Family Therapy in Evanston, IL

I want to help my clients flourish and feel good in their own skin. I want them to feel confident in their choices and provide them the tools to create boundaries, better understand themselves and find acceptance. My clients will be exploring their mental health journey and I will be with them to navigate that journey. Through the ups and downs, I will guide them as they discover and learn more about themselves and their understanding of their experiences and what it has brought them. My clients aim to build a strong relationship with themselves and to find healing within their mental health journey.

I am a psychotherapist with over 25 years of experience providing individual therapy and couples counseling to adults. My nonjudgmental approach, which entails kindness, empathy, and support coupled with honest and direct feedback, leads my clients to feel safe and understood - vital to successful therapy. In addition to depression and anxiety, relationship issues are a primary focus of mine, whether that involves dissatisfaction with a current relationship, frustration with establishing relationships, or trauma-related experiences with others.

Going through changes? Some are easier to navigate than others. Often experiences and patterns can limit your response to challenges and keep you stuck in unsatisfying relationships and situations. Together, in a safe and supportive environment, we can examine what has been working well for you and how your life might change by responding differently. We can work together to make the next stage of your life more fulfilling, empowering, and satisfying.

My approach to psychotherapy is to create a safe space where you can explore and heal the difficult and painful issues that are showing up in your life. Together we will move beyond problem-solving into releasing the deeply held mistaken beliefs and core unresolved issues behind your symptoms. My body-centered and somatic approach allows me to work directly with your nervous system to address symptoms like anxiety, racing thoughts, and irrational fears as well as feeling stuck, depressed and unavailable or unresponsive to life and relationships.

As a senior hospital-trained psychologist, I enjoy providing insight-oriented care to individuals and families who are curious about how they contribute to their own difficulties in living. I also enjoy consulting on psycholegal matters and mentoring colleagues. I work with many successful people who are struggling in a particular area such as work or marriage. I enjoy working with people to find more meaning in their careers. I also have a subspecialization in addictions. I also use my behavior change expertise to address our addiction to oil and the preservation of our planet for future generations.

In practice for over 40 years, I have a great deal of experience with adolescents, adults and couples. Area of specialization working with perpetrators of and family members impacted by domestic violence. Anxiety and life adjustments are also an area of specialty. Retired as high school social worker, I've worked with hundreds of adolescents and families. It is my belief that emotional energy is finite and that helping you in achieving balance can be so very helpful in finding solutions to emotional distress. Jazz trumpet is my avocation and I work to pass along the lessons I have learned relating to persistence and mindfulness.

As a clinical psychotherapist in practice for almost 20 years, I understand how hard the first step can be in reaching out for help. I strive to provide a safe, comfortable and trusting environment to explore those issues that perhaps are leaving you feeling stuck, depressed, anxious and/or confused. I work with patients who are suffering from depression, life transition issues, relationship issues, fertility and parenting issues. I value your early life experiences and help you make connections on if/how they make impact your current life choices and relationships.

Life is complicated and seldom straightforward. We are often left facing challenges that are surprising and difficult to navigate. It may be a new role, a disappointment at work, a problem in a relationship, or some lasting echoes from the past that still show up, that causes us to feel anxious, angry, sad, confused and “stuck”. We try our best to manage by using coping strategies that turn out to be more problematic than helpful. We are then left thinking, what happened? Will I ever feel like my old self? Why can't I just get over this? If you are anxious, struggling to focus, overwhelmed by work or family , I am trained to help

I am a licensed clinical social worker. I have focused my career on working with adolescents ,young adults, parents and families. Over the last 10 + years, I have had the opportunity to work with individuals and families in the North Shore. I work with clients to help them find a safe space to express, explore and make positive changes. Over the years I have learned that every individual and family is unique and need treatment to be flexible and supportive of their needs. I work to create opportunities and to teach tangible skills, so long lasting change is possible. I am a gender affirming clinician.

I view psychotherapy as an opportunity for personal growth and greater self-understanding. While it is important to address specific issues in the here and now, often the process can also lead to broader gains in self-awareness and life satisfaction. My approach is collaborative, supportive, and tailored to each person's unique needs and goals. I will work with you to address your concerns, overcome obstacles and find greater personal satisfaction.

You matter. I seek to highlight & build upon your unique strengths with a focus on overall wellness in mind, body, spirit & community. I believe we all have the tools to reach our highest potential. I aim to understand what might be getting in the way of you being your most authentic, talented self. I specialize in helping others access & heal their pain by engaging the nervous system to unlock trauma & emotions to release them. Body integration allows us to feel alive & open to get more of life. I blend evidenced-based practices such as somatic, breathwork, mindfulness, EMDR, CBT, & EFT under a psychodynamic therapy lens.

My approach derives from psychodynamic, family systems, relational and cognitive schools of psychotherapy. I want to help my clients achieve greater clarity about their circumstances, choices, relationships, and ultimately, themselves. I am highly engaged and attuned, warm, enthusiastic and personable. I find that when clients feel seen, deeply understood, and accepted, their internal compasses become more finely tuned, enabling them to make life choices that better align with their values and personal nature. These changes become vehicles for developing new ways of thinking, feeling, and relating to others.

Change is hard. But change is necessary when we find ourselves in situations where we feel sad, anxious, angry or stuck. My ultimate goal as a therapist is to help you develop more options in life -- to help you realize your potential in love, work and play. This involves the development of new ways of thinking, feeling and behaving. I will be your collaborator in this process. I will strive to create a safe, empathic and non-judgmental environment that will allow you to identify and explore your current struggles. Working together, change is possible.

My goal is to provide you with a safe and comfortable space where together we can cultivate a path toward greater fulfillment. I will honor your individuality and capitalize on what is already working for you, so you can utilize this as your foundation for building greater insight and more effective skills. My style is warm, collaborative, and nonjudgmental. I consider it an honor to sit with my clients during their hardest times and witness their journey toward wellness.

Hello and thank you for taking the time to read my profile. It would be an honor to get to know you. I see myself as a coach working with you to reduce anxiety. Our work together will help you identify the unique patterns of communication specific to you and your family . You will start to make sense of how these patterns permeate every aspect of your life in all significant relationships. Do these patterns help you function more effectively or keep you stuck? Five years ago I took the plunge and opened my own clinical practice. I am passionate and committed to my clients as they share, in confidence, the stories of their lives.

As a therapist specializing in neurodivergence, Julia has encountered many parents, families, and kids all trying to find clinician that both “gets” the mental health disorder their child is facing while equally understanding autism spectrum disorder, chromosomal differences, ADHD, developmental differences, and the neurodivergence of their child’s mind. Julia saw the huge demands on parents, sought to understand the hopes they have for their children and the hopes children have for themselves. In doing so, she has become a partner with parents, kids and families to reduce the stress of the therapy experience.