Hidden Gems: Meet Elizabeth Kresojevich of I’m All Ears, LLC

Today we’d like to introduce you to Elizabeth Kresojevich.

Hi Elizabeth, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My journey to become a Marriage and Family therapist began in 2010, and ever since then, it has been a dream of mine to create a safe space for those in need to explore their inner most thoughts, connect deeply in relationships and process life’s most vulnerable experiences. Throughout my life I have always had a strong interest in relationships, the closeness of families, human resiliency and the ability for people to change from within. There has always been a big part of my heart that has wanted to make sure that I put back the good in the world that my family received. Both my paternal and maternal grandparents immigrated to the United States after being forced to be in work camps during World War II. After being sponsored to come to the United States, they were met with kindness for my paternal grandparents in Pittsburgh and maternal grandparents in Akron/Canton. They moved here with a dream for a better future for their families and strived to create a home in a new country. It has always meant so much to me that there were brave people in this world willing to sponsor and save those in vulnerable populations, and create safety for them and I have always wanted to be able to share this type of kindness in my community and in the world. When I was younger, there was never really a career on career days that showed me this connection to bringing good to the world, helping people in places they needed it most. It wasn’t until high school that I was able to learn and understand psychology, and ways therapy could have such an impact on those in need. From this point on, I began studying psychology and Family and Human Development at ASU. I spent four years of my undergrad working in research studying emotion regulation and peer relationships in children, and attachment connections with babies and infants and their parents. I remember being a part of these research teams and just in awe of the incredible work they were doing to help folks not only understand themselves better, but also to help parents understand children better. I have a deep love and connection for the closeness of family and the how meaningful relationships are to our very existence as humans. This inspired me to go on to Lewis and Clark College to study Marriage and Family Therapy, as I realized I wanted to be directly involved with communities around me. After graduation, my first job was working with a local agency primarily focused on supporting foster children and families with low socio-economic status. It was incredibly rewarding, and I loved every moment that I was able to work with my kids. They taught me so much, and I think working with them has had such an incredible impact on the therapist that I am today.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My path to becoming a Marriage and Family Therapist absolutely had its road blocks. When I was in school I often struggled with my grades due to having test anxiety, and was a shy natured student that struggled to ask questions or seek help when I needed it. As I grew over the years, I had a hard time making friends as well, which created my relationship with school to feel complicated. I didn’t always get the best grades in high school and I remember feeling like I always had to study three times longer than the other students to score well on exams. In college, I felt like I finally found my home is psychology classes and really felt like I was able to excel in specific areas. This started to grow my confidence, which was helpful. As I started to apply to graduate school, my father was diagnosed with a rare cancer. As exciting as it was to learn that I was accepted to Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon it meant leaving my family. I came from a small family and all of my grandparents had passed away by the time I was in high school, so it was an extremely difficult decision. My parents and my brother encouraged me to still attend. Sadly, I ended up losing my dad during my first semester of graduate school. It was absolutely devastating, but I knew I had to keep pushing through, he had made me promise to stay, as I’d be the first in my family to graduate with a Master’s degree. It was a heartbreaking loss for my entire family, and I went on to graduate with the support of my mom and younger brother. Therapy has always been a positive resource in my life and I believe my own personal experiences allow me to have greater insight as a clinician. I grew up in a family where it felt as though resilience was passed down by genetics, with deep cultural roots, stories of hard work, perseverance, and bravery. Along my journey to heal, I had sought therapy primarily to process grief, loss and intergenerational traumas, but soon came to realize that my own personal journey in therapy became so much more than this. I was able to process my grief and loss, while also discovering a new narrative to honor my Balkan culture, my family and create new definitions of strength, eventually reducing my anxiety. I was able to slowly step away from the label of “perfectionist,” which is still a work in progress; and create new definitions of what it means to be brave and embody strength while allowing myself to find compassion in areas I needed it most.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about I’m All Ears, LLC?
My practice is based in systemic and relational therapy. I have a deep passion for helping individuals, families and couples come together through building secure relationships, increasing empathy, and growing connection. My small business is a one-woman show, with the support and encouragement my amazing colleagues in the field. My training as a therapist, primarily lives in Emotion Focused Therapy and Attachment-Based Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). I believe that the relationships we have with ourselves, others, and our deep longing for connection, deserve to be held with care and understood with grace. I have advanced training in Emotion Focused therapy (EFT) and I am certified in EMDR. I think what I hope sets me apart is my passion for supporting people as a whole rather than just an individual. I work to incorporate the systems in which people live, function and have relationships with, as we are so deeply impacted by our environment and what surrounds us.

Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Risk-taking is such an interesting topic, because I feel like it can be so subjective based on each person. I think taking risks for each of us is always going to feel different, so a risk to me may not feel like a risk to someone else. For me personally, the risks that I have taken in my life reach through both personal and professional experiences. Taking a risk to open my own practice and start my own small business I think is my biggest one to date. I have a natural tendency to be very intentional about my choices and decisions, which I think in the past will some times deter me from risk taking. When I decided to open my business, I think it felt like a enormous risk, and I was scared at first although I came to realize that it was one of the best risks that I’ve ever taken. As I am expanding and growing in my career as a therapist I still often feel scared, but a wise friend once told me that if your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough. So if I’m a little scared, I must be doing it right!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://imallearsllc.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imallears_mft/

Image Credits
photographer: whitneyb photography (https://whitneybphotography.pixieset.com/)