The public knows her as an actress, but her real profession is working with children in schools as an educational psychologist. Josanne Cassar meets JC SCICLUNA for lunch at Vino Veritas in Sliema.

Her name is Jo Christine, her family and close friends call her Jo and everyone else knows her as JC.

“Louiselle Vassallo came up with the ‘JC’ when I was about 17, and it caught on,” JC tells me.

We are at Vino Veritas, just around the corner from her home, which she chose because she comes here regularly. She recommends it for its food, the down-to-earth atmosphere and the friendly, family atmosphere. In fact, the owner Alex Vella stops by for a chat with his two-year-old son in his arms, even though he is extremely busy organising the catering for the Spielberg film which will be shooting in Sliema next.

Alex has been running the place for the last six years. For summer the restaurant has spilled onto the pavement for those who want to enjoy the weather and the sea view, so we decide to sit outside.

I could not have caught JC at a busier time. She has come for this interview straight from an exam for her diploma in systemic psychotherapy. In the meantime she is busy planning her October wedding, appearing on our screens in the TV sitcom Il-Principal and somewhere in between has managed to squeeze in a course in cake decorating!

“I made my own engagement cake,” she says proudly, as she shows me the picture on her mobile. “I wanted to let loose that side of me and to prove to my Mum that I could do it,” she laughs.

JC did a variety of jobs when she was younger: from working in a canteen factory to selling ice cream at a gelateria. She stopped studying at the age of 17 after doing her ‘A’ levels because she wanted to work. After some more odd jobs, including a year working at the bank, she took hold of herself, ‘what am I doing I’m only 19 years old!’ so she went to University.

To practice as a psychologist, one needs to have an MA in the subject, plus two years of clinical practice. In her field of educational psychology she also had to be a teacher, which is why she did her PGCE and taught for three years. She also did a diploma in Exeter on teaching children through play.

After ten years of study, she now works with the Education Department visiting children in schools, working with teachers and seeing parents at her office.

“Initially I took psychology just because my friends did, but then I became totally engrossed with the subject and after the first year I knew this was what I wanted to do. I worked in Mount Carmel for a while when I was doing research for my thesis on depression and suicide in mothers. If you ask me why suicide, I think it’s because I love life so much and I want to understand why people renounce it. It’s such a pity. I chose to specialise in education because I love working with children. I feel there is so much more hope and there is so much you can do. If I can go home and say I made just one child feel better, that’s enough.”

In her work she sees children who suffer from depression, attention deficit disorder, hyperactivity, exam pressures, stress because of family problems and any other problem which is interfering with their ability in school.

“I find that parents have become very aware and in tune with what is happening. They will ask for special arrangements during exams if they feel their child needs it. Children are taking on so much more pressure these days, especially with all the broken families we have. If there is constant shouting, screaming and bickering sometimes it’s better for the children if the parents separate rather than being constantly at war with each other. Children are psychic, they’re like sponges; they feel the tension. They’re victims of whatever adults do.”

She points out that even when children have school phobia (i.e. they do not want to go to school) it can sometimes be traced to separation anxiety – perhaps they do not want to leave their mother because they are afraid she will be beaten, or that she will leave.

Because she is so aware of the repercussions when a marriage goes wrong, JC has been cautious until now about taking the step herself. After five years with her boyfriend Dr Mark Xuereb, however, she will soon tie the knot.

“I’m not going into it with rose-tinted glasses – I’m very aware of certain things. It may take away some of the romance but I think it’s better that way.”

While she enjoys life to the full and believes in “living in the moment”, JC says her life is very much planned and is an advocate of good time management.

“I’m a perfectionist, whatever I do I have to do well. I believe that if you don’t plan your time you end up doing things in half-measures and I can’t do that. I really can’t! When I do something I literally dive into it wholeheartedly (yes, even with her cake decorating).”

She admits this perfectionism an be stressful for others, especially for Mark, who can be quite laid-back in matters of punctuality. “He’ll tell me, ‘u ejja, we’re only half an hour late’! I guess I have to adapt, but he’s improved, he used to be hours late before.”

The organisation of her wedding is likewise being carried out with military precision, “You should see my diary everything is very structured. I like planning things because then when I’m actually doing something I can enjoy it.”

JC attributes her start as an actress to the late, much loved make-up artist Lina Galea Cumbo.

“I was taking part in a school play at the Catholic Institute and she was doing our make-up. I remember she took my face in her hands and told me, “qalbi, you should go and train in drama because you have a talent”. She was such a beautiful woman. So I went to MTADA and then started acting with the Salesians and so on. I had a lot of help from people like Karmen Azzopardi and Salvu Mallia, because at the beginning you need people who trust you to give you that first break.”

Her favourite role was in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, directed by Anthony Ellul – “I think that was one of the best productions to ever hit the island. The reviews we got were excellent.”

Most people, of course, know her from her many TV roles, starting with Lino Farrugia’s Ghaddi l-Bieb Miftuh to the series she is appearing in now, Il-Principal. When I mention her role in Delitti Maltin, she laughs, “yes, the prostitute, Salvu Mallia always casts me as a prostitute!”

While she enjoys her TV work, she points out that stage roles tend to be ‘meatier’, with more depth. Here her psychology background comes in handy.

“I observe people a lot, even in my daily life, not only at the clinic. I appreciate the differences and similarities between people, so when I’m doing character studies it helps me a lot.”

A case in point is the ‘typical Sliema girl’ she is playing in Il-Principal.

“I have several people in mind for that one,” she smiles mischievously.

As we talk I learn just how multi-talented (and busy!) JC is: apart from everything else, she plays the piano and has had classic vocal training.

“Life is so beautiful. There are so many things you can do in this life. If I have one day where I don’t have an activity apart from my work, I get so bored. I always have something to do.”

Our conversation turns back to her upcoming wedding and her fiancé, who happens to be a psychiatrist. She tells me how they met.

“I was taking part in Play It Again Sam, and I was supposed to go into the audience, jump on someone and start caressing him. I saw Dr Peter Muscat, a great friend of mine so I said, ‘right I’ll jump on him’, totally oblivious of the people next to him. The following day I get a phone call and this guy says, ‘Hi, I’m Dr Mark Xuereb (she points on a posh voice). I saw you on stage and I think you’re really sexy.’ I said ‘fine, great, did you like the play?’ and he said ‘would you like to have a coffee with me?’ I said ‘hanini, I don’t even know you, I don’t do these things!’

“Then he mentioned that he knows Peter Muscat very well so I phoned Peter to check him out. We went out and we clicked straight away. It wasn’t love at first sight at all, but an instant connection. Not that head over heels, at the pit of my stomach sensation but the feeling that ‘this guy is good, something solid’ – I can’t really explain it. It was an understanding which is much deeper than when you get those butterflies. He understands me a lot, especially my moods.”

Her problem, she says, is that she is too much in tune with what is happening around her. If she sees an old man having dinner by himself, her imagination goes into over drive and she pictures his loneliness, wondering if his wife has died and by the end of the evening she is an emotional wreck.

“I’m like one of those characters in a Marian Keyes novel, I’m all over the place. I really have to calm myself down: for all I know his wife is out on a ladies’ night and he’s really enjoying himself! My imagination is incredible. In fact I dream a lot.”

Everything JC does is done at high intensity: when she tells me she loves reading, she loves it “with a passion”. She even sets her alarm clock half an hour early so that she reads when she wakes up.

“When my younger sister and I were young we used to vote on what to play, so I’d vote to play Mama and Papa’ so that I could play Papa’, sit on the bed and read. I’d vote doctor and patient so that I could play the patient and read!”

Likewise, food for her is a celebration, something to be relished, “I love my food! Food is life.”

Finding a kindred spirit in my enjoyment of food, I take up JC’s suggestion that we share different kinds of the homemade pasta. You can order what is called a ‘Tris’ which is a combination of three pasta ripiena dishes. We had tortellini al pollo, creste di gallo and ravioli carciofi, but there is more to choose from.

Turning to her childhood, JC explains that she was born and raised in Sliema, the family lived in San Gwann for a couple of years and returned to Sliema.

Like most Slimizi she is disgusted with what has happened to her home town: the over development, the pollution, the traffic, the demolition of beautiful town houses, the constant construction “and a crane which has been in front of our house for one and a half years.”

In spite of everything, she does not want to leave and her new home will also be in Sliema.

What is obvious, however, is that JC defuses the stereotype of what comes to mind with the Sliema label. ‘Sliema’ for many people still conjures up the image of a snobbish, stuck-up person who speaks a peculiar version of singsong English with lots of ‘as ifs’ and ‘Ma, how stale’.

In contrast, hers is a no nonsense attitude towards life which comes from her father whom she describes as a very down-to-earth, humble man.

“After all, we don’t have anything special, we just happen to live here. I could have been born in Zimbabwe!”

Speaking about her family, particularly her two nephews, her eyes glow.

“They are so special to me. When I buy them something it’s not like I’m buying it for my nephew.”

It has taken her a long time to develop her own maternal instinct, but now she is ready.

“I think now I’ve done a lot of things in my life and I’ve reached the point where I’m ready to give. Motherhood, from the beginning to the end, is a matter of giving all the time. Whatever we say about equality, it’s the natural order of things – the mother is carrying the baby for nine months. Of course, when you’re used to having a career, and being active all the time, the adjustment is not easy, but in the end it’s worth it.”

Another cause which is close to her heart is the Malta Dementia Society. She is very fond of elderly people and gets angry when the younger generation dismisses them.

“There isn’t enough awareness and knowledge about it, so Mark and his colleagues have set up this dementia society. There is a difference between normal ageing and dementia which is basically an atrophy of the brain. The aims of the society are to help the carers to understand what is happening so they can make the situation better. Sometimes you have to use white lies. When a 90-year-old woman asks when her Mummy is going to see her, it is best to tell her she is coming later on, because she will forget what you told her anyway, rather than to tell her that her Mummy died years ago.

“With dementia patients can become terribly upset and sometimes aggressive if they are contradicted. It is best to go along with them. It is a terrible condition which reduces the dignity of the human being. They have to be watched all the time because they can just wander off and get lost. Of course, it is equally hard on the relatives who have to see their loved one in this state.”

To be able to do her work as a psychologist, JC herself has been in therapy since 1989, an experience which is mandatory and which helps psychologists to grow by understanding themselves.

“What people fail to realise is that when you have a problem you have to stay with the pain. We have to stay with being uncomfortable. If you try to escape it, the problem will follow you.”

Thankfully, we are not having many problems this afternoon as Alex insists that we have to try some desserts. He presents us with melon, pecan pie and ice cream. JC is ecstatic and just this once, I cave in and indulge myself as well.

From where we are sitting, there are no signs of cranes and as if on cue we both remark how lovely Sliema looks from here.

As JC often says, life really is beautiful.