Dr. Ian Niecko

Welcome! If you are reading this, it means you’re taking a courageous and pivotal step towards enhancing your well-being. I am Ian Niecko, a licensed counseling psychologist with years of experience in helping individuals, families, and couples navigate their unique life paths. Considering reaching out to others for help, or therapy, can be a fearful prospect for many. I applaud your bravery! The journey to know oneself and find balance and meaning in life will always be challenging and filled with great reward. My role is to offer you a safe and supportive space that allows you to begin your journey of healing and growth as well as meaningful and lasting change in your life. I've learned that behind all symptoms and behavior lies a unique and individual story that strives to be witnessed and understood. Often, our struggles and challenges in life are associated with the stories we have come to believe growing up around relationships, the world, and ourselves. Over the years, these stories form a major part of our identity and cause us to think, feel, and act in particular ways which do not always align with our own values. Difficult life experiences can fragment our sense of identity and break down our body, mind, and heart connection. This may cause our thoughts, feelings and actions to work against rather than for one another. A greater sense of well-being is achieved by restoring this connection through addressing not only your present, but your past and future as well. As a counseling psychologist, my educational background, training, and experience (including the last nine years in community behavioral health) in whole person health has set me a unique path that has culminated in beginning this practice. Those who want to establish a body, mind, and heart connection will benefit most by working with me. I am well versed in treating various types and spectrums of trauma and dissociative disorders, depression, anxiety, mood disorders, attentional problems, addiction, spiritual/religious issues, and relationship and family conflict. Ultimately, this has allowed me to create a dynamic therapeutic toolbox that can be personally designed around your needs and goals. I am a certified Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) counselor and an EMDR consultant in training (CIT). EMDR is an evidence-based treatment for a variety of disorders. I am currently being trained in administering EMDR intensives and have plans to increasingly roll this out in the future. If this interests you, please relay that to me in your communications. Additionally, I am certified in complex trauma and dissociative disorders through the International Society for the Study of Trauma & Dissociation (ISST-D) as well as a certified Heart Math (biofeedback) practitioner. I also work as an adjunct professor in behavioral sciences at the University of Alaska Southeast. In case you were wondering, the term Nepsis (νῆψις) is a concept in ancient Orthodox Christian spirituality which means watchfulness or vigilance at the gates of the heart. The heart has been likened to be the center of one's being. An ancient Hebrew proverb admonishes us to "guard the heart above all else, for out of it flow the springs of life." Kallistos Ware described this kind of watchfulness as being "present where we are – at this specific point in space, at this particular moment in time." This kind of "neptic" approach to life facilitates the reintegration of body, mind, and heart and really captures the philosophy behind Nepsis Integrative Psychology and the services we offer.