Therapists in 60602

On the outside you appear calm and steady, on the inside you feel tense and preoccupied, pushing aside your own needs to attend to the issue in front of you. You're high functioning, yet you hold yourself back from fully engaging with others and your own interests. Maybe you don’t even know what you enjoy because you’ve been so focused on prioritizing others. You find yourself going about your routines and trying to feel relief, but your current ways of operating are contributing to a build up of stress. Maybe you’ve limited your world, told yourself what you can and cannot do, and now you’re wondering how much you can change.

Starting therapy and finding the right therapist can feel like a daunting task. I congratulate you on taking the first step and am glad you are here! A quick peek into what sessions with me involve: an unbiased, nonjudgmental place to express yourself, building specific coping skills to deal with stressors, psychoeducation, identifying and restructuring negative thinking styles, changing maladaptive behaviors, learning assertiveness skills, identifying and working towards important values in your life, building insight into unhelpful cyclical patterns, increasing self-esteem and confidence, and recognizing your own strengths.

When anxiety becomes overwhelming, it interferes with relationships, confidence, and the ability to perform your best. Breaking the avoidance, overthinking, checking and self-doubt cycle is possible. I take a warm and enthusiastic approach in guiding the therapeutic process for adults living with OCD, panic attacks, phobias, illness anxiety, sports performance anxiety, skin picking and hair pulling. I have over 11 years of counseling experience and 20 years in the mental health field. My work now focuses on helping adults, athletes, university students, and working professionals overcome obsessive worry and return to valued living.

Life can be difficult and all of us struggle at times. We deal with hardship, loss, pain, break ups, hurt, relationship turmoil, tough transitions, crisis, sadness, worry and difficulty managing intense feelings. We are also resillient. We all have the inherent ability to change and better ourselves. We offer you the space and tools to learn and grow through collaborative, non-judgmental, compassionate therapy.

The step to enter into counseling is a courageous one, it encompasses your willingness to connect, to be vulnerable, and to seek hope in healing. I see counseling as a way for clients to make change, to liberate one’s self from patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving that may not be serving you effectively. These patterns are often imposed by society, family, and ones' own culture and/or gender. Counseling is a space to help navigate all that comes with life’s changes. In practice, I specialize in anxiety, depression, grief/loss, OCD, infertility, postpartum, relationships, job change/loss, and other adjustment related stressors.

Are you done struggling with anxiety, depression, and relationships? Are you ready to feel fully yourself and alive again? Are you ready to build the life you want to live? My first goal when meeting with you is to establish a genuine & collaborative connection. This'll serve as the foundation for the work necessary to deal with daily feelings, understand experiences & make positive changes to your life. We'll work together to help you feel whole, peaceful, and connected. When you're done with therapy, you'll feel empowered and ready to face whatever challenges life throws at you. I can help you live your passion, purpose & truth.

At some point in our lives we all experience the full force of life’s challenges. Sometimes the distress, pain, alienation or isolation is too intense for us to traverse life’s path alone. Yet, for many of us, asking for help or inviting others into our private world is equally difficult. I hope to convince you that therapy can help us understand conflicts underlying these challenges. Through insight, self-empowerment and enhanced emotional regulation, we can become more adaptive and begin to heal and grow in the face of challenges or transitions. Therapy can also help to cultivate a greater sense of meaning and purpose in our live.

I offer therapy to children, adolescents, and families. While I have experience with a variety of presenting concerns, I have a special interest in helping children and adolescents cope with anxiety, specific phobias, selective mutism, OCD, and family conflict. I am also dedicated to coaching parents on the best ways to support their children through anything life throws their way. Whatever the reason for coming to therapy, we will work together to identify the barriers that are maintaining your struggles and draw from your strengths to identify tools to help you through it!

My strengths as a therapist are in helping people who are experiencing difficulties related to mood (depression, bipolar disorder), traumatic events (past or recent), anxiety, or psychosis. My therapy style is warm, person-centered, and collaborative but also humorous and active. I am also LGBTQIA+ friendly, gender affirming, and body/sex positive. I enjoy working with members of the kink, BDSM, and ethical non-monogamy communities and strive to make therapy a safe space to explore topics relevant to their lives. I am neurodivergence affirming and competent and try to make accommodations whenever possible to make therapy accessible.

Psychotherapy relieves emotional distress by cultivating one's innate capacities to think and grow. We all negotiate the world in idiosyncratic ways developed over the course of our lives, and emotional suffering results when such initially adaptive measures no longer suffice to meet our emotional needs. Understanding the origins of repetitive unsatisfying relationships, low self-esteem, anxiety, and other psychological symptoms allows one to make more informed decisions about how to meet these needs authentically and effectively.

Let's be real, life is tough sometimes. You keep your head down and try to get through the day, only to be up at night fighting worries that won’t let go. You are stressed out, overwhelmed, and have little energy. Everything you do to try and be in control of your anxiety isn’t working, the intrusive and unwanted thoughts just keep coming. You can’t remember the last time you felt good. It’s difficult to know where to start, or how to sort it out on your own. Even though you’re feeling stuck, you sense the possibility that things could be different. Reconnecting to what makes life meaningful is not as far away as it might seem.

I believe that we are only able to make changes once we’ve learned to meet ourselves wherever we might be at–and I want to help you build the tools so you can meet you! I provide neurodivergent-affirming care to people with ADHD and Autism. That means that I want to help you work with your brain, rather than fighting against it–which is an exhausting struggle! We can talk about any number of issues that may also be impacting you: anxiety, depression, traumatic experiences, disordered eating, substance use. My goal is to help you figure out what’s important to you and help you move towards those things you value.

www.HopeLandTherapy.com 708-274-7991 Call or e-mail for scheduling information. Improve: Relationship with self, Couple relationship, Family relationships, Self-esteem, Anxiety, ADHD, Self-improvement, Relaxation, Grounding, PTSD, Sexual trauma, Childhood trauma, Life transitions, and more! Get help now with Therapy or Life Coaching. Call today and start your journey to well-being.

I use a collaborative model, where sessions feel like two people having a conversation in my living room, versus a stereotypical doctor/patient interaction. I don't view your issues as coming from an abnormal psychopathology, but instead as a reaction to living in a stressful, complex, and contradictory world. I seek to understand your issues in the context of your unique experience rather than viewing you as having something wrong or being broken. My focus is on what you need from me....I take my lead from you.

You know it is time for a change, yet remain stuck in a host of familiar patterns that seem inescapable. My goal is to help you live a more pleasurable and productive life by making good choices, developing healthy coping skills and welcoming positive new experiences. My ideal client is motivated to improve his or her life yet does not have the tools to go about it. I am committed to helping my clients develop and fine tune tools that lead to more fulfillment in life and relationships.

Life’s challenges happen suddenly. Without warning it feels like you can’t navigate through with confidence and calm. Instead, you are plagued with worry, hesitation, anxiety, and depression. At times, life feels like a ticking time bomb, and you are desperately searching for an effective means to diffuse it. But your coping skills aren’t working well enough, or maybe they weren’t that healthy in the first place. How are you supposed to get comfortable with the challenges you are experiencing, let alone feel you are responding in a healthy way, when everything around you – maybe even your person – can be so unpredictable?

Therapy can heal wounds and create more rewarding relationships. I am not interested in simply pathologizing you and your challenges. Instead, I work with you to examine how your experience of the world has shaped your reality and your relationship with your self. During sessions, I will encourage you to narrate your life with full autonomy. I will ask you questions that promote deeper reflections. I might challenge some of your thinking, but I will also help you to trust me. Doing so will allow you to develop a new, different awareness that responds to the deepest motivations and meanings in life.

You're looking for a therapist, that's great! That means that you are ready to make some changes. Maybe you've been struggling with anxiety, depression, relationships or many of the other problems that bring us down. You can let go of old habits that are holding you back. If you want a life filled with joy, happiness and energy I'm with you! We all want that. Imagine the triumph of waking up every day feeling more secure, confident, and successful! Let's look into the magic of learning those skills and tools that will lead you directly to your life's goals and achievements. I can help you get there.

I work with individuals, couples, and families struggling with a wide range of concerns including anxiety, depression, addiction issues (substance abuse), troubled teens, school failure, LGBTQ+, and trauma and identity issues. As a lifelong allied and friend to the LGBTQ+ community, I work very hard to remain current to concerns that are specific to marginalized communities. I tailor our dialog and treatment plan to meet your unique needs. I will work with you to think outside of the box and build strength through our therapeutic relationship.