Therapists for college students near Chicago, IL

Starting therapy can feel vulnerable, especially when you’ve been carrying things on your own for a long time. Our work together will move at a pace that feels supportive, collaborative, and safe while honoring both your lived experience and your body’s natural wisdom for healing.

Mariya is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC) and co-founder of Willow Recovery Group. She is passionate about creating safe, affirming spaces for people to process trauma, explore their relationship with food and body, and navigate life’s challenges with compassion. Mariya specializes in trauma, eating disorders, anxiety, depression, multicultural experiences, and life transitions, blending evidence-based approaches with a deeply relational style. Her clients describe her as warm, grounding, and supportive — someone who walks alongside them through both the hard and hopeful parts of recovery. Outside of her clinical work, Mariya enjoys spending time in nature, reading, and being with loved ones (including her pets, who often serve as her best “co-therapists”).

At Piece by Piece we offer comprehensive neuropsychological evaluations for children, adults, and older adults facing a range of cognitive, behavioral and emotional concerns. We have locations in Oak Brook and Lake Forest and now in Chicago in the Lincoln Park area. We are now offering services including therapy, executive functioning coaching as well as telehealth evaluations so we can offer services to a wider population who may not have access otherwise. We also offer neuropsychological evaluations in Spanish. Common reasons for referrals include ADHD, ASD, learning disorders, dementia, brain injury and various neurological conditions. Our evaluations are fast, with a typical two-week turnaround time and we work closely with referring providers to ensure all referral questions are addressed. We accept most insurance as well as offer self-pay and pro-bono options.

Please visit my profile to learn more about my services.

Please visit my profile to learn more about my services.

Please visit my profile to learn more about my services.

I specialize in working with adults aged 18 or older who are grappling with anxiety, trauma, disordered eating, and body image issues. They often feel overwhelmed and isolated, seeking a safe space to explore their feelings and challenges. Motivated and ready to make meaningful changes, their primary goal is recovery and healing—learning effective coping strategies, discovering self compassion, fostering a healthier relationship with themselves and their bodies, and creating space for what they truly desire in life. I support clients with empathy, humor, and authenticity, using a trauma-focused approach. A large part of my practice is teaching coping skills, addressing negative self-talk and sources of shame, while emphasizing self compassion. Specializing in anxiety, trauma, disordered eating/body image issues, I offer psychotherapy, Art Therapy, and EMDR, over telehealth only.

Please visit my profile to learn more about my services.

At Restorative Collective, we are a dedicated team of compassionate professionals committed to supporting your mental health journey. Our diverse expertise allows us to provide personalized care, ensuring that every client feels heard, valued, and empowered. We believe in a holistic, client-centered approach that fosters healing, growth, and resilience.

Please visit my profile to learn more about my services.

You don’t have to carry this alone. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by anxiety, depression, trauma, or stuck in patterns that feel impossible to break—please know that you’re not alone. It takes incredible courage to reach out for help, and that first step can be the beginning of real, lasting change. I’m here to walk alongside you on your journey toward healing. I work with individuals navigating a wide range of challenges, including anxiety, depression, trauma, substance use, low self-esteem, and parent-child relationship difficulties. I understand how complex and deeply personal these struggles can be. That’s why I offer a flexible, compassionate approach tailored to your unique needs—not a one-size-fits-all solution. Together, we’ll create a space where you feel safe, heard, and supported. We’ll focus on building practical coping strategies, strengthening your emotional resilience, and helping you reconnect with a sense of stability and purpose. Healing is possible—and it starts with a conversation. If you’re ready to take that next step, or even if you’re just thinking about it, I invite you to reach out. Schedule an appointment or send a message today. Let’s work together to help you move toward a healthier, more balanced, and empowered life.

College and young adulthood can bring excitement, uncertainty, and a lot of pressure. You may be navigating a major life transition, feeling overwhelmed by anxiety or depression, processing trauma, exploring your identity, or learning how to set healthier boundaries. Wherever you are, you do not have to move through it alone. Therapy can be a place to slow down, feel heard, and better understand what you are carrying. My goal is to create a space where you feel welcomed, respected, and accepted just as you are. Together, we will explore what is contributing to your current challenges, build on your strengths, and develop tools to help you manage stress, emotions, relationships, and change with more confidence and self-compassion. My approach is relational, client-centered, trauma-informed, and strengths-based. I tailor our work to your needs and goals, drawing from CBT, mindfulness, mind-body practices, motivational interviewing, art therapy, and psychodynamic and intersectional feminist perspectives. I strive to offer therapy that is LGBTQ+ affirming, culturally responsive, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive. I welcome conversations about identity, belonging, discrimination, marginalization, and the systems that may impact your mental health and well-being. My hope is that our work together helps you better understand yourself, honor your emotions, build healthy boundaries, and cultivate a deeper sense of resilience, safety, and peace within yourself.

We are a group of mental health professionals skilled in the practice of individual, couples, family, and group psychotherapy. We specialize in reproductive mental health, mood and anxiety disorders, trauma, sexual challenges, and relationships. We are on a mission to build a world where every individual’s worth and dignity is affirmed and celebrated.

Life’s journey may bring times of challenge, uncertainty, and pain. It’s natural to feel overwhelmed, stuck, or powerless at times. Facing these moments alone can make them even harder. In therapy, I hope to collaborate with you to build a compassionate and empathetic relationship where it is safe to be curious, observe, reflect and grow. Together we’ll understand the sources of distress in the context of your identities and experiences, try out different coping skills and identify what works best for you. We will also explore ways to navigate difficult situations in your life to support you in being your most authentic self. As a therapist holding marginalized identities, I’m passionate about working with folks in the immigrant, BIPOC, neurodivergent and LGBTQ+ communities. My training focused on anxiety, depression, trauma, relational concerns, navigating oppression and discrimination, self-esteem, and grief. I enjoy helping clients find ways to live the life they envision. I provide therapy in both English and Mandarin.

Charissa Simon-Wright earned her BA in Criminal and Social Justice from the University of Arizona (formerly Ashford University), MS in Psychology with a Specialization in Addictions from Perdue University (formerly Kaplan University). Charissa has received a doctoral degree at Walden University- Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with a specialization in Health Psychology. She is a member of Psi Chi, International Honor Society in Psychology, since June of 2019. Charissa has also obtained certifications as a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor (CADC), a Co-Occurring Disorder Professional (CODP-I), and a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional (CCTP). Charissa has worked passionately in the behavioral health field for over fifteen years with children and families in multiple roles such as a case manager, housing specialist, family preservation worker, and counselor. While working at the second largest health department in Illinois, Charissa gained vast knowledge and skills that encompasses group counseling, individual counseling, clinical assessments, crisis counseling, addiction counseling, and trauma counseling. Charissa believes in treating the whole person. This means that she takes into consideration the underlying factors that can inhibit a person’s ability to practice healthy habits, so that she and the client can address the root of the issue and not just the symptoms in a collaborative manner. Charissa believes that the client is in charge of their own treatment which creates a sense of autonomy and empowerment that enables the client to move towards identified goals.

Does it feel like having a person to talk to would make life less hard? While acknowledging that I cannot determine whether a space is safe or not, I strive to offer a space of non-judgement, validation, compassion and growth where you can get to know yourself more, build insight and acknowledgement of your strengths, and talk about whatever you need to for an hour. Areas that I work with include body positivity/ body image, sex positivity, LGBTQ+, self-harm, anxiety, and trauma. Using multiple therapy frameworks grounded in mindfulness, a social justice lens, and the Health at Every Size (HAES) model, I work with you to live life a way that is important to you. Whether you need to vent, address unhelpful coping skills, rant about your roommate, process trauma, or show me a funny therapy TikTok that you felt spoke to you too much, I look forward to working with you.

We are dedicated to offering Mental Health Services which are easily adaptable and low-stress and that combine strategies for assisting with the many difficult aspects and challenges that have become normal in our daily lives. Clients are encouraged and taught to actively learn about themselves and are challenged to explore new ways of being and thinking, all in a safe and comforting environment.

We offer a strength-based, holistic, and highly collaborative approach to therapy. Specializing in relationships, trauma, racial identity and mood disorders, our clinicians provide culturally-sensitive trauma-informed care.

Feeling obsessive thoughts swirling around? Does it seem like your emotions and behaviors are controlling you more often than not? Life is feeling just too much? I hear you. You are stressed out. Everything you do to try and be in control isn’t working anymore. I know anxiety, relational stress, and sadness are overwhelming, and confronting it seems almost impossible. I want to tell you, you are not alone. Together we will develop healthy strategies to break free from what's holding you back. Together we take what feels unmanageable, and make it manageable. Through a focus on patience, support, and action; I will empower you to uncover new ways of conquering old problems. I look forward to partnering with you. My Background and Approach My approach and focus in therapy is to create a safe space for you to explore your experiences with anxiety, depression, relational issues, and daily life stressors. I do this through a multi-modality approach using exploratory conversation and weaving in structured approaches (CBT, DBT, ERP). In the first several sessions, I will ask a lot of questions so that I can get to know you and what brings you to therapy. Then you will also ask me questions about who I am and how I work. Finally, together we’ll identify your goals for therapy and what you hope to achieve. To me, therapy is a collaboration, so I will ask for feedback along the way to make sure sessions are going well or if we need to try new strategies. I will be your supporter throughout our work. I am gentle, yet direct with my feedback. Together, we will work to identify the root cause of your worries, fears, phobias, and stressors and then through guided strategies, we will break free from what is holding you back and and build the life that you want to live. My Personal Beliefs and Interests As a long-time vegan, I am passionate about animal welfare and sampling all of the delicious animal-friendly food that my city has to offer. I view people through an intersectional lens and am explicitly antiracist and LGBTQIA+ affirming in my therapeutic practice. I am committed to providing safe spaces for clients, which hinges upon staying mindful of the privileges I continue to receive as a white, cis woman. I believe that current events have a profound impact on sociocultural norms, quality of life, and our general wellbeing. It is crucial to consider, and to name, how past and current events influence society and affect individuals, especially in terms of systems of oppression. My hope is to show clients that although, I may not fully understand your experiences, I can provide a safe space to work on your goals for therapy with support and without harm.

Increment Therapy provides mental health services for individuals facing obstacles that have been difficult to process and get through on their own. With the world full of challenges that are difficult to navigate, Increment Therapy is the compass that helps guide you to find the courage and strength to help you process and continue moving forward into a life you want to lead. Throughout the process of therapy, I provide a safe and non-judgmental space to share your story. In our sessions, I will help guide you through taking back your narrative and finding your core self. With an incremental approach, I meet you where you are and cultivate a real and strong relationship so that we take on this journey together. You are in the drivers seat and I will help you along the way. Through every hardship, challenge, or obstacle I will support you and provide a space where you can feel understood with unconditional acceptance, affirmation, and positive reflection.