About Therapy
A relaxing, rewarding experience – from the very first call.
Our collaboration will begin with your call, email, or text. You will be pleasantly surprised and reassured when I pick up the phone immediately or when I contact you within 90 minutes to see how I can help.
I have been described by my past clients as a mixture of Sigmund Freud and Tony Robbins. Okay, that hasn’t happened. Yet.
I am a laid back, yet incredibly supportive, collaborator. I have also been described as “coachy,” which I found out to mean enthusiastic about my clients. I provide insight into the things I notice which have either been holding them back or encouraging them to use the strength they possess to make changes.
I think you’ll come away from our initial phone call feeling comfortable and eager to work together. If you do, we’ll go ahead and arrange a date and time for our first in-person meeting.
Getting the lay of the land…
My office is located in a quiet, leafy area on the outskirts of Frankfort, Illinois. Through my office window, you are likely to see, at various times, deer, squirrels, birds, chipmunks, and an occasional hawk.
If you are not into wild life, we’ll close the curtains.
The office itself is actually a library, with books to your left as you sit and above you in a loft area. As this is a home office, you will enjoy convenient parking, a 30-step walk to where we’ll meet, and free bottled water or coffee, depending on your preference.
When weather permits, some of my clients prefer to sit in the attached four-season room with a fire and the relaxing sounds of a nearby stream.
Starting our very first session together…
You’ll receive a “Welcome Packet” which will include things like my mission statement, goals, frequently asked questions (and answers!), “Consent for Treatment” and “Release of Information” forms.
It also contains a “cyourselfchange” story, essentially how and why I chose this career and two powerful influences on my life.
The Welcome Packet, aside from providing useful information about cyourselfchange and what to expect from our collaboration, will give you a simple, tangible place for you to put notes and material related to your counseling journey.
We’ll also talk in general terms about what we’ll be doing over the course of our time together in therapy.
The three distinct (but interconnected) phases of our working together…
Exploration
Essentially, this is your story – from as far back as you can remember to your present concerns.
How would your parents, cousins, neighbors have described you as a 5-, 10-, 15-year-old? Were you always running around, kept to yourself, serious or silly? Did you have a lot of friends or a few close ones? How were your grades in grade school, high school, and, if applicable, college? Were you involved in athletics or devoted yourself to playing an instrument? What are three successes and three events which you wish you could change or do differently? What about your childhood have you always been reluctant to discuss?
Understanding
You’ll successfully learn to “connect the dots” between your meaningful past events to your current challenges.
Although this can be challenging, the effort you put forth, in the safety of the therapy environment we’ve established, will pay off when you recognize (Aha!) what may have you feeling stuck, been holding you back, and or troubling you.
Action and Change
We’ll identify areas where you want to change (and obstacles in the way), collaborate to form a plan, and closely monitor your progress. Here lies why you came to therapy in the first place, right? What needs changing? Do you have any reluctance around setting goals? What’s good and challenging about goals? What are the steps to achieving your goals? Scheduling rewards, noting progress, overcoming, or working around obstacles, barriers to success…
Lastly, we’ll discuss all your progress; plans for ongoing challenges; and consolidate, capture what you have learned about yourself, and recognize your skills for coping and continued happiness once outside of therapy.
My therapy is based on the Golden Rule…
How would I like to be treated if I were in a similar situation?
As a result, I’m laid back, supportive, and fully focused on learning your story… with the objective of bringing about positive changes in your life.
You won’t be pushed, prodded, or judged. You will be challenged, but each step in therapy will feel comfortable and well-timed.
Our collaboration will include 55-minute in-person sessions and, as needed, communication via phone or text to iron out scheduling concerns. It’s likely that we will be meeting for just one hour per week (out of 168), so I welcome contact with my clients in between sessions.
As an example, if I see an article or an approach which I feel may be of benefit to you, I will send you the link via text for our later discussion. In a practical sense, I am open to our scheduling a 10- to 20-minute phone session (or additional in person meeting) should you get challenging news where you would benefit from additional support.
About Me
A career change toward counseling…
After earning a bachelor’s degree in marketing, I worked for several years in business before going back to school to prepare myself for a career in counseling psychology.
I found sales, marketing, and advertising enjoyable in many ways, especially how they provided a way for me to scratch my substantial competitive itch. But there were many times, as I was trying to sell or persuade, where I found myself drawn to the thoughts, feelings, motivations of my clients in a way which superseded my desire to get them to buy something from me.
If I had to pick one instance that resonates with me, it was a joint sales call I had with my boss and a small business owner.
I enjoyed the rapport building which was a large part of sales, and I was quite willing to present the benefits of our product. But empathizing with the business owner, regarding his legitimate worries about a large outlay of cash (the cost of the advertising) potentially bankrupting him, was the last straw of sales and the first step to a career I truly love.
I resigned the following day, started attending grad school within a month, and was working as a MISA (mental health and substance abuse) therapist within two and a half years. I have no regrets about my past career, in fact, these days, I truly enjoy “selling” my clients on the belief that they can feel less worried, sad, and have a happier, more productive life!
Continuing my road to becoming a therapist…
I earned a master’s degree in Professional Counseling and, shortly thereafter, an Ed.D. (Educational Doctorate) in Counseling Psychology. Along the way, I earned my license (LCPC: 180 006787) as a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor.
For the past 15 years, I have held leadership positions in both in-patient and outpatient psychiatric units. Five years ago, I opened up my private practice, cyourselfchange, where I serve adolescents, adults, and athletes.
Why I named my company “cyourselfchange” …
I have found that a person needs to vividly “see” themselves making positive changes (through guided imagery, visualization, or hypnosis) before they can actually make the change in their lives.
My job as a therapist, and I will rise or fall on this, is to create an environment where my clients first believe then literally “see” what it looks like when they have changed their lives.
This takes form over time, or quickly, gently urged along through active listening, increasing my understanding of you, and often introducing you to guided imagery, visualization, and hypnosis.
I have found in having the privilege to work with hundreds of clients that you must see the change you are seeking before you can actually make the change. So, that is why I chose cyourselfchange as the name of my practice. See the change, make the change!
You might say that I’ve spent the past 15 years preparing to work with you…
I have served a wide range of clients where we collaborate with the goal of helping them maximize their talents and skills. This nearly always involves their reducing worry and or sadness.
Once this has been accomplished, my clients and I turn our attention to identifying their goals and objectives, and openly discussing and planning to overcome barriers to success, to ensure treatment success.
Are you ready to make that change? Are you ready to “graduate” out of treatment a changed, happier, more relaxed, and confident person?
It all begins with a call to (815) 325-8116.
When I’m not doing therapy…
I enjoy reading, sketching, power-lifting, chopping wood, walking my dog, and spending time with my family.