Lena Kastrisiou, Μ.Εd, Psy.D
Phone: 6944 22 60 62
Email: kastrisiou@icloud.com

Lena Kastrisiou, M.Ed., Psy.D. is a licensed Clinical Psychologist and Couples & Family Therapist with over 25 years of clinical experience. Having lived and worked in Chicago for more than 20 years, she has extensive experience helping couples and families from diverse cultural, ethnic, and international backgrounds. Her multicultural perspective allows her to understand the unique challenges faced by cross-cultural couples, international families, and individuals navigating different values, traditions, and relationship expectations. She provides therapy in English and Greek and works with clients worldwide through online sessions, intensive couples therapy, and therapeutic retreats in Santorini.

“I believe that you owe it to yourself to do everything you possibly can to try to save your marriage.
I believe that people have the right to be happy, that children greatly benefit from authentically happy parents, and that the most important goal is to follow the truth… to treat each other honestly… and to do that with love and respect. Staying together is not the ultimate goal for couples therapy. Couples therapy main goal is to help families and couples being happy together and learn to respect and understand each other”.

Couples come into counseling with a variety of issues to address including communication & conflict resolution, sexual & intimacy issues, fighting and anger problems, identity and role conflict, dependence vs. independence, religion, ethics and values, jealousy, parenting, infidelity, money and finances, addiction, family and in-law struggles, step family issues, gender roles, infertility / adoption, and many more. Relationships deteriorate gradually. If you experience the following signs, your relationship is in trouble.

The early signs are:

• Inability to communicate, feeling misunderstood
• Diminished sexual desire
• Fighting almost over every little issue
• Inability and lack of desire to make plans
• Experiencing sadness, anger, despair
• Having an affair
• Decide if you should get married (pre-marital counseling).

Couples counseling can help resolve conflicts and heal wounds. If you are at the point where you consider separation, if you feel sad, or angry, or fear, or resentment, if you do not know how to handle your relationship, it is important to seek professional help so that can decide which way to go.
My belief is that both partners need to understand their needs and evaluate what is keeping them in the relationship. Sometimes, as the years go by, both or one partner becomes too close to the other, or to the children and loose parts of themselves. The relationship is blamed, or the partner is blamed without taking personal responsibility of how the relationship has evolved. If you come in to therapy early, when the problems begin to arise, you have more chances in saving your marriage/relationship. I also believe that intimacy is a key issue in a relationship which is often not dealt with.

It may be time for couples therapy. Couples therapy can help you stay together—or help you take a different path. The goal is not to persuade you in either direction, but to help you gain clarity about your relationship and make thoughtful decisions about your future.When relationships are under stress, it is easy to make decisions based on anger, hurt, fear, or a recent event. Yet decisions about staying together or separating are among the most important choices people make and deserve careful reflection rather than impulsive reactions.

Couples therapy provides a safe space to slow down, understand what is really happening in the relationship, identify recurring patterns, and explore whether the challenges you face can be worked through. For some couples, this leads to renewed connection and a stronger partnership. For others, it leads to the realization that a different path may be healthier.Either outcome can be positive when it is reached thoughtfully. What matters most is making a well-informed decision based on understanding, reflection, and open communication—not simply reacting to a difficult moment.

Intensive Couples or Family Therapy can be scheduled at my office, online, or as part of a therapeutic retreat in Santorini in collaboration with Pink Freud Villas in Santorini. These extended sessions typically last four hours and provide an opportunity to explore relationship and family issues in greater depth than traditional therapy. By the end of the intensive session, people often gain greater clarity, insight, and understanding of the challenges they face, helping them make more informed decisions about the direction they wish to take in their relationships and family life.

I have a unique approach to therapy. While traditional office-based therapy can be highly effective, I believe that meaningful change often occurs when therapy is integrated into people’s everyday lives and takes place outside the structure of a conventional office setting. This belief inspired me to create a unique Couples and Family Retreat experience at Pink Freud Villas in Santorini.

My goal is to help couples and families gain a deeper understanding of themselves, their relationships, and the reasons they chose one another in the first place. Relationships are not static. Over the course of a lifetime, people grow, evolve, face new challenges, and develop new priorities. What worked at one stage of life may no longer work years later.

Unless we take the time to understand and accept these changes—both in ourselves and in our partners—we can become confused, disappointed, or disconnected. We may begin to question our relationship, our choices, and even our own identity. Through therapy, I help couples explore these changes with curiosity, honesty, and respect, creating the opportunity for greater understanding, deeper connection, and healthier decisions about the future.

Couples therapy can help if you are are:

Thinking about getting married, but in some doubt due to communication issues

• On the verge of divorce.
• Wanting to save your marriage.
• Just not fully satisfied with your relationship.
• A couple where one or other partner is afraid of taking the next step to marriage or to having a family. A couple in need of premarital counseling.
• Sometimes people who are meant to be together want to break up just because they don’t know how to be in a relationship. They have a difficult time accepting the way they change. They experience boredom and lack of energy. That’s where I can help.

How to Schedule a Couples or Family Retreat

PINK FREUD VILLAS – SANTORINI

Send a message to express your interest in Intensive Couples Therapy or a Couples/Family Retreat:

WhatsApp: +30 6944 22 60 62

Step 1: Schedule an Initial Consultation

The first session will help determine the most appropriate therapeutic path for your unique situation. Every couple and every family is different, so there is no standard retreat format or generic treatment plan.

Step 2: Create Your Personalized Retreat Plan

A common approach is to begin with online couples or family therapy before your arrival in Santorini. This allows us to identify goals, clarify concerns, and design a retreat experience tailored to your specific needs.

Step 3: Attend Your Retreat in Santorini

Pink Freud Villas are open from May 1st through October 30th.

During your retreat, I will have the opportunity to get to know you and observe your interactions, communication patterns, strengths, and challenges in a more natural environment than is possible in a traditional office setting.

Some therapy sessions, bonding exercises, and therapeutic activities will be scheduled throughout your stay. However, most of your time will be devoted to relaxation, meaningful conversations, shared experiences, and enjoying the beauty and tranquility of Santorini.

The retreat is not designed to keep you in therapy all day. Rather, it is designed to create the space necessary for reflection, connection, and growth. Time spent together enjoying meals, walking through the island, sailing, watching the sunset, or simply relaxing often becomes just as valuable as the formal therapy sessions themselves.

Step 4: Continue the Process After Returning Home

Follow-up online sessions are typically scheduled after the retreat to help integrate insights gained during your stay and support continued growth and positive change in everyday life.

The goal of a Couples or Family Retreat is not simply to solve immediate problems, but to help participants gain deeper insight into themselves, their relationships, and the choices that will best support their future well-being and happiness.

If you are ready to take the first step toward meaningful change, do not wait—send a WhatsApp message now to begin the process and start planning your personalized retreat experience.