Contacts

Dr Giovanna (Gio) Bucci is an HCPC-registered Counselling Psychologist, UKCP-registered Integrative Psychotherapist, and Senior Lecturer on the Doctorate in Counselling Psychology and Psychotherapy (DCPsych) programme at the Metanoia Institute. She holds a PhD in Molecular Medicine applied to Neuroscience from the University of Siena, completed in collaboration with the National Research Council of Italy; an MSc in Psychology from Oxford Brookes University; and a Doctorate in Counselling Psychology and Psychotherapy from the Metanoia Institute. Gio’s academic and clinical career bridges neuroscience, psychology, and psychotherapy. She has conducted quantitative neuroscience research at internationally recognised institutions, including the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and the University of Oxford, contributing to publications in leading peer-reviewed journals such as Nature Communications, Cell, and The Journal of Neuroscience. This scientific background continues to inform her interest in the relationship between neuroscience and psychotherapy. Her move into counselling psychology broadened her research interests towards the ways in which lived experience and psychological wellbeing are shaped by wider social, cultural, and political contexts. Her current work draws primarily on qualitative and mixed-methods approaches to explore language and culture, diversity and inclusion, neurodiversity, and their implications for professional practice. She is also interested in emerging developments in psychotherapy, from online therapeutic work to the different ways in which artificial intelligence may be used within clinical practice. Alongside her academic role, Gio maintains a private practice in Oxford, where she works with adults experiencing trauma, anxiety, depression, relationship difficulties, and life transitions. Her clinical interests include exploring how past experiences continue to shape the present, the role of embodiment in psychological experience, and how insights from neuroscience and psychotherapy can be integrated to support psychological growth and lasting change