8133 Forest Hill Ave, Suite 303, Richmond VA 23235
(434) 535-2614
ABOUT
I BELIEVE ANYONE CAN SUCCEED.
LET’S START THE CONVERSATION.
Get Personalized Talk Therapy To Help You Reach Your Goals.
RELIEF IS JUST AHEAD.
When you’re struggling with anxiety, depression, stress, or anger things can seem hopeless.
Sometimes it feels like your brain has been hijacked by your negative and unhelpful thinking.
IF YOU:
Feel almost impossible to get through a day
Can’t find a way forward to accomplishing your goals
Having difficulty dealing with life’s stressors
Experiencing grief from a chronic illness
Overwhelmed from juggling multiple things
Trying to dig yourself out of a hole of sadness
Your relationship needs stability
You don’t need to try harder to change or hide from what you're dealing with. We can simply start a conversation and work together to move you forward.
YOU'RE NOT ALONE.
HELPING PEOPLE IS WHAT I DO.
People come to me because their thoughts and emotions are getting in the way of their ability to succeed.
My integrated therapeutic approach is designed to help you overcome your difficulties, gain valuable insight and learn to cope with life’s difficulties so that you can make lasting changes in your life.
Whether you are looking to build a relationship, feel comfortable, share your problems, identify solutions, and put solutions into action – our conversations can help feel like you’re moving forward confidently.
THROUGH TALK THERAPY, A CONNECTED RELATIONSHIP, AND A SAFE SPACE TO BE VULNERABLE, WE’LL:
CREATE
a personalized success plan
GAIN
insight into your behavior or motives
SHIFT
your thoughts and emotions
My mission is for you to feel comfortable and understood so that you can take intentional action and learn to relax. I want you to be eager to make progress in and outside of our sessions.
I will be your guide but I want you to know that you hold the power.
I WILL BE YOUR GUIDE BUT I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT YOU HOLD THE POWER.
WHY I DO WHAT I DO
I STUMBLED OVER THE FIELD OF PSYCHOTHERAPY BY ACCIDENT
It was 2008. I lost my job when the subprime mortgage crisis was in full swing. Hiring was at an all-time low.
It was a scary time but I wanted to stay productive so I started volunteering with a youth outreach center called “Rise Up & Walk” The executive director was an impressive guy who left a banking career to dedicate himself to providing resources in his community. He recognized the usefulness of my BA in English and assigned me to a program called “Literacy in Detention.”
It was a supportive role and had me visiting teens in juvenile detention centers to help them complete their homework. I would go on to visit detention centers in Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx 3 - 5 times per week visiting up to 15 kids.
The work was fairly simple but what surprised and inspired me was how eager these kids were to talk. About school and gang involvement. About their families and their backgrounds. About their circumstances and their emotions.
IT LIT A FIRE IN ME. I WANTED TO HELP PEOPLE MAKE CHANGES AND SO I DECIDED TO LEARN HOW.
I immediately enrolled in psychology classes and continued taking them until I applied to graduate school in 2010. I kept my volunteer role at “Rise Up & Walk” as well as becoming a mentor to high-school students in the non-profit organization “Schooba” and a volunteer for a suicide prevention hotline.
In 2011, I moved to Richmond, Virginia to attend VCU School of Social Work.
The holistic approach to treatment in the field of social work was attractive to me. Specifically, the belief is that behavior is not just a product of what is happening in the brain but a product of separate components in our lives: biology, psychology, sociology, and spirituality.
You cannot change your behavior unless you are addressing the “whole picture”.
It’s the philosophy and approach I would come to use when I realized my dream of opening my own practice in 2018.
Now, I am honored to have the ability to reach you on an individual level. To help you set and accomplish goals, identify unhelpful behavior, and improve outcomes in your life.
Your progress is my joy.
My degree brought me evidence-based tools, and my experience taught me compassion.
I want to share all of that with you.
Gideon Javna
LCSW
MY COMMITMENT TO YOU.
My highest priority is to ensure I help you accomplish your goal and live a life as the best version of yourself. My core values are the fundamental driving forces behind everything I do.
STRONG WORK ETHIC
I make myself available to clients, I show up for clients, and I do not back down from challenges. I do research, I prepare, and I help.
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
I facilitate a trusting, comfortable, safe space for clients to feel “at ease.” I create an environment that allows clients to feel comfortable and eager to talk. I use transference skills to help them feel as if they are talking to a friend or a family member.
COMPASSION
I am a compassionate person. I take steps towards asking, how can I help with an extra interest in each client's overall brain and emotional health
ADAPTABILITY
As our worlds are ever changing, the ability to adapt becomes more and more important in maintaining our mental health. I strive to always be flexible by incorporating possibly more than one therapy modality if I feel you can greatly benefit from it.
I'M JUST A REGULAR GUY...
…living in Richmond, Virginia with my beautiful wife, amazing son and daughter, and two loveable dogs. You’ll rarely find me without a coffee. Traveling, hiking, and experiencing new things are some of my favorite things.
You and me - we aren’t that different. I believe, together, we can achieve remarkable things.
AUTHORED AND PUBLISHED WORKS
Named “Best for Chronic Illness” in “Best Therapists in Richmond, VA” by OnlineTherapy.com
Quoted in a blog for Finn Partners about “Whole Body Health”
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