Respark Therapist, Zanna Haney Stevanovic

By Respark | May 28, 2020

Respark Therapist, Zanna Haney Stevanovic

Zanna greatly enjoys her career in Austin and being able to assist people in their journey of dismantling shame and accepting themselves. She says, “Regardless of what area of therapy I have worked in, this has been the backbone of my work. With that being said, it was a great transition to move into sex therapy.”

Zanna has been seeing clients in a clinical-therapy setting for close to 4 years. She mostly worked with trauma clients, and when she moved to NYC she worked in a few different settings including working at the Institute for Human Identity, which served the LGBTQIA+ population.

Specializing in Sex and Couples Therapy in Austin, Texas

Zanna has always had a strong interest in sex therapy, based on the shame that she experienced personally around sex both with my sexual orientation and with her sexuality, before doing her own work in therapy. What really made Zanna decide to specialize in sex and couples therapy, was when she began attending trainings with the Sexual Health Alliance. She knew the importance of discussing sexuality with clients, as this had shown up with a few of her clients during my graduate internship, and as Zanna and many other professionals explain: graduate school does not prepare you for that. Therefore, it gave Zanna the push to really get the proper education to serve her clients and provide them with the best care that she could.

Zanna is unique as she does not identify with just one or two theories. She consider herself to be a very eclectic therapist. She sees value in so many different theories, including post-modern, feminist theory, and Gestalt. In regards to couple’s theories, Zanna enjoys Emotionally Focused Therapy. In addition, Zanna explains “there are a number of theories that are not sex positive and are very heteronormative, so I really try to pick and choose what is relevant to my clients, rather than practicing from a particular theory.”

In the first session with new clients, Zanna hopes to accomplish a sense of non-judgement and safety. The backbone of Zanna’s work is to dismantle shame. It is so important to her that the client does not feel judged, no matter how intense, different, or bizarre their experience or statements may seem. In addition, Zanna believes safety is critical. She learned the importance of safety in her trauma informed training. “A lot people have an idea of a certain agenda that they need to follow in order to make therapy effective, and often that is telling their past trauma story, or sharing a lot of information before they actually feel ready.” Zanna tries to remind clients that they have the autonomy in session to decide if, when, and how they discuss something.

Zanna is a unique sex and couple’s therapist in Austin, Texas. Clients should come to see her at Respark because she is real and authentic in session. This is not always what clients are expecting, and she has received feedback from clients in the past that it really helped them become more comfortable in the therapy room and throughout the process of therapy. In addition, Zanna is known to use a lot of humor in session. “Therapy is often very serious, as it should be, but sometimes we need a little bit of a lighter vibe to balance out all the challenging topics we are discussing.”

In addition, being part of Respark, all of our Texas and Colorado therapists all currently receiving evidence-based progressive education in the field of sex therapy. This is something that is not common of many therapists, as therapists do not receive any training in sexuality in graduate school or beyond. And if they do, it typically is only 1 course or 1 hour that is at a very basic level. Zanna also continuously tries to stay up to date with progressive information, including reading books, attending additional trainings, etc. Another thing that people don’t tend to think about is how well their therapist is taking care of themselves. Zanna attends therapy herself in Austin on a weekly basis, as well as a relationship therapist every other week, and this is something that she is often open about with her clients. Zanna wants them to understand that she is not perfect, as this can often be the misconception that people have about their therapist. She wants clients to know that “I am human, just as they are- and that really is a part of my work as a humanistic therapist.” Zanna mentions that at Respark we also have great support system through our colleagues and supervisor/director. It is really important that a therapist has that support system as well, to provide a balanced lifestyle to be able to care for our clients to the best of our ability. Often, couples and sex therapists practice in isolation, so being a part of a team is a big benefit at Respark Therapy & Associates.

https://youtu.be/Y7YMy41Btmk

Two Ways Clients can Respark their love or sex life

According to Zanna, two ways clients can Respark their love or sex life are communication and playfulness.

Zanna says, “The #1 thing I would say is communicate. This seems cliche, but it really is the foundation for being able to have good sex. Often partners are not on the same page, because they aren’t communicating with each other about what they like, don’t like, etc. I have seen this a number of times in sessions with couples.”

In regards to playfulness Zanna explains, “Often people take sex seriously, and that can be great, but doing that all the time, can really kill the mood. And when I say playful, I mean fun! We have so much stress in our life, that sex should be a time to have fun. The way I explain it to my clients, is to think about when you where in school and you were in a frustrating class, and the bell rang, and you were able to go outside for recess or whatever they called it when we were in junior high. What happened? You often felt free, and was able to forget about everything if even for only 20 minutes or so. Think about sex in that way. It’s the adult version of recess- have fun with it!”

Maintaining Passion

According to Zanna, one way clients can maintain passion in their relationships and/or career is understanding the root of why you want passion.

Zanna says, “We did an exercise called 7 levels deep at our recent Respark Retreat, and I found it so helpful and have begun to use it with clients. I believe that when we have awareness of why we truly want something, find our true why, it helps us toward being able to put action to it.”

Zanna explains that it is important to allow yourself to make mistakes. Something she has seen a lot from clients is the level of pressure they put on themselves to be perfect. Due to the impossibility of that, they often feel overwhelmed, and end up not doing anything at all. It’s the curse of perfectionism- either I do it perfect or I don’t even try, so I can’t say that I failed. It’s about having experiences and learning, not about winning or losing. It’s the cliche statement of, “it’s the journey not the destination”.

Often people are so focused on the end goal that they forget to enjoy the experience and the journey to that. And if they don’t reach it, then they feel that they have failed, they get frustrated with themselves, and write that off as an unsuccessful sexual encounter. If they would have allowed themselves, to enjoy the journey, they could still have a very positive and fulfilling sexual experience.

Contact us today to schedule an appointment 512-537-0922.

Next Steps & Resources:

Ready to take the next step?

What online counseling options do I have?

For the past decade we have excelled at online therapy, tele-therapy and phone counseling. We have seen couples online and conducted Sex Therapy online through video platforms. Everything can be completed online including your intake, first session all the way through graduation! You can even find a Respark Therapist or Coach and book your first session online without having to pick up the phone. Many of our clients love online therapy as there are so many pros! Learn more about our online couples therapy, online individual therapy and online Sex Therapy process here.

What is Respark all about?

We have therapists throughout all of Texas and Colorado. We offer the best couples therapy and sex therapy because our team had 200+ hours of training post graduate. Many of them are already certified or about to become certified sex therapists. We have therapists trained in trauma, EMDR, eating disorders and Health at Every Size informed.

I want to become a sex therapist or sexual health professional, how do I do that?
Check out our podcast with Respark Founder, Heather McPherson at Practice Outside the Lines.

I want to become a certified sex therapist or certified sex coach or educator?

We also started one of the largest sexual health training organizations in the country. Check out Sexual Health Alliance for sexuality certification programs.

I need additional support around growing my sexual health focused practice as a sex therapist, sex coach or sexuality professional. Where can I find more information?

We started Practice Outside the Lines to support new and seasoned sexuality professionals learn how to start and grow a sexual health focused business.