ISST – International School of Systemic Therapy
Postgraduate School in Transcultural Systemic Psychotherapy
(authorized under D.M. 11/12/1998 no. 509 – Director's Decree no. 1635 of 28/09/2023, CODE 385)
ISST is a postgraduate school in psychotherapy that integrates complexity theories, systemic perspectives, and anthropological knowledge.
In a rapidly changing world, we train professionals capable of understanding contemporary contexts in their uniqueness and effectively addressing emerging clinical needs.
ISST is both a cultural and clinical laboratory, where psychological, philosophical, medical, and legal disciplines converge. Our goal is to prepare therapists with a broad outlook, updated competencies, and a strong sense of social responsibility.
Training Cultures
Our educational proposal is designed to move beyond identity-based polarizations: accumulating new knowledge is not enough — it is essential to develop epistemological and methodological competencies capable of bringing different perspectives into dialogue. Inspired by Devereux's complementarism, we promote an approach that integrates multiple fields without placing them in opposition, valuing the specific contribution of each viewpoint.
For us, training means opening oneself to new forms of knowledge, singular experiences, and complex contexts, cultivating a sensitivity to details and nuances. The goal is to foster collaboration among professionals and to prepare them to face an increasingly multifaceted reality — one that is rich in challenges, responsibilities, and transcultural scenarios.
Training Paths, Key Concepts, and Theoretical Perspectives
We live in a world marked by continuous transformations: cultural and social changes, new forms of suffering, plural identities, and evolving institutional contexts. For this reason, we believe it is essential to adopt a perspective that does not separate the psychological dimension from the relational, cultural, bodily, linguistic, and historical ones.
Every symptom, every narrative, every clinical experience originates within broader relational and symbolic fabrics that require conceptual and methodological tools capable of listening to their depth.
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Location
Via Daste e Spalenga, 15
24125 Bergamo (BG)
Italy
(Parking and accessibility for people with disabilities available)
The choice of this area and of the Municipality of Bergamo holds symbolic value for us.
Bergamo is also known as the "City of a Thousand Worlds" for its long-standing multicultural character. As the far peripheral outpost of the Republic of Venice, it has always been a crossroads of cultures and a meeting place for diverse peoples. Bergamo is made up of countless differences that come together: an example of industriousness and professional determination, popular entrepreneurship, social vibrancy, open cultural life, and a history oriented toward the future.
Via Daste e Spalenga is a corner of Bergamo that runs alongside the Seriola Morlana, a canal that flows from Nembro down toward the lower Bergamo area. Here, old rural houses still stand, alternating with the imposing presence of large peripheral housing blocks. In the background, Città Alta — resting on the hillside — frames an important project of industrial archaeology redevelopment. At Via Daste e Spalenga 15, a decommissioned power plant has been restored and returned to the community, now hosting social and cultural initiatives.
Among the various public and private services established in this space are a cinema that screens films in their original language, an exhibition area, and numerous social, cultural, and social-enterprise services. It is a redevelopment project designed for social life: a political choice aimed at actively revitalizing peripheral areas, bringing together social inclusion, culture, and entrepreneurship. Daste e Spalenga is a space created to encourage cross-pollination, generate collective change, and project itself into the future without losing sight of its roots and its past.
Within this context, the ISST – International School of Systemic Therapy has found its home and natural place.