Our counselors provide therapy in Hoffman Estates, IL

My go-to approach for individual therapy is a cognitive behavioral approach. I think it is important to explore past and current behaviors and thoughts in order to move towards healthier behaviors or coping patterns. I use many approaches, as I do not think everyone responds to one specific approach.

In our work together, we will explore many different tools. The tools we choose for you will depend on you as a person and how you feel each tool will work for you. Here are a few of the tools that I use:

• Journaling: This will involve you thinking about a topic and writing about it or making a list. This is a journal for you to hold onto. You can share as much or as little of it as you feel comfortable.
• Homework: This is a way for you to connect your sessions to your daily lives. This task is based on our work together. It can be something like trying something new or a different approach to thinking about something.
• Coping skills: This will involve using new breathing exercises or using the ones you know and doing them when you feel stressed, anxious, or overwhelmed.

I know a client is making meaningful progress in individual therapy when they connect sessions to their everyday lives, when they are changing behaviors that brought them into therapy, and when they can identify why their mood or behaviors are improving.

Clients can supplement their time in individual therapy by using tools or doing tasks talked about in therapy, such as a new skill or a different approach to behaviors or people.

To prepare for your first individual therapy session, you can be prepared to discuss what brought you into therapy, as well as open to answering questions about you so we can determine how therapy, and I, can best help you.