Therapists in Chicago, IL

Therapy is a process of befriending yourself and finding empowerment in your journey. As a trauma-informed therapist, I believe my role is to create a non-judgmental space where clients can feel safe and demonstrate autonomy. Building a meaningful relationship with my clients, rooted in genuine human connection, is at the core of my therapeutic approach. I’m passionate about working with adults and adolescents wanting to explore anxiety, gender identity, body image and self-esteem, racial and ethnic identity, and multicultural experiences.

In my experience, therapy is a collaborative process, and healing means growing into a more affirming, resilient, and accountable experience of life. In the process of living, you may have created and held onto ineffective relationship patterns or symptoms of anxiety, depression, or trauma in order to protect yourself and survive. Together, we’ll identify and understand the contexts in which these patterns developed in body, mind, and spirit in order to create the acceptance and self-compassion that can support deep healing and more fulfilling relationships with self and others.

We're a trauma-informed, culturally-sensitive mental health counseling group for multicultural, Asian, BIPOC, immigrants, LGBTQIA+, and other marginalized communities. We're passionate about working with individuals, couples and families from different cultural backgrounds, exploring how complex identities and unique personal experiences have shaped us into who we are. We specialize in healing from anxiety, complex trauma, relationship issues, perinatal issues, ADHD, adoption, OCD, stress, cultural identity, cultural/intergenerational conflicts, family conflicts, grief, and other issues.

Are you tired of experiencing the same old anxieties, fears and doubts? Are you ready to explore the difficulties in your life in order to break free from them? Whether you are struggling with intimate relationships or career goals or the state of our world, you deserve a space to process, learn and heal. Utilizing an organic blend of Mindfulness, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Somatic Experiencing, Attachment Theory and Trauma Informed practices, you and I will work together to create the healthy and vibrant life you deserve.

I believe in a collaborative approach to therapy and seek to empower my clients through collaboration in treatment. My worldview and theoretical approach is rooted in a trauma-informed, anti-oppressive, and social justic framework and utilizes interventions from methodologies such as Somatic Experiencing, existentialism, psychodynamic, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy. Therapy can be a powerful tool to hold space for clients and I come from a place of empowerment to help give clients space to process and dialogue through thoughts and feelings.

I am drawn to working with people who want to be more present in their lives–people striving, and perhaps struggling, to move toward connection and vulnerability with others (and oneself) and away from self-judgment and critique. I work with people college-age and older, and my areas of interest are anxiety, depression, life transitions, sleep disorders/insomnia, chronic health issues, relationships, dating, ADHD, and issues related to family-of-origin.

You have a critical inner voice saying you aren’t good enough, you’re an imposter, or you’re a burden to those you care about. Your mental health is impacting your physical health, you have trouble sleeping, and you find it difficult to manage your thoughts, emotions, and stress levels. You also have difficulty navigating relationship(s) (especially family ones) and you want to have healthier relationships where you can speak honestly about your feelings and needs, feel less guilt, and find peace of mind. You also want to understand your emotional triggers and find healthy ways to soothe yourself.

Seeking support is a deeply empowering act and I am here to help you on your healing journey. I believe that by working with the mind and the body, powerful connection and growth can occur. Have your worries impacted your ability to feel good in your body? Are you struggling in your relationships? Do you desire to learn new ways to engage with life’s complexities? By understanding the roots of our pain and distress, we can improve current circumstances and cultivate deeper fulfillment.

Suffering is often the result of less than nurturing relationships and experiences. Fear can become imprisoned in the body. Family and culture can dictate how safe it is, or not safe, to express and be yourself. My immigrant experience from Taiwan allows me deeper empathy with people navigating life transitions and relating to different cultures and new relationships. At Embodied Way Psychotherapy PLLC, I strive to empower individuals within the context of systemic injustice and complications. My work is to provide compassion and wisdom so that you can feel fully alive and authentic in your body, your world and your relationships.

Thank you for taking this first step in finding me here. You may be experiencing life challenges, relationship issues, work stressors, and you’re ready to break these patterns and gain clarity. I specialize my approach to what you need at the moment, whether that’s developing healthy boundaries, communication skills, or connecting with a deeper purpose. I welcome a wide variety of client concerns, with a specialization in healing the root cause of mental health issues utilizing talk therapy, somatic releasing work, and breathing exercises.

My clients generally have a sense that something in their lives requires a big shift & seek support & guidance from a professional. Whether it is clarity about relationships, healing from a traumatic event, or taking control of anxiety - I work with you to reveal blind spots, be less reactive, more grounded, and stop getting in your own way; by empowering you to reclaim your inner peace and move forward with renewed strength and resilience. I genuinely trust that my clients know what is best for them and my job is to guide them toward their personal truth that was there all along.

I am a pre-licensed mental health counselor with experience in community-based mental health and crisis intervention. I believe in the transformative nature of community, and I value exploring the intersections of identity and the ways they interact with your life and lived experiences. My goal is to encourage the strengthening of your voice and to better understand how various systems impact how we show up. You already have the answers within you, and my role is to collaborate with you in the recalling of them.

When we feel stressed and overwhelmed, numb, or stuck, calmness and connection is harder to come by. Our own bodies may feel beyond our control, or we may feel disconnected to them. We may desire change but don't know how to create it. If we feel shame or self-doubt, we may have difficulty finding our voice, our community, or our life’s work. Managing and making sense out of what we’re feeling or thinking sometimes is too much to carry alone. When we know it's time for the way we're feeling or thinking to shift, and we want more health, creativity, and joy in our lives, it's time to invest in ourselves and our wellbeing.

As a queer, sex-positive and neurodivergent affirming therapist, I am passionate about working with folks whose experience is shaped by feeling "different"- due to sexuality, gender, ADHD/Autism, or relationship orientation. Many of my clients experience interpersonal challenges including social anxiety, people-pleasing, and fears of rejection. I am here to provide gentle feedback about the ways you can be kinder to yourself and practice firm but flexible boundaries.

As human beings we know life has a way of creating challenges we may find difficult to face on our own. I firmly believe each of us possess fundamental inner-strengths that can not only help us cope with these challenges, but flourish and thrive together. My goal as a therapist is to come alongside clients in a compassionate nonjudgmental stance to help identify your strengths and how to translate them into meaningful growth both within yourself and in your relationships. I value using a mind/body approach and a warm, relational atmosphere in therapy. I am LGBTQIA+-affirming, sex-positive, kink and poly-friendly.

Eroticism is adult play: ideally it is expansive, vibrant, joyful, and stress-free. Living in a sex-shaming society damages our ability to have a loving, easy relationship to our erotic, sensual, and sexual identities. That damage can lead to conflict and disconnection with ourselves and our intimate others. Our relational health is a necessary ingredient in our overall life satisfaction. Most of us long for our intimate relationships to be a safe haven from the stress, overwhelm, and chaos of our lives. When that isn’t the case, it can lead us to feel lost, uneasy, and wondering how to find our way back to a feeling of security.

If you are tired of talking in circles, feel burnt out, and stuck, then you've come to the right place! My clients are people who feel ready to explore their lives through something more than just talking. I use a body-centered and arts-based approach so that you can dive deeper, break free from toxic cycles, and make meaningful change in your life. While I am an art therapist, art is not required for us to work together. You set the pace and I will meet you where you're at. I specialize in helping those with anxiety, life changes, relationship problems, trauma, cycle breaking, depression, & perinatal issues.

I love supporting my clients in discovering the brightest versions of themselves. I strive to be a grounding presence, offering strengths-based insight in a consistent, nurturing, and nourishing space where you can stretch, grow, and thrive. My trauma-informed clinical work also names the heavy impact of the systems at play in our lives - racism, white supremacy, colonization, capitalism, patriarchy, anti-queerness, anti-fatness and ableism must be acknowledged as complex and enduring influences on our institutions and therefore on our individual and collective healing.

Has life thrown a lot at you? Maybe you’ve successfully gotten through past difficulties, only to find your old ways of coping no longer serve you. Let’s work together to find your healing. With warmth and acceptance, I work to unlock your connection to and trust in your strengths, wisdom, and creativity. We'll shape an understanding of who you are, where you’d like to be, and what tools work for you to build skills and find solutions to your goals. Using my foundation in the neurophysiology of stress and trauma, I will partner with you to cultivate cognitive and body-based tools to cope and find new responses to present challenges.