Meet Ivan
Hello! My name is Ivan, and I am elated and honored to be a part of Chosen Path Collective. I believe it is important in life to affiliate with those who share our good values, and I can’t imagine a better home than here to celebrate my love of validation, liberation, and evidence-based practice.
I believe strongly in the effectiveness and usefulness of talk therapy and its many modalities. I understand that we humans do not come with a user manual, but believe that we can develop a pretty good one by wedding cumulative knowledge with our own lived experience. I believe we all can learn and use ways of thinking and doing that serve us and our wellness as we define it. I therefore love to work with any client on that journey toward living a more effective, intentional, and satisfying life.
How I Work.
As a therapist, I first and foremost aim to center my clients and provide authentic attentiveness. As Simone Weil observed, ‘Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.’ So much research supports the notion that simply being heard, seen, understood, and unconditionally accepted transforms distress into peace. I also recognize that the brain was built to survive above all else. Accordingly, we have so many strengths, but just as many less-than-effective or even problematic tendencies. I believe in the value of psychoeducation about our minds and bodies and how they work as another foundational aspect of wellness. I work with my clients on learning about this aspect and how it applies to and fixes their presenting problem(s).
Modalities and Presenting Concerns
I believe we are all – at best – comparing individual notes, trying to make sense of our shared experience of consciousness. In session, I take a collaborative stance and determine how I can best support my client’s needs with my skill set and abilities but recognize and lead with the truth that we are all the experts on our own lives and already doing the best we can with the tools that we have. So, beyond affirmation and support, I endeavor to provide ongoing, strategic skill transfer to ensure my clients progress toward independence as they define it. Modalities I tend to use more often are Rogerian or Client-Centered Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy, Conflict Resolution Therapy, Problem Solving Therapy, Exposure Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Reality Therapy, Gestalt Therapy, and Behavioral Therapy.
Presenting problems and diagnoses I have a lot of experience with include anxiety, autism, behavioral health, conflict skills, depression, motivation, OCD, self-advocacy, and self-esteem, among others; I am open to and excited to work with any client who believes I can provide value for them.
Why This Work Matters to Me
On a personal level, I derive great joy from my job because I truly love hearing everyone’s unique stories and celebrating the privilege of being introduced to those unique inner worlds, as well as witnessing a client’s progress toward living a happier life. I believe that life is precious, so helping others savor it while we can is inherently rewarding, moral work in my eyes. My Southern Italian/Rusyn heritage and the valid wisdom about joy and self-regulation they taught me inform my high valuation of hospitality and, for better or worse, poor punctuality. Come as you are to my session, because I will be doing the same, likely five minutes past the hour despite my best efforts.
I enjoy working with any population—as long as the client wants to give our relationship a chance, I am happy to adapt and attempt!
If you work with me, you will learn that I love quotes as a means of encapsulating learned wisdom for the sake of easy self-guidance. Three of my favorites, which inform my personal as well as professional philosophy are:
‘The facts are always friendly, every bit of evidence one can acquire, in any area, leads one that much closer to what is true.’ – Carl Rogers
‘We fear things in proportion to our ignorance of them.’ – Titus Livius
‘La morte mi troverà vivo [Death will find me living].’ – Italian proverb
Ivan Outside of the Therapy Room
Outside of work, you will find me watching a probably problematic rotation of The Simpsons, American Dad!, Family Guy, Futurama, The Golden Girls, and ‘Gentle Tropical Rainstorm For Sleep’ on repeat. I believe that life is neither a comedy nor a drama but a farce, so I can appreciate the horrors, honors, and hilarity with equal resonance but never too much. I love nature, cemeteries, dancing, overindulging in ethnic desserts made by babas/nonnas/sittos/tetas at local church/ethnic festivals, also their savory items, periodically baking my own recipes for nostalgia’s sake, reading books, working out/challenging my body in ways I probably shouldn’t at my age, and just generally living it up while I can.
