Chicago Counselor Archives
You open a directory, and there are forty of them. Forty faces, forty short bios that all seem to say the same three things, forty people who might be exactly right or completely wrong for you, and no obvious way to tell which. You have a tab open with someone’s profile, you have had it open for twenty minutes, and the cursor is just sitting there. Here is the quiet irony of looking for an anxiety therapist…
There’s a particular kind of hesitation that comes before someone starts looking for a trauma therapist in Chicago. Maybe it feels like it happened too long ago to still matter. Maybe some part of you has decided it wasn’t “bad enough” to justify taking up a therapist’s time. Or maybe there’s a quieter fear underneath both of those: that talking about it will make things worse instead of better. If any of that sounds familiar, you’re not…
Most couples don’t come to marriage counseling in Chicago because of one enormous blowup. They come because of the small things that quietly stopped getting talked about. The conversations that shrank down to logistics and schedules. The distance that grew so gradually that neither of you can point to the day it started. If that sounds familiar, you’re not too far gone, and you’re not doing anything dramatic by reaching out. Plenty of couples book a first…
Plascilla Foster, LPC, NCC As a result of the Covid- 19 pandemic, many people have been forced to make changes. These changes may have been things that one has been putting off for years or unexpected changes that one needs to adjust to and accommodate quickly. Change can be a remarkable thing in someone’s life depending on how one chooses to look at the circumstance. If you feel like you need to make changes in your life…
Plascilla Foster, LPC, NCC As Season 14 of Married at First Sight ends soon, making predictions on which couples will say “yes” on decision day or choose to get a divorce can be remarkably interesting. Based on what I saw this season, I predict that only two couples will say “yes” on decision day, and here is why. Lindsey and Mark According to Gottman and Silver (2015), the biggest predictor of divorce is contempt. Contempt in a…
Amanda Ann Gregory, LCPC, EMDR Certified Therapist Over the past several decades, there has been more awareness of the prevalence of psychological trauma and of how trauma impacts individuals. Unfortunately, trauma has become a buzzword that tends to be used too often and incorrectly. Here are some facts to help you conceptualize psychological trauma correctly: Psychological Trauma Is Not an Event or Experience The most common mistake people make in defining psychological trauma is their sole focus…
You’ve heard of forgiveness, but what does it actually mean? People still wonder what forgiveness is and how it actually functions in everyday life. HarperCollins’ Dictionary (1989) defines “to forgive” as “to grant pardon for or remission of an offense, granting pardon to a person, ceasing to feel resentment, and canceling an indebtedness or liability.” However, forgiveness tends to be more complicated when it’s applied to real-life relationships. Marriage and family therapist Bren Chasse described forgiveness from…
By: Zana Van Der Smissen, LPC Hello, and welcome back to another blog post! This week we will be discussing the different boundaries we need to set depending on the situation we are in. Boundaries are one of the most popular and important conversations that happen in therapy because as humans we are constantly wanting to find the perfect balance between taking care of ourselves and being a part of a community. That being said, we don’t…
By: Bridgette W. Gottwald, LPC, NCC If you read my previous blog post, you learned about passive, aggressive, and passive-aggressive communicators. This second and final part of this two-part blog series about communication will discuss assertive communicators and the fluidity of communication styles. “To get to the next level of greatness depends on the quality of our culture, which depends on the quality of our relationships, which depends on the quality of our conversations. Everything happens through…
By: Bridgette W. Gottwald, LPC, NCC Did you know that behavioral traits affect communication? Learning about and being able to understand communication styles can drastically improve your relationships. How knowledgeable or skilled you are in navigating difficult conversations depends upon your ability to connect with other people. According to Christian, “when communication breaks down, it’s often because the patterns and habits of how we communicate — our communication styles — get in the way.” In working to…