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Contexts of intervention
Experience in clinical, military and community settings, with work in psychological assessment and support.
Clinical Psychologist · Mentalization · Parenting
Francisco
Harfouche
Welcome to a safe harbour to begin your journey of self-awareness, care and reflection.
Online sessions
About me
Professional
profile
A synthesis of my path, interests and way of thinking about psychological intervention.
Sessions
Sessions in Portuguese and Spanish
🇵🇹 Portuguese🇪🇸 Spanish
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Clinical focus
Attention to occupational health, parental conflict, psychosocial vulnerability, anxiety, depression and personality functioning.
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Approach
Practice informed by mentalization: understanding thoughts, emotions, intentions and relationships before reaching conclusions.
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Action research
Portuguese action-research network in parenting programmes and mentalization-based intervention.
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Recognition
Top 5 in the Junior Professional Year Award — Ordem dos Psicólogos Portugueses, 2024.
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Clinical supervision
Practice with regular group clinical supervision — part of a commitment to the quality and ethics of psychological support.
Before the first contact
Information for clients
Some practical guidance so the contact request is clear, reserved and appropriate to the clinical context.
First session
The first session is dedicated to understanding the reason for contact, the current context, and what you expect from the process. It is also an opportunity to clarify any questions and assess whether this is the right fit.
Duration and format
Sessions are typically conducted online via video call, lasting approximately 50 minutes. Availability, frequency and practical arrangements are agreed individually.
Confidentiality
Psychological support is guided by professional and ethical duties of confidentiality. Legal and ethical limits apply, for example when there is serious risk to the person or to others.
Current positions
Current work
Two active contexts of intervention — community and institutional — reflecting the central areas of clinical practice.
Programa Parental Lighthouse
Associação Portuguesa de Terapia Familiar e Comunitária (APTeFC)
Facilitation of the Lighthouse Parenting Programme with former couples in the context of court proceedings related to parental responsibilities. The intervention takes place in two parallel groups, allowing work separately with each member of the former couple.
ParentingFamilyParental responsibilitiesAPTeFC website →Naval Military Psychology
Centro de Medicina Naval (CMN) | Marinha Portuguesa
Work in naval military psychology, with intervention in institutional settings, occupational health, psychological support and coordination with multidisciplinary teams.
Occupational HealthMilitaryMultidisciplinaryMarinha Portuguesa website →
Internal dialogue
Internal dialogue begins.
Duality is part of inner life.
Bringing what happens inside into the open helps recognise patterns and needs.
The aim is not to eliminate conflict, but to interpret and integrate it.
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This way of thinking about behavior is at the core of the clinical approach.
Learn about mentalizationMentalization
Psychoeducation
and clinical approach
A way of thinking about behaviour without reducing the person to a symptom or a single explanation.
“Seeking, in our mind, to build a faithful representation of who the other person is”
What it is
The capacity to interpret behaviour.
To mentalize is to seek to interpret behaviour in the light of intentional mental states: thoughts, emotions, desires, fears, intentions, needs, fantasies, beliefs.
When it is lost
Emotional activation suspends reflection.
In states of intense emotional activation, the mind tends to lose this capacity: quick certainties, rigid readings and impulsive responses emerge.
In clinical practice
Recovering curiosity as a therapeutic tool.
The work involves recovering curiosity, distinguishing facts from interpretations and building more useful hypotheses about oneself, the other and the relationship.
Lighthouse Parenting
Parenting,
attachment
and curiosity.
The Lighthouse Parenting Programme is a mentalization-based intervention developed to support parenting in complex relational contexts.
The central aim is to help parents occupy a lighthouse position: a presence that illuminates, guides and offers a point of reference, even when the relationship goes through periods of greater tension or emotional storm.
The programme uses sea metaphors — such as the lighthouse beam, navigation, storm and safe harbour — to make reflection on needs, emotions, behaviour and relationship repair more accessible.
- Delivered in 12- or 20-session versions, adapted to the framework and needs of the group.
- Conducted in a group format, creating a structured space for reflection, sharing and learning among parents.
- Also includes individual sessions, allowing specific aspects of each family and each parenting journey to be addressed.
Current application with APTeFC
Lighthouse Parenting with former couples in a judicial context
Within APTeFC, facilitation of the Lighthouse Parenting Programme is delivered with former couples involved in court proceedings related to parental responsibilities.
In situations of separation or divorce, conflict can become an intense source of suffering for parents, making communication and parental decision-making more difficult. When children and young people become involved in that conflict, the risk of emotional tension and responses centred on dispute increases, rather than on the relational and developmental needs of the children.
Psychological work seeks to foster reflection, differentiation between marital conflict and parenting, and safer forms of communication centred on the children.
Reference: Ordem dos Psicólogos Portugueses. (2025/2026). Intervenção Psicológica em Situações de Separação/Divórcio.
Organisational mentalizing
Teams,
relationship
and resilience.
In high-demand workplace teams, the quality of work depends not only on technical skills, but also on the capacity to maintain curiosity, openness and flexibility towards the behaviour of others.
Mentalization for teams promotes the capacity to reflect on thoughts, emotions, intentions and needs — at individual, relational and organisational levels. This approach helps reduce rushed interpretations, improve communication, strengthen cohesion and recover the capacity to think in moments of stress.
- Mentalizing the self: recognising internal states, limits, stress and response patterns.
- Mentalizing the team: understanding relational dynamics, communication, trust and cohesion.
- Mentalizing clients/service users: interpreting needs, behaviours and difficulties without reducing the person to the observed behaviour.
- Mentalizing in context: understanding how pressure, organisational culture, leadership and institutional demands influence the team's responses.
When a team faces a stressful situation, the natural tendency is to interpret the event more rigidly — centred on threat, error, blame or conflict. Mentalization introduces a reflective pause: it allows automatic interpretations to be questioned, other possibilities to be considered, and a more flexible reading of the situation to be recovered.
This capacity to return to mentalizing after a rupture — whether a conflict, an error, a difficult communication or an emotionally intense situation — is a central component of team resilience.
References
- Fonagy, P., Luyten, P., Allison, E., et al. (2017). What we have changed our minds about: Part 1. Borderline personality disorder as a limitation of resilience. Borderline Personality Disorder and Emotion Dysregulation, 4, 11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40479-017-0061-9
Operational context
Psychological readiness
In a military context, psychological readiness contributes to assessing and strengthening cognitive, emotional and behavioural resources in the face of operational demands, mission-related stress and the impact of family separation.
Intervention focuses on mental health literacy, early monitoring of operational stress, motivation, unit cohesion and psychological preparation for operational performance.
- Leadership
- Operational stress
- Force morale
Morale is a central dimension of operational performance: it relates to motivation, sense of purpose, commitment to the organisation, esprit de corps, trust in the unit and vertical and horizontal cohesion.
In psychological readiness, morale should be understood systemically. It does not depend only on the service member or the unit: the family domain also matters. Family stability, communication, trust, preparation for separation and the perception that the family is supported influence psychological availability for the mission.
When mission objectives are clear and meaningful, when there is trust in comrades and leadership and when family concerns are recognised and supported, the negative impact of operational stress on mental health and performance tends to decrease.
High morale contributes to greater occupational well-being, resilience in the face of risk factors and maintenance of operational capability.
Bibliographic references
- Britt, T. W., & Dickinson, J. M. (2006). Morale during military operations: A positive psychology approach.
- NATO. (2019). AMedP-8.10 / STANAG 2565.
Contemplative practice
Mindfulness and emotional regulation
The nervous system responds to stress with activation — acceleration, tension, looping thoughts. Mindfulness offers practical tools to interrupt that cycle: not by suppressing what happens, but by learning to observe it with greater distance and less reactivity.
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The nervous system and activation
When we perceive threat — real or imagined — the autonomic nervous system activates a fight, flight or freeze response. Mindfulness helps recognise these states and create conditions for the nervous system to return to balance.
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Attention and thoughts
It is not possible to control thoughts directly — but it is possible to change one's relationship with them, observing them as passing mental events.
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In clinical practice
With regular practice, it is possible to train attention to return to the present moment, recognise automatic thought patterns and create space between stimulus and response.
Guided practices
Choose an exercise and follow the suggested rhythm.
May support relaxation and help ease the transition to rest.
4-7-8 Breathing
Cycle 1 of 4 · Inhale
Science
Scientific
research
Academic and applied work in mentalization, parenting, teams and burnout prevention.
ResearchGate profile- Published2024
Journal of Infant, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy, 23(4), 320–337
From Face-to-Face to the Online: Perceived Changes of the Online Version of a Mentalization-Based Treatment for Parents
Article on the adaptation of the Lighthouse Parenting Programme to an online format and the changes perceived by participants in a mentalization-based parenting intervention.
- OngoingIn development
Research in development
Mentalizing at Work: A Reflective, Trust-Based Program for Workplace Teams and Burnout Prevention
Project on mentalization with workplace teams in high-demand contexts and burnout prevention.
Project in development — no publication available.
Path
Experience and training
- Training
- Experience
- Academic
- Training
Advanced Specialisation in Couple and Family Therapy
CRIAP
- Training
Advanced Specialisation in Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy with Adults
CRIAP
- Training
Internship in Mental Health Support and Comradeship
Escola de Fuzileiros | Marinha Portuguesa
- Training
Psychological First Aid Course
Centro de Psicologia Aplicada do Exército (CPAE)
- Experience
Junior Professional Year
Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa — Unidade de Desenvolvimento e Intervenção de Proximidade (UDIP) Oriente
- Training
Lighthouse Mentalization-Based Treatment Basic Training
Solas Oxford CIC with Lifespan Psychology Centre
- Experience
Curricular Internship
Gabinete de Serviço de Apoio Comunitário (GASAC) do Centro Juvenil de Campanhã
- Academic
Integrated Master's in Clinical and Health Psychology
Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação da Universidade do Porto (FPCEUP)
Continuous learning
Continuing professional development
Complementary training accredited by the OPP, covering specialised intervention, ethics and transversal competencies.
Scientific communication
Congresses and conferences
5 participations
- KrakówSpeaker
Society for Psychotherapy Research
Exploring the Impact of the Lighthouse MBT Program on Burnout and Resilience Among Social Care Workers
- LisbonSpeaker & Poster
International Congress on Family Risk, Danger and Resilience
Navigating Together: Users' Voices in the Adaptation and Study of the Lighthouse Parenting Programme / Building a Safe Harbour: The Lighthouse Parenting Programme for Multi-Challenged Families
- DublinSpeaker
Society for Psychotherapy Research
The Portuguese Online Lighthouse MBT-P: Feasibility and Caregivers' Perceived Processes of Change
- PortoSpeaker
Young Researchers at the University of Porto
The Portuguese Online Lighthouse MBT-P: Feasibility and Caregivers' Perceived Processes of Change
- LisbonSpeaker
International Attachment Conference
The Portuguese Online Lighthouse MBT-P: Feasibility and Caregivers' Perceived Processes of Change
Competencies
Areas of intervention
Areas that run through clinical practice, institutional work and applied research.
Institutional contexts
- Occupational health
- Military psychology
- Community intervention
Family and parenting
- Parental conflict
- Parenting programmes
- Psychosocial vulnerability
Individual clinical work
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Burnout and resilience
- Personality
- Mindfulness