Giorgos Kissas

He was born in Athens in 1959. He is married and has a daughter. He studied Theology (1981), Philosophy (1987), and Psychology (2001) at the University of Athens, where he also completed his doctoral dissertation (1996). From 1991 to 1996, as a postgraduate scholar of the State Scholarships Foundation (IKY) and a doctoral candidate in the Psychology department of the University of Athens, he attended seminars (in counseling, statistics, and gender relations), participated in the team that organized the Student Counseling Center, which has been operating since 1991 in the Psychology department of the School of Philosophy at the University of Athens, and taught the tutorial course "Psychology of Communication" for four years. His involvement in the field of psychotherapy began in 1982 (until 1989) as a member of a self-awareness group with a psychodynamic orientation at the Youth Center of the Archdiocese of Athens and simultaneously as a trainee (1982-1984) in the "Counseling and Pastoral Psychology" program at the Red Cross Hospital in Athens organized by the Archdiocese of Athens. Concurrently, in the same context (1989-1993), and under individual supervision, he gained considerable experience as an individual therapist and group therapy coordinator. Subsequently, in 1986-1987 and 1992-1993, he participated as a trainee in introductory psychotherapy seminars at the Open Psychotherapeutic Center and the Hellenic Society of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, respectively. During the period 1993-1996, he completed his therapy and training in systemic psychotherapy at the Laboratory for the Investigation of Human Relations. Since 1996, he has collaborated with the Laboratory for the Investigation of Human Relations as a psychotherapist for individuals (adolescents and adults), families, and groups. Additionally, from 2003 to 2007, he was an instructor in the two-year educational program "Skills and Interventions in Systemic Counseling" and also served as the training coordinator for the aforementioned program from 2006 to 2007. From the academic year 2007-08 to the present, he has been an instructor and supervisor in the four-year "Systemic Therapy Training Program" (P.E.S.TH.). Since 1982, he has served as a Religious Studies teacher in public secondary education. During these years, and after six months of further training in School Vocational Guidance and Counseling from the Department of Special Education and Psychology of the Faculty of Primary Education at the University of Athens, he taught School Vocational Guidance in the schools where he served. He resigned from public education in the summer of 2009. From 2003 to 2008, he participated in the organization and operation of the Family Care Center of the Metropolis of Syros. He has participated in numerous conferences, with presentations, participation in discussions and symposia, and has published his writings on psychotherapy and the relationship between psychotherapy and theology. He is a member of the following associations: European Association of Psychotherapy (EAP), European Family Therapy Association (EFTA), Hellenic Society of Systemic Therapy (ELESYTH), Hellenic Psychological Society (ELPSE), and Hellenic Society of Counseling and Orientation (ELESYP).