Trauma and PTSD therapists & psychiatrists in Buffalo Grove, 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.

My approach blends clinical rigor with genuine warmth. I ask a lot of questions, not to check boxes, but because I want to understand the full picture of your life, biology, and history before we decide on a path forward. I'm not interested in just managing symptoms; I want to understand the root of what's going on — whether that's biological, situational, relational, or some combination- so that treatment actually addresses the cause, not just the surface presentation. Clients often describe our sessions as feeling more like being truly listened to than being processed through an appointment. As an integrative provider, medication is one tool among several we might use, and I stay curious rather than settling for the first explanation.

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.

I am an LCSW, and have been since 2014, and a LMSW for 2 years prior to that. I have a masters degree in Clinical Social work and work with individuals, couples and families. I work with those with anxiety, depression, communication issues, and most issues that we are going through currently.

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.

I have 16 years of experience in the counseling field and am trained in integrative approaches including EMDR, Brainspotting, somatic and body-based therapies, and mindfulness-based interventions. I am dedicated to helping clients heal through a holistic approach that supports the mind, body, and spirit. My goal is to help individuals develop greater self-awareness, resilience, and lasting emotional well-being