Dr. Shiva Rezvan obtained her doctorate in Counseling Psychology from the University of Isfahan, Iran, in 2011. Shortly after graduation, she immigrated to the United States and completed her postdoctoral psychology residency at Children’s Service Center in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. With the invaluable help of her late mentor at Yale University (New Haven, Connecticut), she undertook the process of becoming a licensed psychologist.

Dr. Rezvan has conducted psychotherapy for more than 20 years. At present, she works with adults to address anxiety and mood disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, and interpersonal issues. Although her primary treatment approach is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), she integrates other approaches such as Interpersonal Therapy, Attachment-Based Therapy, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, and Metacognitive Therapy. In addition, she previously worked with children and she is certified in basic Kazdin Parent Management Training (Yale Parenting Center, New Haven, Connecticut). She is familiar with both individualistic and collectivist perspectives, and she prioritizes becoming acquainted with the unique culture of each client with whom she has the honor of working and growing. She is fluent in both English and Farsi (Persian).

Beyond being a therapist, Dr. Rezvan is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Albertus Magnus College (New Haven, Connecticut) and a member of the research community at Yale University. She is highly interested in such clinical areas as unconscious goals, motivations, implicit biases, and the impact of each of those factors on human behavior and social justice. She is also involved in research to identify strategies for targeting behaviors in therapy using less cognitive effort. She has published and presented her academic work in peer-reviewed journal articles and poster sessions at national and international conferences.

Dr. Rezvan is licensed in Connecticut. She joined CNS in 2017.

On a Personal Note…
I was five years old, waiting for my parents to pick me up from kindergarten. My close friend had already left. I was sitting alone, looking at a few others who were also waiting to be picked up while talking and laughing together. I remember asking myself why I was sitting alone and not interacting with them. Why did nobody speak to me? I thought my teachers probably knew the answers to my questions, but I never shared my questions with them.

Years later, in middle school, one of my teachers gave us an essay assignment on what we wanted to do when we grew up. I wrote I wanted to become a teacher because teachers know why students behave the way they do. I read my essay in class with enthusiasm. At the end of the class, some friends told me they were disappointed in me because, as the top student in the class, I should want to become a medical doctor or an engineer. Despite my initial enthusiasm, I felt guilty and thought I had done something wrong.

In college, I majored in chemical engineering. But I still had the big question of why we behave the way we do. Why am I like this? When I was a sophomore, I received one of the most significant gifts in my life. It was a book titled “I’m OK, You’re OK.” I read the book many times, but I could not understand it. The book’s concepts did not match the internal thoughts in my mind, which continued to make me feel like I was doing something wrong, and I saw that as the only truth. Not understanding the book’s message made me stubborn and mad. I was dealing with some of the most challenging mathematical problems in my major but I could not understand a couple of simple sentences in a book. It turned out that those sentences were not so simple. Finally, after more than ten tries, which took almost three years, I understood what I was reading. That book helped me realize that I was OK even if I thought I was doing wrong. This was the moment that changed my life.

Despite many people’s disagreement, I changed my discipline from engineering to counseling psychology. I wanted to know more about human behaviors, help others, and tell them they were not alone. I resigned from my job as an engineer, studied for two years, and took part in the national entrance exam with thousands of competitors to get a graduate degree in counseling psychology. I rejoiced when I saw my name on the list of accepted students. Seeing my first client as an intern was another big gift in my life. My message to her was that she was OK, and she accepted it wholeheartedly despite initial feelings of discomfort. It gave me the courage to continue providing therapy and to get involved in research to find answers to my questions about the nature of human behaviors. Also, very accidentally, I became a teacher! I currently learn a lot from my clients as a psychologist and my students as a professor. It has been a privilege to serve my clients for more than twenty years, and it is a privilege to continue to provide services to my clients at CNS.

I want to let you know that we are in this together, and you are not alone. I have dark moments in my life, just like you. For me, drawing and painting are powerful activities that help me navigate life’s challenges and see the light at the end of the tunnel.

 

 

Comprehensive Neuropsychological Services, P.C.
1095 South Main St.
Cheshire, CT 06410

Telephone: 203-271-3809
Fax: 203-272-6968
Email: cns@clinicalneuropsych.com