ANASTASIIA KOVTUN PSYCHOLOGY


SIT BESIDE ME - YOU EXIST!

I was born in a large city in Ukraine. Yet my soul grew up where the roots lie — in a small village, amidst nature, homesteads, and farms. This bestowed upon my life a unique relationship with the land, the elements, animals, and the deepest notion of home — as both heart and community. And today, this knowledge remains an inseparable part of my very essence.

I studied art for nearly fourteen years. I have always harbored a passion for philosophy and theology, which later led me to the study of psychology and psychotherapy. I find profound meaning in the way the realms of philosophy, art, spirituality, and psychology enrich and coexist with one another.

Jungian analysis became, perhaps, my first passion, and it continues to provide me with abundant inspiration. Equally significant to me are the ideas of archetypal psychology, existential analysis, and the humanistic approach. A particular significance in my life is held by process-oriented psychotherapy (Deep Democracy, Worldwork) — it has become my international community and one of the central directions of my practice.

I hold a degree in practical psychology. In Gestalt therapy, I specialized in working with various forms of trauma. I completed Professor Philip Brownell’s program (USA) on “Gestalt Therapy for Addictions and Self-Medicating Behaviors,” as well as the “Post-Secular, Spiritually Integrated Gestalt Therapy” program. I studied the Mastery Program at the Hawaiian Institute of Process Work and trained at the Institute of Complex Trauma (UK), Dr. Lynn Stadler (VSOF) — focusing on projective methods, metaphor work, and body-oriented approaches to psychotherapy.

Spirituality remains an inseparable dimension of my life. Perhaps the ideas closest to me are those of Zen Buddhism. At the same time, I maintain warm, friendly connections with the Carmelite monastery Maria Jotendorf in the Austrian countryside, where I regularly engage in spiritual practices.

I work in individual sessions, therapeutic and art-therapeutic groups, and conduct philosophical lectures and meetings dedicated to authenticity and the pursuit of one’s own path. My great love is the work with imagination, metaphor, and the body.

The deepest fear of a human being is to remain unrealized. We set out on a journey driven by inner necessity, and beyond this path and ascent, nothing exists. The word “path” carries a meaning far beyond the mundane course of life. It is the Path of coming to oneself. The path of traversing life in such a way that one arrives at oneself and fulfills oneself — to realize oneself in the full richness of one’s desires. The true path is to discover who you truly are and to embody it, allowing it to blossom.