Therapists for college students near Chicago, IL
I am licensed clinical social worker (LCSW), who has been practicing in Chicago for 5 years. My speciality includes working with college age/ young adult individuals who are struggling with life transitions, mood disorders (depression, anxiety), ADHD, executive functioning, self esteem and mild OCD. I am a relationship based therapist, where I put emphasis on building rapport with my client and exploring their experiences, thoughts and feelings. When you meet with me, you will find I am warm, welcoming, empathetic and curious. This is your therapy and I want to make sure that the time we spend together is tailored for YOU, not just anyone else who may have similar concerns. I describe my practice as, "You are in the drivers seat and I am sitting in the passenger seat. You will decide where we go, what direction to go in and how we will spend the time. I will be there to provide support, help bring back to goal at hand, and help to stay on track." You are the expert on your own experience. I believe that if we can combine your lived experience and knowledge with my expertise we can make great progress. Please feel free to reach out to schedule a free 10 min intake phone call to discuss if you are interested in therapy and think I might be a good fit!
Please visit my profile to learn more about my services.
You might feel like you’re drowning, overwhelmed by troubling thoughts. Or you might be struggling with the sense that no one really “gets” you. You might want to connect, but you don’t know how. Maybe you feel like you don’t know who you are or what’s important to you. This could lead you to feeling frustrated, alone or possibly even hurt. You deserve a space to explore and express yourself, feeling fully seen and accepted for who you are and who you are becoming. I know what it’s like to feel hopeless and like life will never get better. I know it can feel like the whole world is stacked against you and no one wants to help. I am passionate about supporting individuals during stressful and transitional periods in their lives. As a lawyer with more than 10 years of government experience before becoming a therapist, I am familiar with the pressures of student and early professional life, and I am committed to supporting you in finding your own ways to cope.
I am a passionate clinician working within the field of eating disorders and mental health. I provide nutritional therapy to guide individuals in redefining their relationships with food, nutrition, body image, and overall wellness. As a dietitian, I use nutrition therapy to unravel the nutrition and diet beliefs held by individuals and society. I believe that there is no “secret” or “magic pill” to having a healthy relationship with food. By including principles of Intuitive Eating (IE) and Health at Every Size (HAES), I practice a non-diet approach. I follow the philosophy of all foods fit, incorporating balance, moderation, and variety in one’s intake. Once one can recognize that all foods fit, a positive relationship with food can be developed. I am currently accepting new clients and would love to be a part of your journey!
At EMDR Urban Healing Center, we understand that true well-being goes beyond just mental clarity—it’s about healing the connection between mind and body. Life’s difficulties often settle deep within, impacting us emotionally and physically. Through a combination of therapeutic approaches, with a special focus on EMDR, we help clients release what’s been held inside, creating space for healing and growth. Led by a dedicated therapist with a clear vision, our practice offers a unique and personalized approach. We know that starting therapy can feel overwhelming—finding the right therapist, knowing what to expect, and trusting the process can be daunting. That’s why we strive to create a welcoming and transparent experience for every client, ensuring you feel supported every step of the way. With a commitment to individualized care, we’ve assembled a team of skilled therapists to meet the varied needs of our clients. Whether you’re seeking support for trauma, anxiety, relationships, or personal growth, our goal is to empower you through every stage of your healing journey. At EMDR Urban Healing Center, we don’t just offer therapy; we offer a path toward lasting change and deeper understanding.
Just because you are pursuing therapy doesn’t mean there is something wrong with you. It doesn’t mean that you are not strong. And it definitely doesn’t matter if you think other people have it worse than you. This is about your life and how we can help to make it better.
Please visit my profile to learn more about my services.
Our group therapy practice has trained our clinicians to be trauma and systems informed, neurodivergent and LGBTQ affirmative, and knowledgeable in incorporating and integrating the body and mind in therapy. We consider the individual, societal, and environmental factors and contexts for each client. We also explore the identities you hold and the intersectionality of how your identities inform who you are. We also recognize how macro societal level systems, those that influence experiences of power, privilege, and oppression, deeply impact the experiences of every individual. We use our expertise and understanding about neurodiversity and learning styles in conjunction with Mary Jo Barrett’s Collaborative Change Model to structure and pace healthy trauma informed therapy. We also acknowledge and take into account that when we experience something painful, we experience it on multiple levels. Our approach allows us to integrate the body into therapy and explore what the body needs to feel safe or calm again.
Fred Waltzer, LCSW provides psychotherapy to clients with mood and emotional difficulties. His approach is focused on improving behavioral and emotional abilities to cope with daily life. His focus is helping clients reach personal goals related to social and emotional well-being. The techniques utilized are practical and focused on real world results. If you are coping with depression or anxiety, approaches will include identifying thoughts, behaviors and feelings which increase both well-being and relationships. Mr. Waltzer has worked in healthcare and educational settings. Most often interventions are short term result in productive changes in how his clients interact with their environment. . . .
I am passionate about working with adolescents, teenagers, and young adults navigating anxiety, depression, body image challenges, life transitions, and more. I value being able to support people through the variety of challenges life may bring to help process, guide, and problem solve. I strive to create a warm, welcoming space where clients feel heard, valued, supported and empowered. Deeply committed to helping people navigate life‘s challenges, I work collaboratively to explore patterns, process behaviors, strengthen coping strategies, build resilience, increase emotional regulation skills, and promote self-growth. I believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to be the best version of themselves through healing and growing from their experiences. As a clinician who utilizes a variety of approaches with my clients, I incorporate modalities specific to each individuals needs, often incorporating skills from ACT and CBT to help support clients shift negative thoughts. At the center of all of my interactions and interventions, I understand the importance of keeping a person centered and focusing on strengths. I am passionate about creating an authentic, collaborative and understanding environment where we work together toward meaningful goals to promote lasting growth.
Please visit my profile to learn more about my services.
Ashley (Evans) McTaggart is a Registered Dietitian and a alumna of Northern Illinois University. With over six years of experience in the eating disorder field, Ashley is deeply passionate about supporting individuals in their recovery journey. She began her nutrition career at a residential eating disorder facility in downtown Chicago and later expanded her expertise through roles in Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP) and Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) levels of care. Ashley’s nutrition philosophy emphasizes building a healthy and positive relationship with food, integrating mental, emotional, physical, and social health.
Throughout our lives, we go through events that change us, often permanently. I consider therapy to be a sacred and compassionate space of exploration. It can be exhausting having to explain your story over and over again. Oftentimes we might feel unheard in our daily lives or get fixated on who we “should be” instead of exploring who we already are. Your story has meaning and it deserves to be heard. You are the expert on your own life experiences and identities. You deserve to feel empowered, validated, and safe. When meeting with a potential client I consider you in the context of your relationships, experiences, and culture. When working together we can move through difficult therapeutic concepts in an accessible and warm way. With your permission, I hope to guide you through challenging life transitions and support you in creating a life that you feel is worth living. I work from a collaborative, person-centered, relational, and strengths-based approach. This means I will use non-judgment to consider all aspects of your life and identity— while remaining open to things that cannot be changed. I utilize an intersectional feminist lens and I specialize in trauma, anxiety, boundaries, relationships, abuse, sexuality, gender exploration, life transitions, disability, memory loss, identity exploration, and resiliency work. MORE INFO ABOUT THE PRACTICE: We accept BCBS, Cigna, Aetna, and United PPO Plans, as well as, Sliding Scale rates. Currently, I have a variety of morning, early afternoon, and evening spots open! Please feel free to reach out.
Who I am as a psychologist is deeply tied to who I am as a person. I am a cis Black man. I am heterosexual. I am from rural Arkansas. I was raised in low-income family. I’m first generation. My background taught me the value of community and resourcefulness. These are the things that shape how I see the world and how I serve in this role. I help my clients create sustainable change by working with them to combine knowledge and skills into purposeful action. A cornerstone of my approach involves "me-search". I believe self-knowledge is essential to insight (our ability to identify, understand, and take steps toward our goals). My goal is offering a brave and empowering space to facilitate that transformation. I look forward to helping you explore how your concerns relate to you, your body, social world, and worldview. My ideal clients are folks who are curious, open to ask themselves really hard questions, and have a willingness to approach change in an honest way. I ideally like to work with clients navigating a life transition (academic, work, identity or relationship based), anxiety, and/or healing from traumatic experience. Overall, I enjoy work that’s depth-based and clients who are interested in therapy that focuses the source and solutions. I draw on my clinical-research expertise exploring meaning in life and liberation to approach healing as an integrative process. I believe there is great value in establishing a brave and affirming therapeutic relationship and space to identify, make sense of, and take action to work toward my client’s goals. Overall, I consider myself a “fellow traveler” and practice from a strength-based approach where I invite collaboration, courage, and trust in the process from those with whom I work.
Please visit my profile to learn more about my services.
Our lives' narratives sometimes may not be pleasant nor self-fulling. Nonetheless, the therapeutic space can serve as a starting point to reflect and create new beginnings. It can also be a space where we revisit past narratives that may have marked you significantly or try to embrace our fears for the future. In our work together, I aim to connect with you in a way that not only allows for safety, trust and vulnerability but instills a sense of empowerment that affirms your ability to endure uncertainty. I view therapy as a space where both you and I can help each other to co-narrate your life experiences. My philosophy of life is- we all experience the world differently and are the experts on our may need support with processing and reflecting. For these reasons, I work from an integrative relational, humanistic, trans-affirmative, multicultural and liberating perspective. As a queer therapist of color, I value liberation, social justice and intersectionality. In creating a therapeutic space rooted in multiculturalism, I aim to instill a sense of safety for all clients, especially those with marginalized identities such as LGBTQ+, trans and non-binary, Kinks+, immigrants, and POC'S. I make a point to show up authentically in session as a compassionate, empathic, energetic, reflective, nerdy/geeky, and a bilingual person.
I work with young people about to graduate or young career adults who instead of excitement and anticipation, feel frozen. You have done it all right, gotten the degree that is supposed to be "useful" and yet it feels empty. I work with perfectionistic, high achieving students and early career adults who thought their life would look one way at this stage but are finding it is not what you hoped or thought you would feel. Our work untangles perfectionism, comparison and the pressure to be exceptional at all times.
Introduction Dr. Victoriya Tsaran completed her undergraduate studies in Psychology at Loyola University, and completed both her Master’s and Doctoral Degree in Clinical Psychology from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology in Schaumburg. Currently, Dr. Victoriya Tsaran is the owner and clinical director at Progressive Psychological Healthcare. Dr. Tsaran’s multicultural background allows her to utilize the awareness and understanding of diverse client needs, and utilizes multicultural sensitivity and appreciation in her therapuetic approach. Dr. Victoriya Tsaran provides therapy services in both English and Russian. Experience Dr. Victoriya Tsaran has worked in a wide range of professional settings, including behavioral health hospitals, community mental health centers, skilled nursing facilities and medical rehabilitation centers providing mental health services. In addition, Dr. Tsaran has worked in school settings as well as therapeutic schools and private group practices. Dr. Tsaran’s clinical experience includes working with hundreds of unique, complex and diverse clients. She believes that the client’s success is born out of a trusting and supportive relationship that the client and therapist build together. This is not an easy task since many components play a role in the type of relationship that is allowed to be developed in the therapeutic relationship. The relationships that Dr. Tsaran has developed with her clients and patients was based on her ability to empathize with their developmental needs and understand their unique environment, their perspective of the world around them, and the way they view themselves and others while maintaining healthy professional boundaries. Providing a safe and nurturing environment that encourages a trusting relationship is the goal Dr. Tsaran has for her clients, especially during the early stages of therapy. Therapy Approach Dr. Tsaran’s clinical work revolves around being supportive, flexible, and progressive. Dr. Tsaran approaches her patients and their problems from an individualized perspective and utilizes an individualized treatment plan that is tailored specifically to her patient’s individual and unique needs. Over the years, Dr. Tsaran has developed an eclectic perspective to therapy and utilizes a unique combination of psychotherapy, mind-body awareness, family systems therapy, emotion focused therapy and cognitive behavioral techniques. Her wide range of knowledge and competency in various psychological theories allows Dr. Tsaran to be flexible in her individualized treatment approach with every client. Dr. Tsaran’s areas of specialty include: working with children, young adults, adults, families and couples therapy. She is experienced in treating various clinical presentations including depression, anxiety, mood disorders, trauma, adjustment disorders, behavioral problems, relationship conflict and parenting stress. “I aim to revive my patients from the current positions in their lives and help bring in the much needed harmony and infused positivity that will allow my clients to progress in their minds, their mental health and their overall life.”
Are you feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or unsure of how to move forward? With a warm, compassionate approach, I specialize in working with individuals who are seeking clarity, healing, and personal growth. Whether you're dealing with anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship issues, or life transitions, my goal is to provide a safe, non-judgmental space where you can explore your thoughts and feelings openly.