Eunoia’s Story
The founders of Eunoia Collective are Gabriella Sloan and Katarina Ivančević, otherwise known as Gabbie and Kat. We met in the summer of 2023, when Gabbie moved to the Chicago suburbs to pursue her dream job: being a therapist at a residential eating disorder treatment for adolescent girls. Our friendship and professional collaboration flourished immediately, and we worked with some truly gifted professionals as a comprehensive team, providing compassionate, human-centric care to countless adolescents and their families from all over the country.
From there, our team all went different directions (you can find their work here in Naperville, here in Downers Grove, and here). Gabbie went on to become the Assistant Clinical Director of the residential facility Kat and Gabbie originally worked at before she helped open a Complex Trauma and Eating Disorder Program for adults in Downers Grove. Kat went on to work in a private practice in St. Charles, IL, where she currently continues to provide care, wants to write a book, or perhaps travel to Scotland.
While Gabbie and Kat remain in different practices currently, they are excited for life to bring them back together to continue the work that is deeply meaningful for their lives.
Why “Eunoia?”
Gabbie and Kat wanted to create their own practice as they are acutely aware of the challenges found in a one size fits all approach to eating disorder treatment. They both strive to provide human-centric, anti-carceral eating disorder care that focuses on compassion and human dignity, with a goal to explore their own unique passions and gifts as clinicians and survivors of eating disorders.
We chose the word “Eunoia” for this collective, as it is a Greek word with various meanings, including “beautiful thinking” or “having a goodwill toward others” - a genuine love and care for the being of another.
Whenever we would consult with each other after a particularly challenging session or client, the thought was always the same; we always wished that our clients could see themselves as others saw them - reprieved from their self-judgment or doubt that so often influences our ability to clearly see ourselves.
The beauty of it all is that struggle is universal. This is why we need others; we are not meant to suffer alone. Walking alongside our clients in the midst of their suffering remains one of the deepest privileges of our personal and professional experiences.
"Though there are many phrases for the therapeutic relationship (patient/therapist, client/counselor, analysand/analyst, client/facilitator, and the latest — and, by far, the most repulsive — user/provider), none of these phrases accurately convey my sense of the therapeutic relationship. Instead I prefer to think of my patients and myself as fellow travelers, a term that abolishes distinctions between “them” (the afflicted) and “us” (the healers) . . . We are all in this together and there is no therapist and no person immune to the inherent tragedies of existence."
— Irving Yalom