In this conversation with Paola Pomponi, we explore what existential therapy really means — not just as a theory, but as a way of being with others.

We talk about therapist training, authenticity, absurdity, everyday existential encounters, and why humor may be one of the deepest forms of connection.

Paola reflects on what first drew her into existential therapy, including the impact of reading Irvin Yalom and the call she felt to change direction and train in the field. From there, the conversation moves into the core of existential practice: what it means not simply to think about life, but to encounter it directly and relationally.

Together, they explore existential therapy as something embodied before it is intellectual; something lived before it is explained. Paola describes therapy not as a technical act of fixing, but as one human being sitting beside another, “breathing the same air,” discovering what it means to be with someone rather than act upon them.

The dialogue then opens onto wider questions: is existential therapy only for a small, intellectual niche, or can it become part of everyday life? Paola argues for the latter, suggesting that existential dialogue can happen anywhere — with a coffee maker, a postman, a child, a stranger — if we meet others with curiosity and depth.

They also talk about how existential training changes the therapist, the courage required to enter that process, the absurdity of life, and the little freedom we still have in choosing how to respond. The episode closes with one of Paola’s most memorable themes: humor, not as avoidance, but as another way of meeting reality and deepening connection.

This is an episode for therapists, trainees, students, and anyone asking deeper questions about how to live, how to relate, and what to do with the life they have.

About Paola Pomponi

UKCP-accredited Existential Psychotherapist

Certified EMDR Practitioner

Existential Coach (EMCC Practitioner Level)

Chair of the Society for Existential Analysis (SEA)

Practices in London and Rome, bilingually (English/Italian)

Author of Bach in the Park - a story about living, loving and dying, temporality, rationality and emotionality.

Available on Audible and Amazon

https://amzn.eu/d/j9dFBSK

Connect with Paola

https://ppomponi.com

https://www.instagram.com/paola_pomponi_ukit/?hl=en

About the host

I’m Max Karlin, a psychologist, counsellor, and UKCP trainee existential therapist at the New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling, London. On this channel I share existential therapy insights, interviews, and reflections to explore how psychotherapy can help us live more authentically and meaningfully.

Connect with me linktr.ee/maxkarlin

chapters:

00:50 Meet Paola

03:00 From Business to Therapy

05:25 Yalom’s Influence

10:20 Training and Being With the Client

15:00 Practising Existential therapy

18:00 Children, Curiosity, and Meaning

20:00 How Therapy Changes the Therapist

22:00 Advice for Trainees

27:00 Existential Therapy Beyond the Room

28:00 Is Existential Therapy for Everyone?

34:00 The Power of Humor

36:40 Final Reflections & Closing Thoughts