Areas of focus
Elizabeth enjoys working with individuals, groups, couples, and families with diverse cultural identities and life experiences. Elizabeth worked as a professional actor and acting teacher for many years, and enjoys working with actors, musicians, and artists seeking more authenticity in their work or balance in their lives. Elizabeth values and has experience working with members of the LGBTQIA+ community, Jewish clients, and clients struggling with unmanageable substance use, behavioral addictions, and compulsive sexual behavior. She has worked with clients living with eating disorders, trauma, depression, anxiety, bipolar, ADHD, and schizoaffective disorder. Elizabeth has knowledge about the 12-step recovery model and enjoys working with members of recovery communities. She also values and incorporates harm reduction into therapy, based upon clients’ needs and preferences. Elizabeth honors her clients’ lived experiences and works collaboratively to help them live authentically, improve communication in their relationships, and take actions that align with their values.
Therapeutic Approach
Elizabeth believes that creating a nonjudgmental therapeutic relationship between the client and the therapist is the primary catalyst of change. She works from an existential perspective centering meaning making as a pathway towards managing human anxiety, isolation, and dread. Elizabeth also listens from a psychodynamic perspective, considering the impact of infancy and childhood on adult relationship patterns. Elizabeth recognizes that clients live within complex social and institutional systems, and that their lives are impacted by systemic forces outside their control. With this awareness, Elizabeth helps clients connect with their intuition, identify aspects of their lives within their control, and work towards taking action that aligns with their values.
Professional
Elizabeth earned a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from The Chicago School, and a Bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature from The University of Chicago. Elizabeth is a professional actor and taught acting in Chicago for over a decade. She is a certified Bikram Yoga instructor and has taught hot yoga in Chicago since 2013. As a therapist, Elizabeth helps clients increase their body awareness as a means of connecting with their intuition. Elizabeth has also worked in property management, restaurants, and retail management, and finds that her eclectic work experience helps her relate to individuals from many walks of life.
Personal
I come from a long line of Jewish New Yorkers, and have made Chicago my home for over two decades. Being able to hold multiple truths at once can be uncomfortable but necessary to live authentically; my experience of many loving and positive family relationships sits alongside other complicated and painful family dynamics. These challenges have given me an appreciation for the importance of chosen families, and I relate to and appreciate working with individuals who have created their own families out of friendships and found communities.
Qualifications
- Master’s in Counseling Psychology
- Passed Licensed Professional Counselor exam
Associations
- American Counseling Association (ACA)
In Network
- Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO
- Cigna PPO
- UnitedHealthcare PPO
Headshot by Ian McLaren Photography