Francesca Balestra, Ph.D.

University of Parma, Department of Arts and Literature, History and Social Studies – Unit of Psychology,
Borgo Carissimi 10, 43100 Parma
Bologna Center for Family Therapy,
via Galliera 11, 40121 Bologna

Email: francesca.balestra@nemo.unipr.it
Phone: +39 334 10 60 464
Web:http://www.cavi.unipr.it/

Francesca Balestra is a post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Psychology, University of Parma, Italy. Besides, she also works in private practice as a family and couple therapist, and has affiliation with the Bologna Family Therapy Center where she collaborates in research and training activities.

Her research interests are focused on communicative and interactive processes. Overall, she is interested in examining the process of co-construction that takes place between therapist and clients in psychotherapeutic conversations. In conducting these investigations she embraces constructionist and dialogical approaches, and adopts qualitative methodologies based on micro-analysis of interaction. She believes that process research can enhance the competence of psychotherapists to analyze the process of construction as it unfolds during therapeutic conversations, and develop therapists’ abilities in promoting generative and transformative conversations.