Cognitive Behavioral (CBT) Therapists in Oak Park, IL

I have worked in inpatient hospital settings, schools from elementary to high school, and community social work. My main interest and goal is to help youth and families overcome anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem and have healthier relationships in general.

I have experience working with a wide range of different diagnoses including; Bipolar Disorder, Depression, Anxiety, PTSD, Schizophrenia, Borderline Personality Disorder, and ASPD. I work with clients from ages 12 and up. I have helped clients manage major life transitions, relationship problems, grief and loss, and other life challenges. I use a multicultural lens when working with each client. I see each client as an expert of their lived experience. For me, therapy as a collaborative process in which I help clients achieve their own goals.

Are you a teen or an adult, struggling with constant thoughts of food, body weight and how to change the shape of your body? Do you find yourself engaging in dieting, binge eating, excessive exercise or the need to change the your appearance to feel "okay" each day? Are you turning down invitations with others to avoid social situations where food is involved and instead want to stay with your "safe" foods and calorie/macro counting? Are you ready to heal your relationship with food and your body once and for all?

I believe our primary desire is to form satisfying, balanced relationships. I work from a Developmental, Attachment, Relational perspective and frequently incorporate Trauma & Family Systems Models into my work. I have extensive experience with infants, young children, teens, families & adults. When working with children I strive to work collaboratively with all relevant members in the child's life to understand & treat that child.

Hi, I'm Sam! I am an expert in helping people who struggle with anxiety that leads them to being a people pleaser, perfectionist and burnt out. I love teaching and empowering my clients to use coping skills so that they can feel confident and resilient to overcome their anxiety.

Therapy is an incredible honor of journeying alongside clients as they work towards healing and empowerment in their everyday lives. I partner with my clients in a compassionate manner where they can feel heard, valued, and encouraged to create meaningful change. I believe all clients have a unique and complex story to tell and that all can benefit from taking time to focus on their emotional/mental well-being. I am committed to helping clients learn about themselves in new ways so as to be able to tap into their own unique abilities to overcome life’s obstacles and stressors.

My approach as a therapist is warm, kind, and relatable. Recognizing that therapy can be a difficult step to make I strive to help you navigate through the problems that are causing stress or pain. Whether you are looking for help for yourself or your child I am dedicated to helping explore what is preventing you in moving forward in life. I work with individuals with a variety of issues ranging from anxiety and depression to parenting issues and childhood behavioral problems.

You Don’t Have to Go Through Life’s Struggles Alone Often in life, our journey towards growth and happiness becomes obstructed by our past experiences. Additionally, current experiences, stressors, and traumas, can impact our mental health and well-being. Our unmanaged fear, trauma, anxiety, and depression can leave us feeling like we are not worthy of happiness or positive relationships. These underlying thoughts impact our actions and emotions and can impact our quality of life and mental health. However, you do not have to face these challenges alone.

Being able to witness the power of community care helped shape my own devotion to social justice, wellness, and helping individuals find healing at their pace. Navigating this world as a queer black clinician has also granted me many opportunities to work with clients who are also often placed in bubbles that can be hard to maneuver away from. I work primarily with those who are looking to work through anxiety, grief, loss, trauma, coping skills, self-esteem navigation, mood disorders, LGBTQIA+ exploration, domestic violence, and intimate partner violence.

I use an integrative approach to therapy with adult clients to help them explore and address sources of distress in their lives.

Taking steps to improve your quality of life may begin with reaching out to a therapist. I welcome you to give me a call! I have built my therapeutic practice upon the guiding principles of support and collaboration. We will work towards determining challenges and obstacles in your life and create a plan that is individualized to your needs. I take a functional approach to healing and help clients determine underlying challenges to health and wellness. I truly enjoy providing a space to help clients gain insight and understanding in order to move towards balance with improved quality of life.

Everyone goes through times of struggle and needs someone to listen, reflect and help them move forward. We specialize in working with persons who have experienced trauma, abuse or neglect. Trauma can lead to many life issues & symptoms that we can help you manage & alleviate. Using trauma-informed attachment focused psychotherapy we provide parents with therapeutic skills to help their children heal. I have worked with families, kids, & adults for 25 of years who have various mental illnesses and emotional challenges. Everyone deserves happiness & we can help you through the healing process to restore your mind, body & spirit.

The focus and passion of our practice is multicultural counseling using a social justice lense. We work with people who are dealing with issues around sexual orientation, race, gender identity and neurodiversity. We support you in processing how being you in our society affects how you feel about yourself and ultimately your mental health. We want our clients to learn to appreciate the unique gifts that they bring as they process past experiences and achieve their goals.

Emotional well-being is central to our overall quality of life, and we believe everyone deserves the chance to live in healthy and healed ways. We are a diverse group of practitioners committed to providing effective and helpful treatment to improve emotional and psychological well-being. We will work together with you or your loved one to relieve emotional and psychological distress, increase self-awareness and healthy coping skills, foster insight, and to improve overall well-being within daily life and in relationships with others.

I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who is committed to partnering with clients to identify strategies that can help them work through life’s difficulties. I understand the complex relationship between thinking and emotions, as well as the impact it can have on mood. I treat issues of anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, and (sexual) trauma, substance use/abuse, grief/ loss and complex family dynamics. I have many years of experience of working with diverse populations and assisting them with developing and reaching their goals. I identify as a social work first focusing on life issues to mitigate mental health issues.

Our life's work is helping clients achieve a better sense of self and happiness...more recently we've recognized that without good mental health providers, finding this balance in life can be more difficult and stressful. As a result, we tend toward an Integrative approach and help our clients transform into the people they want to be. We see each client as an individual with many parts to their identity. Utilizing a holistic and systemic approach we help clients reintegrate the parts of themselves to function better as individuals and within their systems. Our focus tends toward a systems based approach using behavior methods.

There is hope and healing; even though it might not feel like it. I have experience working with children, teens, and young adults dealing with everything from anxiety and relationship issues to trauma and sexual abuse. It would be a privilege to work with you or your child towards healing, tailoring the counseling process to best fit your needs.

I work extensively with tweens, adolescents, young adults, and adults in seeking relief from anxiety and related disorders, depression, ADHD, gender and sexual identity issues, developmental & relational trauma, self-esteem, and healing from attachment and childhood trauma where individuals have navigated a history of unmet needs and frustrating attempts to get them met. I also have a strong interest in working with adolescents in their transition to high school and/or college, stress management, emotional development and maturity, rejection from peers, family conflict, and friendship/interpersonal relationship issues

My clients include children, teens, adults and couples. They share a commitment to healing, development and personal growth. We work together to foster a strong therapeutic alliance built upon trust, mutual respect, communication, creativity and relational connection. They are diverse in age, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, and culture. Addressing trauma wounds, attachment issues, relationship conflicts, and eradication of maladaptive thought-patterns and beliefs are key tenants of our work. Collaboratively we move toward healing the personal, relational and transpersonal alike.