C&B: The moment you asked that decisive question during your therapy session marked a turning point in your life. What did you feel at that time, and what made you choose the path of psychotherapy instead of continuing with your dream job?

Matei Stanculescu: Reflecting on the moment when my therapist asked me why I wanted to be a therapist, the shift happened when I realized that the dream job I had at that time wasn’t actually my dream. The question helped me open up new possibilities for my future, and what I felt in that moment was hope, confidence, and clarity about my mission to be there for other people.

C&B: You founded Eka Center out of a passion for authentic human relationships. How did you manage to create an environment where people feel safe to explore their vulnerabilities and surpass their limits?

Matei Stanculescu: I saw what I didn’t like in the therapeutic spaces I had been in, so I designed Eka Center to feel like a “home” for therapy, a place where people feel more comfortable opening up. This probably explains the retention rate of over 90% that we have with our clients, as well as the more than 200 five-star reviews we’ve gathered so far.

C&B: How do you think the courage to make such a drastic career change has shaped you? What advice would you give to those at a similar crossroads in their professional lives?

Matei Stanculescu: This change taught me that being 35 means the beginning of life, and it’s never too late to start something new in a different field. This shift helped me become a better counselor for my clients and assist them in finding the strength to reinvent themselves, both personally and professionally.

C&B: What are the essential principles and values that guide you in your work as a psychotherapist, and how do they influence your approach to your clients?

Matei Stanculescu: My number one principle is to do no harm—every time I think of a question, I consider it twice before asking because I know it can influence that person’s path. Additionally, I try to set aside everything I’ve learned, avoid acting from a single perspective, allow my intuition to emerge, and be 100% present in the therapeutic relationship.

C&B: You mentioned the importance of surrounding yourself with people who inspire and support you. How do you choose the people around you, and what impact have they had on your success?

Matei Stanculescu: My former coaching colleagues are now my partners—Sandra Jitianu, Irina Palarie, Adriana Carnu, and many others are key people in my development, those who unconditionally supported me during critical personal and professional moments. Likewise, the colleagues from my psychotherapy training with whom I felt a connection are now part of my team at Eka. I chose people with whom I had chemistry and in whom I felt I could trust blindly.

C&B: Psychological safety is a central topic in modern leadership. How have you implemented this concept at Eka Center, and what advice would you give to leaders who want to create such environments in their organizations?

Matei Stănculescu: At Eka, the mission was quite simple because it’s where I can be myself, and I chose the people I wanted to work with. So, things naturally fell into place. For corporate clients who choose to build psychological safety with us in their teams, we identify together the profiles of the team members—what makes them happy, what they fear, what their triggers are. We look at personal and professional needs intersecting with business goals, and then we design a program that can include workshops, 1-on-1 meetings, team coaching sessions, therapy sessions, and ad-hoc interventions to support the leader and team members in connecting on a deeper level.

C&B: As a psychotherapist, how do you help those who fear failure to change their perspective and see failures as opportunities for growth and development?

Matei Stanculescu: In mental fitness, there’s the theory of the three gifts, which says that from any obstacle, we can extract the gift of Knowledge, Power, or Inspiration. Either you learn something, it strengthens you, or it inspires you to do something you otherwise wouldn’t have done. I start a journey with my clients from childhood to the present, going through all the challenges along the way. We invariably identify that the difficult moments, which seemed insurmountable, have turned into growth points, true springboards for their evolution.

C&B: You frequently mention the importance of rigorous organization. How do you structure your daily activities to maintain a balance between your professional responsibilities and your passions?

Matei Stanculescu: I am far from being a well-organized person, but I do have a few principles that even I manage to follow. One of them is the concept of “labeling”—I divide types of activities by days: Monday is for business development at Eka, Tuesday is for my therapy practice, Wednesday is for Mental Fitness and DadsAround, Thursday is for training, and Friday is for meetings. The key for me is not to mix more than two types of activities per day because fragmentation tires me the most.

C&B: How do you combine passion for what you do with the need to achieve tangible results, whether it’s about your clients’ progress or the development of Eka Center?

Matei Stanculescu: At first, it was difficult to balance. I struggled to sit with a client where I noticed a slow pace or felt like we weren’t achieving results. I constantly thought I wasn’t a good enough specialist because we weren’t making progress. Later, I realized it’s most valuable to be there for the client at their pace, not mine, and that I just need to keep up with them. It took a lot of experience to accept that it can take a client months to process certain things, and then a transformative breakthrough happens.

C&B: What are your future plans for professional development, and what impact do you want to continue to have on those who follow you or seek your support?

Matei Stanculescu: My biggest wish is to see Eka flourish and expand to more places in the country, maybe even in smaller cities. I believe therapy is needed not just in Bucharest or big cities but especially where access to emotional literacy is limited. I want to see a Romania much better educated emotionally, and for that, we are continually seeking partners, collaborators, and specialists.

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Together with Anca Amariei, Matei founded Eka Center, the first hub in Romania that integrates services of psychotherapy, well-being, and personal development. Designed as a warm and positive space, the center offers a wide range of services to improve physical, mental, and relational health.

Matei Stanculescu’s clients often face a variety of emotional and mental challenges, ranging from trust issues, emotion management, and performance to anxiety, eating disorders, depression, burnout, and other developmental disorders. These issues are addressed both in individual psychotherapy sessions and through mental fitness coaching, an alternative aimed at quickly resolving emotional and mental problems.

Matei Stanculescu offers a path of personal development through the services provided at Eka Center, aimed at anyone wishing to advance personally and professionally in a supportive and innovative environment.

C&B: How have you managed to find the perfect balance between professional performance and personal development?
Matei Stanculescu: I haven’t. I don’t even believe such a balance exists. I think I’ve just reached a certain harmony between the two. And that’s through all sorts of exercises that help me with disconnecting or balancing, sprinkled throughout the day. Exercises from the Mental Fitness area, which essentially bring peace between the notes so that the day sounds better.

C&B: Which of your innovative approaches in promoting wellbeing at the workplace do you think has had the greatest impact? How would this impact on retention and productivity be measured?
Matei Stanculescu: Promoting and implementing Psychological Safety. It is by far the most important differentiating factor between a weak team and a high-performing one. And for this, we start with the leaders and first facilitate their path to a clear mind and emotional balance. Then we provide them with tools like “First Aid in Mental Health“, so they can identify the needs in their teams and address them healthily. Within a few months, the team dynamics change, and things connect on a much deeper level, which drives retention.

C&B: Can you detail how you chose and structured the mix of benefits to support not just physical health, but also mental and relational health of employees, in general? How do you ensure these benefits remain relevant and appealing to diverse teams?
Matei Stanculescu: For us, it is essential to first understand the real needs within the organizations we start with. Then, we focus on the individual, and here the beauty is that we can find personalized solutions (I don’t believe in one-size-fits-all solutions). When we are individually well, through workshops, team-building, coaching, or other group sessions, we shift our attention to the group. The style of leadership we advocate involves active listening, assertiveness, empathy, attention to the group’s needs, vulnerability, and the power of example.

C&B: As an expert in storytelling and public speaking, how do you integrate these skills into your role to inspire and motivate employees? Do you have a memorable example of a story you used to unite a team during a time of uncertainty?
Matei Stanculescu: I avoid telling stories, no matter how motivational they might be. That’s because no matter how good the story is and how well I tell it, the effect will be very short-lived. To produce a medium and long-term change in a person or a team, it’s essential that the “aha” moment comes from within. So instead of telling a good story, I prefer to facilitate an authentic group discussion, which moves something at least in one member. From that point, we can consider that the whole dynamic changes.

C&B: How do you use your leadership skills, such as emotional intelligence and empathy, to navigate through times of uncertainty? Do you have a concrete example where these qualities helped you turn a challenge into an opportunity?
Matei Stanculescu: I think this is the full-time job of an entrepreneur. And challenges are daily. If I do something well, it is always being understanding with myself. I rarely reproach myself for not doing things well enough or enough. I am empathetic with my own needs and limits. Automatically, I apply the same thinking algorithm towards others. Specifically, I recently said “yes” to a client and later realized that in terms of financial energy and return on investment, I was at a loss. What should I do, back out and thicken my skin, or deliver with frustration? Thinking that I could still extract some good from this, I was transparent with the client and proposed a barter in their line of business. This helped me develop a business area I had not covered at all, to deliver wholeheartedly, and to face a client who appreciated the openness, understood the value of the services I provide better, and I felt that we both gained.

C&B: In your view, how will the future of work change, and what will be the role of HR in this continuously evolving landscape? What steps do you think leaders and HR professionals should take to prepare for this future?
Matei Stanculescu: AI and automation help us save more and more time by taking over repetitive tasks. As for HR, I truly hope this means more time for one-on-one discussions, focus on learning, and searching for real benefits for employees. The upcoming generations are more aware of the importance of personal development and self-work than all previous ones. This means that employers who focus on psychological safety, a growth mindset, and coaching as a management style will benefit the most.

C&B: You will be conducting a workshop at the SMART HR event. Can you tell us why people should attend this event and even your workshop?
Matei Stanculescu: In every profession, there are passionate people who seek continuous development and are thirsty for networking and knowledge, but there are also robots who just watch the clock to break the door at the office when the day is over. I think HR enthusiasts have too few such opportunities a year to afford missing an event of the size of SMART HR. As for the Mental Fitness workshop, I will just leave a few testimonials to speak for themselves. And after you read them, you can decide if you want to register:

Romanita Iovan, fashion designer: “I discovered how to identify my saboteurs and how to make them work for me. I’ve become more accommodating, patient, and calm. I managed to better organize my professional activity, giving more credit to those around me and discovering new opportunities. For me, this program came as a gift of the year 2020.“
Manuela Banu, CEO, Orkla Foods Romania: “The course provided me with a new, simple, and clear perspective on how our minds work and gave me access to easy-to-assimilate tools. Perhaps even more importantly, it helped me introduce new routines into my daily life.“
Alexandra Peligrad, CEO, Smartree Romania: “Go for it, it definitely gives you a plus at the end, even if only for the AHA moments about how the mind works in various situations and where our negative emotions come from. I have come to quickly recognize negative feelings and reduce them, thinking that these are Saboteurs I want to avoid.”

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