HELLO! I am Pat Stankovitch, a Licensed Psychologist who specializes in providing therapy and psychological testing to adults and training workshops to mental health providers and the general public. I began my career in the corporate world, in which I worked as a human resources manager for three organizations. While I experienced success in this field, I felt like I had my ladder of success standing against the wrong wall — a metaphor often used by organizational consultants to describe why some people are unhappy in their work. I began to believe that there was a better place for me in the world of work — one which would better allow me to develop and create the best version of my work life. I sought career assessment from a psychologist, who showed me, through the results of a variety of assessment tools, that the work life I was living was not the life I was born to live. As a result, I made a decision to change careers which started me on my educational journey to become a Licensed Psychologist.

I obtained both my M.A, and Psy.D. degrees from the University of St. Thomas. Once I began working as a psychologist, my work ceased to be a “job” and became one of my life passions. From 2007 through 2019 I served as clinical faculty at the University of St. Thomas. As a part of that role, I worked as the Director of Psychological Services at the Interprofessional Center for Counseling and Legal Services, which is a multidisciplinary clinic providing law, psychology, and social work services to underserved populations in the Twin Cities. There I trained and supervised practicum students, doctoral interns, and post-doctoral fellows as they provided therapy and testing services to clients.

Psychological evaluation specialties of mine include evaluations for immigration, pre-adoption evaluations, and diagnostic psychological testing in the areas of emotional and behavioral functioning. I believe in the value that psychological assessment can provide to clients in helping them better understand themselves and the changes they can make in order to move forward in creating and living the best versions of their lives.

I focus my practice on working with adults of all ages. Many of my clients are experiencing challenges in one or more aspects of their life - despite being successful in their school or career lives. The challenge may be coming from a recent life transition - for example, job loss or increased stress on the job, a relationship breakup, or the death of someone significant in their life. Or the challenge may be coming from a longer-term struggle with anxiety or self-esteem issues which are interfering with important areas of life. Other clients have experienced a traumatic event either recently or at some time in the past. Such event might be a car accident, hurricane, being in a war zone, sexual assault, physical/emotional abuse (or any other highly-stressful event).  

Treatments that I use include:

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
• DBT-Informed Treatment
• Motivational Interviewing
• Cognitive Processing Therapy for trauma
• Prolonged Exposure Therapy for trauma

Periodically I also offer group counseling and community workshops in a variety of topics. For more information about my background, please click on the link below to review my C.V.