Grief counselors and therapists in Park Ridge, IL

I am a solution focused therapist with 39 years of experience. My therapy style is cognitive, interactive, compassionate, and, if need be, challenging. I believe effective therapy should produce change, not just insight. I will listen to you deeply, help conceptualize the problems, patterns, and dynamics which are causing you trouble, and give you feedback. Together, we will develop a strategy for more effective functioning and a better quality of life. therapy.

I do not do phone consultations.

Welcome! I'm Brianne (many of my younger clients know me as Ms. Brie), founder of Imagination Grove Play Therapy.

I'm a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Registered Play Therapist with more than 20 years of experience supporting children, adolescents, adults, and families.

Throughout my career, I've specialized in helping individuals navigate anxiety, ADHD, autism, emotional regulation challenges, trauma, relationship concerns, life transitions, and social difficulties. My background as a school social worker has provided extensive experience collaborating with families, educators, physicians, and multidisciplinary teams to support children across home and school settings while also deepening my understanding of the unique challenges families face.

Whether you're seeking support for your child, yourself, or your family, I know reaching out for help can feel overwhelming. My goal is to provide a warm, welcoming space where every client feels safe, understood, and empowered to grow. I believe healing happens through connection, curiosity, and meeting each person where they are. Together, we'll build on strengths, navigate challenges, and create meaningful, lasting change.

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.

You want more than symptom management. You're not just looking for coping strategies. You want to understand yourself. You want to grieve fully, not efficiently. You want a therapeutic relationship that can hold complexity, contradiction, and mystery. You want someone who won't rush you toward resolution before you're ready, and who trusts that you have within you what healing requires. You want to be seen, not diagnosed, not fixed, but genuinely witnessed.

I'm a licensed clinical professional counselor with over 25 years of experience, and grief is at the heart of my work. I understand grief not as a problem to be solved but as a profound human process, one that touches identity, relationship, body, and spirit all at once. I'm also a certified grief educator, which means I bring both clinical depth and real psychoeducational grounding to our work together.

I believe that therapy works best when people feel understood, respected and safe. I have over 20 year of experience helping adults navigate trauma, depression, anxiety, identity exploration, grief/loss, life transitions and relationship challenges. Much of my career has been devoted to working with veterans and individuals who have faced difficult or traumatic experiences. I strongly believe in establishing a relationship of equals and mutual respect between therapist and client; one that leads to a guided journey of self-discovery and change.

I began working broadly in this field nearly 30 years ago and became a licensed clinical social worker 20 years ago. Along with completing a masters degree in social work from the University of Illinois, Chicago, I hold a masters degree in fine art in drawing and painting from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. I believe these areas of study have come to inform my practice in obvious and sometimes less obvious ways.

I began my private practice in 2014 specializing in a harm reduction and moderation as apt responses to problematic substance use, as defined by those seeking my help.

Largely in response to the evolving relationships with my clients and referrals that often came in for friends and family of previous clients, I've come to work with trauma survivors, people identifying difficulty establishing stable relationships in social and professional settings, and people addressing loneliness and mood dysregulation.