Joann Jacobs

I work with women in Illinois who are dealing with anxiety, grief, trauma, and the weight of life transitions — the kind of hard that doesn't always have a clear starting point, and that can feel embarrassing to still be carrying. I don't believe in rushing healing or handing you a worksheet and calling it therapy. What I do believe in: that you already have more insight than you give yourself credit for, and that the right conversation can help you find it. I'm an LCPC practicing entirely via telehealth, so we work together from wherever you are in Illinois.

My approach is genuinely collaborative — I pull from CBT, Trauma-Focused CBT, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, Narrative Therapy, Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, and Motivational Interviewing, depending on what the moment calls for. That's not a menu; it's a toolkit. In practice, this means sessions feel like real conversations, not evaluations. We might look at the stories you've been telling yourself about what happened and whether those stories are still serving you. We might get concrete and build practical tools for the anxiety spirals. We might sit with grief without trying to fix it. I follow your lead on pace — some clients want structure; others need space. I work with both.

Expect a real conversation, not an intake form read aloud. I'll ask about what's bringing you in, what's felt hard, and what you're hoping for — but I'm also genuinely curious about you as a whole person, not just your symptoms. You don't need to have everything organized or know exactly what to say. First sessions are for figuring out if this feels like the right fit, and for starting to build the foundation of something that actually helps. Most clients leave the first session feeling heard in a way they weren't expecting. That's the goal.