Avraam Alichanidis - Psychologist AUTH
Psychologist Avraam Alichanidis was born and raised in Thessaloniki. In 2002, after graduating from the 4th Comprehensive High School of Kalamaria, he entered the Faculty of Philosophy, Psychology Department, of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where he completed his studies.
In view to pursuing the vocation of psychologist-psychotherapist, and considering practical experience on various aspects of everyday life as a prerequisite, he has worked for several years in different positions of responsibility, acquiring valuable human experience.
Among other things, he founded or co-founded 3 companies, one in the sector of retail sales, one in the sector of business consulting, and one in the sector of education. The first one failed, the second one has attracted interest and has been taken over, whereas the third one continues to grow.
Against this background, in 2016, he attended the educational course “HBX Disruptive Strategy” of Harvard University, USA. The course was created by eminent professors of the Harvard Business School, leaded by Clayton Christensen with subject the active learning environment based on the typical learning model, on the basis of HBS cases.
For more than 20 years, he has been a professional water polo player, participating in top Greek associations, being at the same time an international player as a member of all National Teams of Greece. Given his own particular competition and, notably, personal traits, he had the honour and responsibility to have been the captain of three different teams of the Greek Men’s Water Polo League (A1 Ethniki), as early as at the age of 18 years old. He completed his long sports career with many distinctions, such as first scorer in various national and international competitions, and Champion of Greece and Europe.
He has been Special Scientific Associate - Psychologist to the Silver Olympic Men’s National Water Polo Team, helping it to win major distinctions. Remarkably, during his term, our National Team was the only team to step up to the podium of three consecutive top competitions (Olympic Games and two World Championships).
He specialises mainly in four axes of Psychology:
- neurodevelopmental disorders, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD);
- counselling for high-level athletes and their parents, both in team and individual sports, with the aim, on the one hand, to mentally prepare the athletes and, on the other hand, to maximise their performance and their smooth adaption to life after sports. These include, inter alia, winners of Olympic, World and European Medals and Titles;
- Occupational Exhaustion Syndrome (Burn-out) and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and
- business and organisation consulting on the assessment and sound management of human resources, culture development and, of course, the most efficient cooperation between members/departments/directions, with the ultimate goal to optimise the function of the enterprise concerned.
Skills and Fields of Specialisation
As a specialised psychologist, he masters the skills of communication, active listening and interaction, and he has long experience in issues involving the above-mentioned axes, as well as interpersonal relations with communication and behaviour problems, emotional and anxiety disorders, personal development issues, self-awareness, self-confidence and self-esteem issues, existential anxieties, phobias, panic attacks, stress management, psychosomatic problems, vocational guidance, diagnosis and treatment of learning disabilities.
Since 2020, he has been working with children, teenagers, parents and adults, providing mental health and counselling services in his private practice, at 91A, Papafi Street, Thessaloniki.