 

STRESS AND ANXIETY MANAGEMENT FOR MEDICAL SCHOOL ENTRY EXAMINATION

I have devised a short protocol to help young students to manage both stress and anxiety before their medical school entry examination. The techniques I have included are both psychophysiological such as breathing exercises, and based on reflection, as well as mental experiments, aimed to create a distance between the observer and the objects arising in consciousness (aka cognitive defusion or distancing). The last part of the protocol was designed to stimulate the students' motivation and then on the realization of such motivation in specific and productive action. 

I devised a Mindfulness Based Intervention for volunteers at the Associazione Itaca in Florence. This intervention aimed to highlight awareness of how people communicate and to introduce small changes after a period of careful self-observation. In the context of this course I taught meditation, assertiveness, negotiation and self-compassion skills. 

I gave a lecture entitled: "Psychopathology: different perspectives" regarding the different perspectives from medicine, psychology, philosophy and history regarding psychopathology, showing how in time the concept has changed, what implications those changes had on societal wellbeing, to finish with a reflection on the future trends in the field. 

Supervisor: Dr Silvia Quercioli, PsyD

The first two years of specialization internship with the Florence Center for Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CTCC), I did at the Department of Psychiatry at the Careggi Hospital in Florence. In this time I accrued 300 hours of time with patients as a Psychotherapist in training and in supervision. 

ADVERSITY AND RESILIENCE: LIVING THROUGH UNCERTAIN TIMES

I gave a lecture on what I call three paths to jumpstart our resilience in times of great uncertainty, such as the ones we're living because of the pandemic and the measures applied to contain it.

Resilience training on the management of extreme negative emotions for the Police Force of Bologna.

I was asked to lecture members of the Civil Defence and the Police in five webinars on Resilience Training and Stress Management. All of these lectures have been experiential in nature and practice oriented. 

I have been working on a project for Sport performance with young athletes at the Florence Tennis Club 1898. The techniques used are currently designed to help these athletes to develop their full potential. It is recognized, for instance, that when playing, the athlete is playing on two fields at the same time: the actual field against their adversary, and another field against themselves. The Mental Training addresses issues on both of these playing fields by building on the already present resources of the athlete and enhancing performance. 

This lecture regarded the latest evidence pertaining Mindfulness in general and meditation techniques in psychology in particular. I argued that while the word "meditation" is an umbrella term, it implies in western culture a reasoning, therefore only some practices, such as, among others, the Analytic Meditation can be rightly called meditations, while the focusing on one's breath a simple attention reorientation technique. Having done this distinction I proceeded enumerating and describing the most relevant techniques followed by their practical application. 

I lectured future nurses at the Florence University of Human Sciences on the basic blocks of communicating with psychiatric patients in the hospital environment. I talked about the difficulty of using a straight forward diagnostic medical model to mental health disorders using examples given from history as well as present evidence. After this premise, I delved into the most agreed upon classifications found in the DSM-V and the ICD-11. Finally I talked about the fundamentals of communication, ending with a practical exercise. 

Supervisor: MD Pietrini, PsyD

The last year of my specialization internship with the Florence Center for Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CTCC), I am doing at the ASL Toscana Centro in Florence.

Six lectures for the Police Force in Bologna about the mechanisms of stress, resilience and individual as well as group techniques for managing stress and Assertive Communication. 

25 hours over 5 days teaching the Course: "Resilience and Well-Being Strengths for Teachers" to Teachers coming from all over Europe. 

The Course was done in English. 

Courses on Stress Management as well as Intense Negative Emotions Management and Social Anxiety for Public Speaking devised for students of the Russell-Newton High School.

Courses on Stress Management as well as Intense Negative Emotions Management and Social Anxiety for Public Speaking devised for students of the Leonardo da Vinci High School.

I am supervising Interns from across the USA at my Study in Florence. 

We discuss the current research literature on Interpersonal Neurobiology of Psychotherapy, CBT informed techniques as well as psychopathology, epistemology, and other tools of the trade at the clinician's disposal. 

We have also devised a questionnaire to give to patients pertaining the use of drugs, substance use, the amount and quality of sleep, sex and exercise as well as other leisure activities. 

Finally we organized a course pertaining to the management of difficult people, boundary setting and negotiation. 

I have assisted the conduction of a post-suicide debriefing for a 10 people group of police personnel in the city of Livorno, Italy. 

This ancillary role was functional to understand how debriefing post-emergency is used with the police and armed forces personnel and in view of future interventions where I would be conducting the groups.  

Teaching in a three hours long webinar on the diagnosis and treatment of Social Anxiety Disorder with Imagery Enhanced Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. 

Teaching a 4 hour long course for airport personnel that has already faced, and may face future airport emergencies.  It comprised individual and group decompression tools for stress and effective communication during an airport emergency situation.

I entered a rapid response team of Psychologists that will be called in case of lethal traffic accidents to give Psychological Support and Prevention to both the involved families of the victim(s) and the Police Personnel that were exposed to the accident's aftermath. 

I led training and experiential groups on burnout defining what it is and how it can be identified, both by the person experiencing it, as well as the signs to correctly identify it in colleagues, for the Police Force of Bologna, Italy.

10 hours course of a larger course on honing communication skills in order to form a group of Peers within the Police Force that can help their colleagues in their dealing with stressful or traumatic work-related events.

Courses on Stress Management as well as Intense Negative Emotions Management and Social Anxiety for Public Speaking devised for students of the Empoli "Virgilio" High School.

After a deadly motor accident that involved the members of a squad of the Local Police of Florence I was called in to conduct a three-hours long debriefing to allow for the different narrations of the event to be witnessed by the others as well as their subjective feelings and the aftermath of their own behaviour under stress. Of particular interest the recount of the notice of death to the family of the victim and the emotional difficulty of dealing with such a burdensome task. 

In the beautiful Archbishop's Seminary of Florence, Italy, I gave a lecture entitled: "Meditation: What Can Science Tell Us Today?" It was a two hours long introductory meeting on Mindful Mediation, going through what science today can say about contemplative practices, cautions for use, and potentials. At the end I led two short meditations that are fundamental for the practice of Mindfulness. 

This was the first lecture in Italy that trained Local Police Inspectors in active listening, tactical empathy, and assertiveness skills, during the first session, and work-groups management and leadership styles during the second.  

I lectured 25 students of Psychiatry on some of the most evidence-based CBT's basic tools, after briefly describing the history and the philosophical roots of the ideas that both currents: behaviourism and cognitivism took from. This was meant as a very first introduction to CBT, but, at the same time, giving tangible tools to use in one's practice. 

I have been conducting groups of around fifteen local police force officers to talk about adversity and the psychological tools and strategies to deal with it. Strategies for self-care and quality of life in the face of high-impact, critical occurrences in the line of duty were also discussed and practiced in session.

In this lecture I talked about the present state of mental health globally as well as in Italy. The scientific literature pertaining Meditation in general and Mindfulness Meditation in particular. The cons, pros and caveats of a constant and moderate practice. I talked about what Meditation means, subdividing twenty practices into seven groups, and finally the lecture ended with a short training session. 

I lectured in a symposium titled: Therapeutic Intervention in Crisis Areas: from Psychological First Aid to Trauma Management. 

As a Psychologist for the Civil Defence, I spoke about the Psychological First Aid (PFA), its history, what it is, what it isn't and why it is important. I concluded saying that PFA is going to have a pivotal role in directing the efforts of disaster relief given the increased uncertainty surrounding the global order built after the second world war and the political underpinnings of the International Law and its Institutions. 

Title: Psychology of Communication: Emotions and Conflicts in the Condominium Microcosm, Communication Styles, Active Listening and Assertive Communication

I talked for four hours about the psychology of communication, within the context of difficult conversations. Usually these conversations pertain to end-of-life conversations in the healthcare field, but their general principles may be of use in other areas, for instance in the managing of communication within a conflictual condominium of owners. 

As it is usual I talked about: active listening, and the correct use of empathy, which are the nuts and bolts of the process. I added to this lecture the psychology for writing effective short-written-messages: that is emails and short text messages for which, in organizations, there can be yet no good alternative. 

I organized an hour long Mindfulness Based Intervention to facilitate the coming into contact with the works of art in the art show: "The Art of Doubt" organized by museologist and professor Maurizio Vanni as well as gallerist Ilaria Magni. We talked about thoughts and consciousness. At the end of a small introduction I conducted twenty people in a series of Mindfulness exercises. 

I participated as a lecturer in the conference: 

"Museology and Social Responsibility" at the Pilotta Monumental Complex in Parma, Italy

In my intervention I spoke about the theoretical basis of the Mindful Museum, how certain ways of paying attention through the exposure to art can facilitate a contacting of the core of experience itself. 

After that, participants were shown to works of art after having undergone a focusing of attention procedure which I conducted. 

I lectured for an overall 48 hours long course on Stress Management, Psychological First Aid and Operational Debriefing method for the Modena and Bologna Prisons' Penitentiary Police. Stress management and communication in crisis situations were discussed, analyzed and simulated. 

I had the honour of speaking for the women of the WIN network in Florence, the topic was: “Who’s Really in Control? The Science, Myths and Possibilities of Hypnosis”. The lecture lasted for three hours, including an Ask Me Anything, a long Q&A session and a demonstration of hypnosis with a preselected volunteer. 

Within the conference entitled: "Cultural Welfare and Social Prescribing: Health and Well-Being in Museums", I spoke about: "Mindfulness Museum: Museum and Therapy", illustrating the work done at the Pilotta Museum in Parma and the chapter of the book that I had written. 

I participated at the SITCC conference entitled: "Violence: Our Time, Our Response" with a Poster presenting a single-case study entitled: "Violence as communication, ‘being bad’, young and Māori: the case of Koa" where I discuss the cultural factors that helped in conducting a therapy for a young man with anger issues and a history of violence.