Michael Ivanov, Ph.D.: Building Visibility for a Clinical Scientist


From Therapy Room to Digital Platform: How Consensus Therapy Is Evolving


 / 2025-05


Abstract
Michael Ivanov, Ph.D., CPsychol (BPS), spent over a decade developing Consensus Therapy (CT) — a framework that integrates psychology, neuroscience, and clinical practice to help couples move beyond conflict by aligning their perceptions. His research on Perceptual Agreement (PA) has demonstrated unusually strong predictive power for relationship satisfaction, yet his visibility remained low: a static website, minimal SEO presence, and little recognition outside academic circles.

The task was clear: design a multi-stage visibility strategy that could turn Dr. Ivanov from a respected but hidden researcher into a recognised expert in couples therapy — someone who could publish books, appear in media, and be invited to conferences as the voice of a new approach.

Our agency was invited to design and execute this strategy. The goal was twofold:
  1. Integrate Consensus Therapy into the professional community as a credible methodology.
  2. Make the framework accessible to the wider public through books, media presence, and, ultimately, a digital application.

The challenge lay in bridging very different worlds: the language of academia vs. the logic of SEO, the fluid craft of therapy vs. the rigid structure of software. This case study outlines the phases of implementation and the obstacles we navigated.


Building the Foundation

When Dr. Ivanov first approached us, his online presence was minimal: a static website, no SEO strategy, and no structured content. The first step was to create a digital foundation capable of supporting future growth.

  • Website rebuild: We redesigned his site into a professional, mobile-optimised platform with clear calls to action (e.g. “Change Your Relationship Life”), booking and payment integration, and dedicated landing pages for therapy, supervision, and couples work.
  • SEO groundwork: We identified high-intent keywords like “couples therapy NYC” and “relationship counseling Manhattan.” A calendar of 10 articles tailored to the New York audience was produced — short, practical, and designed for fast ranking.
  • Reputation layer: We set up his Google Business profile and began building patient and peer reviews on Google and Yelp.

This early stage created visibility and accessibility — the equivalent of opening the digital front door to his practice.



Creating a Content Engine

Once the foundation was in place, the next challenge was consistent voice and thought leadership.

Here, the difficulties were personal. Writing comes naturally to Dr. Ivanov as a scientist, but SEO-optimised articles demand a completely different skillset. Academic writing rewards caution, nuance, and footnotes; SEO demands clarity, keywords, and directness. Every article became a translation exercise: from research language into accessible insight.

We supported him through:
  • Monthly newsletters, combining practical relationship advice with research insights.
  • 3–4 articles per month, balancing professional content (“What is Perceptual Agreement and Why It Matters”) with public-facing guides (“7 Signs You Should See a Therapist”).
  • White paper drafts, distilling CT into a clinical model ready for journals, conferences, and podcasts.
  • Social media repurposing, turning long articles into daily micro-posts for Threads/X.

This cadence gradually turned Dr. Ivanov from an invisible researcher into a recognisable voice in the therapy space.



Expanding Authority Through Publishing

The next step was to scale credibility and expand reach on two fronts: the professional community and the general public.

For clinicians, the strategy is clear: publication in peer-reviewed journals that shape the practice of couple and family therapy. CT will be introduced in outlets such as the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy, Family Process, and APA journals like Psychotherapy. Drafts are already underway, reframing Perceptual Agreement as a clinically applicable construct.

For the wider public, the most powerful tool is a book — working title: “The Lens of Love: Seeing Each Other Clearly”. Written in a therapeutic-practical style reminiscent of Gabor Maté, the book combines the strongest empirical findings on PA with case narratives and simple guided exercises.

The book is more than publishing: it is a PR engine. A book is what gets an author invited to NPR, cited in The New York Times, profiled in Psychology Today, and featured on TEDx stages. The sequencing is deliberate: first, journals to establish credibility among clinicians; second, the book to extend influence to the cultural mainstream.



Developing the Application

The most ambitious part of the strategy is the Consensus Therapy App, scheduled for release in 2026. Its goal is to make the framework accessible outside the therapist’s office, transforming a clinical method into a guided digital experience couples can use themselves.

The app will walk partners through structured, real-time sessions where they take turns responding to prompts, making predictions about each other’s views, and clarifying perceptions. In practice, it digitises the core Consensus Therapy protocols — from Presenting Issues to Closure — including paraphrasing, negotiation, and consensus-building.

To ensure safety and engagement, the app introduces a guiding character — “Dr. Misha” — who explains the exercises, provides commentary, and gently reminds users that the platform is a wellness tool, not a substitute for therapy. Each session generates analytics and progress reports, showing how perceptual agreement evolves over time and highlighting recurring areas of misalignment.

A live example: a couple debating finances may each predict the other’s concerns, paraphrase what they heard, and then compare perceptions. The app visualises their overlap and differences, before leading them step by step toward a shared plan.

The development, however, is complex. Therapy is adaptive; software must anticipate. Where a therapist listens and responds in real time, an app must map pathways in advance and encode them into flows, prompts, and interfaces. This requires collaboration between clinicians, developers, designers, and real couples — and constant testing to ensure the experience feels authentic, not mechanical.

As Dr. Ivanov himself reflects: “Writing academic papers was one thing. Writing SEO blogs was another. But translating therapy into an app feels like building a second invention.”

Unlike medical devices, the app will be released as a wellness platform with clear disclaimers. Its promise is immense: for many couples, it will supplement therapy between sessions; for others, it may be the first accessible entry point into self-reflection and growth. Ultimately, the app aims to democratise access to CT, extending the reach of a research-based method into the everyday lives of couples worldwide.


Branding page


Results to Expect

Within 12 months:
  • Top-3 SEO rankings in local NYC searches for couples therapy.
  • 25–40% increase in organic inquiries.
  • 20+ reviews, building a public trust layer.
  • 25+ published articles, creating the first content library.
  • 300–500 email subscribers — a core community primed for book readers and early app adopters.

Within 2–3 years:
  • Peer-reviewed publications validating CT.
  • Release of The Lens of Love, leading to invitations for podcasts, conferences, and media coverage.
  • Therapy is positioned as a premium service with rates aligned to exclusivity.

By 2026:
  • Launch of the Consensus Therapy App, marking a shift from a clinical framework to a digital ecosystem.
  • Media coverage of CT as an innovation at the intersection of psychology and healthtech.
  • Early metrics: >10,000 downloads in the first year, measurable improvement in PA-scores among engaged users.


Closing Note

Consensus Therapy began as a clinical insight: relationships succeed when partners perceive each other accurately. Our work has been to build the scaffolding around that insight — websites, content, publications, and soon, an app — so that it can be seen, trusted, and used at scale.

The journey has not been simple. Academic writing does not translate easily into SEO blogs. Therapy does not easily become software. But in making these translations, we are building something larger: a method that lives across clinics, bookshelves, and digital platforms.

If successful, Consensus Therapy will not just be a framework. It will be a movement — making perception visible, accessible, and transformative for couples everywhere.
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