Today we’d like to introduce you to Kathryn Beskrowni
Hi Kathryn, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
There’s a scientific concept called cosmology, essentially the study of the unfolding of the universe; that’s how I tend to think about my professional story. If at any single point I hone in too far there isn’t a lot of sense or cohesion, but if we zoom out just a bit the unfolding and serendipity of this journey starts to take this beautiful shape.
I completed my undergraduate degree at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, eventually landing on English as a course of study mostly because I didn’t want to do anything else. I had no plans of becoming a therapist, and to be honest I had very little plan of becoming anything beyond whatever version of myself was showing up that day. But things continued to unfold: I found myself involved in community-based work and oriented around social justice, dabbling in politics and legal spaces, taking up corporate roles and learning way too much about excel… and the piece that continued to ground me was the the stories – the shared human experience. Much longer story short, I completed by Masters degree in counselor education at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, heavily influenced by Dr. Rocco Cottone and Dr. Brian Hutchison, leaving me with what I think is a fun and interesting lens of existential and systems theories that I bring to my therapeutic work today.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Overall I wouldn’t say the path was unsmooth, but there was definitely an incline.
Struggles in this work live in two arenas, although I think they often act upon each other – the literal and the intangible. In that literal realm, most of the hardships I have navigated were tied to resource. I was the first person in my family to pursue a graduate degree, my siblings and I were first generation college students overall; the lack of presumption in my path allowed for a lot of possibility, but also meant there was a huge lack of planning. I had no nest egg ready to help pay for my coursework, or for the new life I was cultivating in a brand new city. Navigating services and supports available to me to alleviate that literal need – on community and state levels – was both necessary and so incredibly difficult. The “getting our needs met” conversation didn’t go away after graduation, it just continues to ebb and flow and take different shapes, even as different levels of on-paper success are met. More internally, in that intangible realm, the educational pathways to counseling degree are not for the faint of heart! I can really only speak to UMSL’s programming, but so much of that work is depth-oriented, really encouraging us to look inward and bring some critical eye to who we are, what choices we make, and how we show up in the world. These are reflections and conversations I am still having, and intend to continue throughout my career.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about STL SpeakEasy?
STL SpeakEasy is actually a subsidy of Krown Consulting LLC (a play on my last name); when I was getting started with my brand I created some separation with an undefined desire to expand and grow!
As it exists now, STL SpeakEasy is the framework for existentially based philosophical counseling in St. Louis. I offer psychotherapy to individuals and couples, though coupling is not tied specifically to romantic partnerships – I welcome business partners, co-parents, siblings, roommates. The work is oriented around practicing authenticity and exploring our phenomenological experience: what’s happening, how conscious are we of it, and what meaning do we make of any of it? Beyond direct client work, I am also bringing focus to the development and experience of therapists in our area, my larger goal being the creation of a Midwest chapter of the Existential-Humanistic Institute. I currently co-facilitate a few groups for therapists aimed at bringing depth, understanding, and confidence to our work, these groups provide continuing education credit as well as ongoing, tangible support to providers in the community.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
This is a fun question, and as cheesy as it sounds who honestly comes to my first are my clients. I believe deeply in the parallel experience of therapy, I would not be developing into the clinician – or person – that I am if not for the incredible work we are able to do together.
In terms of mentors and supports, I’ve named Dr Cottone and Hutchison already but I would be remiss not to name drop some of my peers, and friends, that have been instrumental in my growth, development, and success: Taquera Walker, Bonnie Rose, Elizabeth Rastberger, Holly Rivera, and more recently Tyler Witzig.
To close out what feels like my Oscar speech here, I’ll also shoutout the support, encouragement, and celebration that my family has and continues to offer me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://stlspeakeasy.com
- Instagram: betterthan_youfoundit
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kbeskrowni/
- Other: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/kathryn-beskrowni-saint-louis-mo/1246671
