Trauma and PTSD therapists & psychiatrists in Arlington Heights, IL

Welcome — I'm so glad you're here! With 23 years of experience as a school social worker, I am passionate about helping children, adolescents, and families navigate life's challenges and build the skills needed to thrive at home, school and in their communities. I work with children and teens ages 3-17, as well as parents and caregivers who are seeking support, guidance, and practical strategies to strengthen family relationships, work through family conflicts and improve daily functioning. My goal is to help build the necessary skills to strengthen relationships and homeostasis within family structures and the individual.

I specialize in working with neurodivergent children, adolescents, and families including those with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), ADHD, Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA), social-communication challenges, anxiety, emotional regulation difficulties, and behavioral challenges. I also specialize in working with high conflict family dynamics which include parent-child relationships, divorce (for families that are both in and/or out of the family court system), sibling rivalry, and multicultural child rearing.

I've devoted a decade of my career helping parents learn how to best help their children. And another decade helping adults in an out-patient partial hospitalization program. These are the moments when people have felt the most vulnerable and in need of something more than what they are already trying to manage their mental health. Hopefully, my experience and tools that I've gathered working across the age groups and in a more intense level of care can help you build your own toolbox.

My approach to counseling begins with a simple conviction: you are more than a diagnosis, a set of symptoms, or a problem to be solved. You are a whole person living a real life—with relationships, responsibilities, experiences, hopes, beliefs, and circumstances that all matter.

I work primarily with adults and couples facing a wide range of concerns and seasons of life. My role is to come alongside you, helping you understand what you are experiencing, see yourself and your circumstances more clearly, and discern how you want to respond to the life before you.

If you’re looking for a therapist who quietly nods for 50 minutes, I may not be the best fit. My style is active, engaged, direct, and deeply relational.

I work with adolescents, adults, couples, and families navigating anxiety, trauma, relationship struggles, life transitions, and difficult interpersonal dynamics. Clients often describe feeling both genuinely supported and meaningfully challenged in our work together.

I believe therapy should help people gain insight, shift patterns, improve relationships, and move toward lasting change not just vent for an hour each week.

First things first, it is vital to me that you, my future clients, know that I feel honored to hold space for you. I am confident in my ability to uphold my responsibility to you, but one thing that providing patient care for 22 years has taught me is that you, the patient, is the best informant to your care. It is of utmost importance that my clients feel safe, heard, and respected.

Hi, I'm Maurissa. Much of my background has involved work with people on the Autism spectrum and I found that they struggle with the same things that many people do, including grief, anxiety, depression, relationship issues, trauma, etc. My experience with people on the spectrum has helped me to provide an open perspective to work with those struggling with emotional regulation and different ways of thinking.

I’m a multilingual (English, German, French) licensed clinical social worker with more than 20 years of experience helping people through life’s challenges. I’ve worked with individuals of different ages and backgrounds in the United States and internationally, including in schools, hospitals, residential programs, and community mental health settings. I hold a Master of Social Work, a Bachelor of Social Work from Vienna, Austria, and a CADC. I have experience supporting people through trauma, substance use, depression, anxiety, women’s issues, cultural and identity concerns, and everyday stress. I value creating a space where you feel heard, respected, and comfortable being yourself. I see therapy as a collaborative process and am here to meet you where you are and support you in finding greater balance, clarity, and effective ways to cope with life’s challenges.

With my background in art, bodywork, and spirituality, I am able to work holistically, and to faciliate mind/body/spirit wellness. I enjoy working with clients of all faiths, ethnicities, genders, and sexual preferences. Artists, introverts, and introspective people will find me especially understanding and perceptive.