We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Elizabeth Kresojevich a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Elizabeth, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What was your school or training experience like? Share an anecdote or two that you feel illustrate important aspects or the overall nature of your schooling/training experience.

My experience in my school and training was primarily based in social justice and the ways that this directly impacts the process of therapy. After doing research and exploring programs, I landed on the Marriage and Family Therapy program at Lewis and Clark in Portland, Oregon. I remember visiting the school, feeling like I was visiting the therapy version of Hogwarts. I think what was powerful about this program, was it was primarily based in systemic learning. Systems is such an important lens to have when looking through the glasses of therapy. It allows for therapists and practitioners to be able to recognize the subtle impacts and not so subtle impacts that our environment has on each of us. This program was able to extend my understanding of the impact of Trauma and the importance for reaching communities that do not have access to treatment that is so desperately needed to heal the depth of impact that trauma has both on the individual and the family.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My entrance to the specialization of therapy was something that took time, process, and experience. I always knew I wanted to help people, and particularly help children and families. Through more discovery, and understanding within myself I was able to land in the world of psychology. I knew this was the place for me, since I was always fascinated not only by understanding and knowing why people do what they do, but also by relationships and the impacts they have around us. I grew up in a more traditionally eastern cultural family, which often left me balancing the westernized ideals of individualistic societies and community based living and functioning. In my classes during my undergraduate experience, I worked on research projects thinking I wanted to continue to facilitate important research findings for families and increase programming in schools to help families and children to be more prepared and set up for success in our world. As my experience in the research continued, I noticed my heart was drawn to current issues, problems and barriers families were facing to accessing needs. In this moment, it where I decided I wanted to deliver services directly to the communities themselves and help individuals and families heal and process in the moment to grow and be able to sustain healthier lives and living environments. This then transformed to the baseline of my mission for my practice, which is to provide the leading edge skills knowledge and techniques in the therapy room that is accessible and safe for all of those in need.

Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?

Yes, if I could go back I would do it all over again! As difficult as my journey has been, with setbacks, failures, and struggles; the outcome is still worth it. I think that within myself I often find that failure is a place to learn and playground to discover, and as long I reach the potential that lives within taking steps back only supports by path moving forward.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

I think besides knowledge and training, something that feels successful to the field of Marriage and Family Therapy is the continuing education and connection around the importance of systems thinking and ways we can reach communities in need. I think part of the success in therapy is building connection, rapport and relationships with clients from a non-shaming platform. Therapy can be such a scary and difficult place for most, and often not something that we all feel is accessible. I think our success lies in endless empathy for the healing of individuals, couples, families, and society as a whole. I often think of a quote by Ralph Waldo Emmerson, “if you have made even one person’s life a little bit better through your actions, then your life has been well lived and considered a success.” I think success is adjacent to supporting those in need, building healthy connections, relationships and learning for the greater good.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.imallearsllc.com
• Instagram: @imallears_mft
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-kresojevich-m-a-lmft-88619670
• Other: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/elizabeth-kresojevich-scottsdale-az/706770

Image Credits

Whitneyb Photography

https://whitneybphotography.pixieset.com/