Therapists for college students near Chicago, IL
Our boutique Lincoln Park counseling practice works with each individual to help them build on their strengths and to attain the personal growth they are seeking. This is accomplished by adhering to our practice’s central values: compassion, empathy, and courage. We work with teens, emerging adults, adults, couples, and families from diverse backgrounds who experience a wide range of anxiety and depressive disorders. Our areas of expertise include treating anxiety, depression, and relationship issues. Our therapists have specialized training to treat relationship issues, life transitions, post-traumatic stress disorder, difficulties in emotion regulation, and men’s issues.
Clients come to me for support with overcoming adversity in order to start living their best life. My style is affirming, empathetic, and encouraging, which fosters your ability to identify unhelpful patterns, process complex emotions, and strengthen the coping skills you need for personal growth. Life can be hard and we all could use extra support. In our first session, you can expect to go at your own pace. My priority will be your comfort and emotional safety. You can expect our sessions to provide a nonjudgemental space for you to feel safe to explore, grow, and heal. We'll take time to get to know each other and talk about expectations as well as explore your current concerns, challenges, and goals for therapy. Together, we'll sketch out a plan for how to move forward with creating meaningful change in your life.
You've spent time reflecting and understanding your patterns, but insight alone isn't always enough to create the change you're looking for. If you're ready to move beyond understanding and start living differently, I'd love to help. I work with adults and couples navigating anxiety, trauma, life transitions, relationship challenges, and identity exploration. I'm especially passionate about supporting clients exploring multicultural and interracial identities, strengthening relationships, building self-compassion, and creating healthier ways of relating to themselves and others. My approach is collaborative, direct, and action-oriented. I'll meet you with warmth and honesty while encouraging you to step outside familiar patterns. Together, we'll build practical tools, strengthen emotional resilience, and create meaningful change that aligns with your values and goals. I offer therapy in both English and Spanish and strive to create an affirming, culturally responsive space where every part of your identity is welcomed. My work integrates DBT, somatic and body-based therapies, Dance/Movement Therapy, expressive arts, and Imago Relationship Therapy to help you reconnect with yourself, regulate emotions, and build healthier relationships. If you're looking for a therapist who will support you, challenge you, and help you turn insight into action, I'd be honored to work with you.
Great to meet you! I prioritize authenticity in therapy; I will show up open, honest, human, and ready to laugh at your dark humor. I am a therapist who is fully accepting of diverse identities and cultures. I believe mental health and wellness is something that can always be improved and strengthened. I have my masters degree and clinical license in social work with a history working in health care and acute mental health settings. Please visit my website listed at the bottom of the page to see my availability.
Please visit my profile to learn more about my services.
Please visit my profile to learn more about my services.
I help people understand how their past and their relationships shape who they are today. We look beyond surface symptoms to explore the emotional patterns that might leave you feeling stuck or exhausted by the pressure to be perfect. My approach is warm and focused on the whole picture of your life. I work best with those navigating difficult family dynamics, relationship cycles, or the stress of big life transitions who are ready to build a more authentic and grounded future.
Leslie Alton at Self-Empowerment Counseling provides Evidence Based Treatment via Telehealth for Anxiety, OCD, Eating Disorders, Depression, Trauma, and other mental health struggles. Licensed to practice in FL, IL, IN, and OK. Meeting You Wherever You Are, For Your Counseling Needs.
You thought by now you'd feel more certain. Maybe you're doing all the things you're supposed to be doing, going to class, working toward a degree, and making plans for the future, but still find yourself feeling anxious, overwhelmed, or unsure of where you're headed. You might be questioning relationships, struggling with confidence, feeling disconnected from yourself, or wondering why this stage of life feels harder than everyone else makes it look. I work with college students, graduate students, and emerging adults who are navigating life's in-between seasons. Many of my clients are figuring out who they are outside of other people's expectations while managing academic stress, relationship challenges, family dynamics, anxiety, and major life transitions. My goal is to create a space where you can be honest about what's working, what's not, and what's been difficult to put into words. Together, we'll slow things down, make sense of the patterns and experiences shaping your life, and help you move forward with greater clarity, confidence, and self-compassion. You don't have to have everything figured out to start therapy. You just have to show up as you are.
From the outside, it might seem like you're handling everything well. You're keeping up with classes, work, relationships, or family responsibilities, but underneath it all you're feeling anxious, emotionally exhausted, or disconnected from yourself. Maybe you're carrying grief, recovering from trauma, navigating a major life transition, or living with a chronic illness that others don't fully understand. Whatever you're carrying, you don't have to carry it alone. I work with college students, graduate students, and young adults navigating anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, burnout, chronic illness, attachment and relationship challenges, body image concerns, self-esteem, and life transitions. Many of the people I work with are thoughtful, caring individuals who have spent so much time taking care of others that they've lost sight of their own needs. Together, we'll create space to slow down, better understand the patterns that have shaped your relationships and sense of self, and build practical tools that help you feel more grounded, resilient, and connected to what matters most. My approach integrates Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and mindfulness to help you move beyond survival mode and create meaningful, lasting change. Whether you're adjusting to a new chapter, processing painful experiences, or simply trying to feel like yourself again, we'll move at a pace that feels supportive and realistic. My hope is that therapy becomes a place where you can reconnect with your strengths, practice greater self-compassion, and build a life that feels more balanced, authentic, and fulfilling.
Please visit my profile to learn more about my services.
Dr. Carrera is a licensed clinical psychologist. She works with adults and adolescents to help them understand the impact of their thoughts, feelings, and actions on their wellbeing. She offers an active and empowering space to navigate issues such as anxiety, low mood, family of origin concerns, identity confusion, and cultural adjustment and transitions. She also provides therapy and coaching for work and school-related struggles, including low motivation, attention difficulties, and time management concerns. Clients working with her will strengthen their awareness of ways that their life experiences may affect their ability to cope with challenges effectively. Dr. Carrera provided psychotherapy to undergraduate, graduate, and professional students at Northwestern University’s Counseling and Psychological Services, where she completed her clinical training (Postdoctoral Fellowship). She completed her Doctoral Internship at the University of California, Berkeley. She graduated with her doctorate in Counseling Psychology (Ph.D.) from Iowa State University, a program accredited by the American Psychological Association. She is an active member of the National Latinx Psychological Association and the Society of Counseling Psychology. Born and raised in an Ecuadorian-American home, Dr. Carrera is bilingual and bicultural. Clients can speak English, Spanish, and Spanglish in their work with her. She lived and studied for several years in England and Italy; these life experiences, as well as her identity as a woman of color working in several professional settings, fuel her empathy for clients navigating various cultural messages and social pressures at home, work, and school. She is committed to fusing clinical work with social justice advocacy alongside clients who may feel silenced, marginalized, and disempowered.
Therapy should be a place to not only get to know yourself but to grow, change, and flourish. If you have been looking to reconnect with yourself in a space free from outside noise and judgement this is the place for you! I specialize in working with LGBTQIA+ individuals, survivors of intimate partner trauma, and those navigating PTSD, anxiety, depression, as well as the unique experiences of being neurodivergent. We will work collaboratively to honor your individual needs and identities, and create a space where you feel safe, valued, and empowered to live authentically.
Please visit my profile to learn more about my services.
Please visit my profile to learn more about my services.
SpringSource Psychological Center was founded by two Ph.D., licensed clinical psychologists as a collaborative practice to help individuals heal from eating disorders, depression, anxiety, trauma, relationship concerns, and life stressors and transitions. While we work with clients across the lifespan, we have a particular interest in early adulthood, due to the number of transitions and demands that occur during this phase of life. We have a diverse range of clinicians with many years of insight oriented and skills-based training, so we can accommodate both long and short term psychotherapy, dependent upon the client's needs. We have clinicians with expertise in Latinx issues and LGBTQ+ issues, and we have the ability to conduct sessions in Spanish and Russian. We strive to be a warm, welcoming practice where we work with individuals to improve their emotional, behavioral and mental health.
Everyone seeks support for different reasons, and I’m here to honor yours. In a world of constant connection, the present moment can still feel distant. As a daughter of Polish immigrants, I value cultural heritage and offer support in both English and conversational Polish. I’m especially passionate about working with people navigating family dynamics, intergenerational trauma, cultural identity, and the journey of reconnecting with younger parts of themselves. I believe healing happens through empathy, humor, and collaboration. I specialize in working with teens and adults experiencing: Identity exploration and cultural stress Trauma and intergenerational wounds Relationship challenges and attachment concerns Anxiety, self-esteem, and perfectionism Queerness and LGBTQIA+ identities Life transitions and emerging adulthood Neurodivergence, including ADHD and sensory sensitivities I am DBT-Certified and I co-facilitate the Thursday Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Skills Class at Mind Body Co-op. Alongside DBT, I integrate somatic therapies, Internal Family Systems (IFS), and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to support a compassionate, body-aware, and client-centered process. Whether you’re facing long-standing patterns or new changes, therapy offers space for clarity and growth. Through gentle challenge, curiosity, and affirmation, we’ll explore what helps you move forward with confidence. I earned my Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from National Louis University, where I learned to value presence and acceptance. A favorite quote of mine is by Eckhart Tolle: “How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at the moment.” Your experience matters—and I’d be honored to support you in making meaning of it.
Hi, I’m Loren, a psychiatric provider with over a decade of experience in mental health care. I take a compassionate, collaborative, and client-centered approach in supporting individuals across the lifespan. I specialize in treating anxiety, depression, trauma, and relationship challenges, using evidence-based techniques such as cognitive-behavioral strategies, motivational interviewing, and supportive therapy, alongside thoughtful medication management when appropriate. I strive to create a safe, nonjudgmental space where you feel heard, respected, and empowered in your journey toward lasting mental wellness. My process is rooted in partnership: I take the time to understand your unique story and work with you to create a personalized plan that supports growth, resilience, and confidence. My clinical experience spans hospitals, community mental health, skilled nursing, and now private practice and telehealth. These diverse settings have shaped my holistic, practical, and deeply empathetic approach to care. I’m also a member of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association and am currently pursuing certification in holistic integrative medicine to further support whole-person healing. Whether you’re facing new challenges or working through long-standing issues, I’m here to support you with empathy, clarity, and a deep commitment to your well-being.
Our mission is to help individuals, couples, and families live authentic, connected, and happy lives.
We're here because we've been there, so we can't help but to be wholeheartedly invested in your journey. We want to provide you the warmth, validation, and affirmation that can feel so rare in adulthood. Working with us will challenge you, but it will also feel like coming home. We're fired up about your freedom and fight for it alongside you. Always intersectional, pleasure-positive, and identity-celebrating, we have a low tolerance for boxes, assumptions, and systems that stifle your creative healing. We are your unashamed and unapologetic accomplices in doing life-changing, culture-shifting work. We're obsessed with staying up-to-date on affirming, anti-oppressive language and concepts, and think learning directly from queer and BIPOC community leaders is just as important as gathering data from research. We believe in the transformative power of accurate information about sex, gender, and relationships.