LCPC, 15 years of experience
Hello! I am a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor in Illinois. I received my Masters in Counseling from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology. I have been practicing for that past 15 years. Much of my work has been in residential and PHP/IOP settings working with individuals with co-occurring issues, most often complicated by trauma. My goal is the help individuals see their own intrinsic value and guide them toward feeling empowered again.
Our first session will be about getting to know each other. I am really aware of how intimidating meeting with a counselor can be and I will do my best to set your mind at ease. I'll have some questions for you but I don't really set an agenda for our first session other than providing a non-judgmental space for you to tell me your story.
I find that I can be very intuitive in understanding what may be going on underneath and have had a lot of success helping people understand themselves. I tend to see the best in people and to help them see it, too.
I want to help you understand what you are struggling with and why you may be struggling with it. My goal is to help you learn how to cope with and successfully navigate the emotions, thoughts and memories that are difficult. My hope is that you will find your intrinsic value and be able to experience success in overcoming some of the challenges you currently struggle with, whether it is difficult emotions, maladaptive behaviors or traumatic memories.
I have used and taught DBT skills which is very beneficial to help people identify skills to help them tolerate distress, regulated emotions and develop better relationship skills. DBT emphasizes the development of mindfulness as a basis of developing acceptance of current challenges and of the variety of human emotions we all experience.
CBT provides a number of insight based interventions to help train and organize the mind with the intent of developing skill at effectively altering behaviors. This approach is helpful in developing internal understanding.
Existential therapy has been described as "meaning making." It provides a framework to help people shift perspectives and identify the "why" in order to make sense of things.
Faith based therapy integrates the spiritual beliefs of a person into the counseling setting.
Many struggles and difficulties occur within a family system. Family therapy views the system of the family as the "client" and provides opportunity to all the "parts" of the system to adapt and change together.