The question from therapy that changed Matei Stanculescu’s life.

Matei Stanculescu is a psychotherapist and Co-Founder of Eka Center & Mental Fitness Romania. Who would have thought that a single question during a therapy session could completely change the course of someone’s life? For Matei Stanculescu, that moment led him down the path of psychotherapy and eventually towards developing Eka Center. Giving up a dream job to follow a newly discovered passion requires a lot of courage and the unwavering support of loved ones, and this experience confirmed to Matei that success is built alongside the right people. It also taught him that it’s essential to do what brings you joy. Authentic human relationships, passion for his work, and rigorous organization are the values that sustain him and enable him to foster an environment where people feel they can surpass their limits. He advises young people to remain curious and unafraid of failure, but most importantly, to surround themselves with people who inspire and support them in their development journey.

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.