Ralph Whetstine, Psy.D., ACHT

Ralph Whetstine View Specialties



What is possible for you to achieve in your life?  What might it take for you to achieve your highest level of functioning possible and then sustain it once achieved?  What factors function as barriers to your achievement and your experience of optimal functioning?  It was questions like these and a strong motivation to explore the depths of human potential that drove my thinking early in my life.  
 
My work as a clinician, a life coach and author today select my interest in these broader perspectives of the human experience.  I've never been content to focus only on what prevents us from achieving what we desire, but to explore and understand what factors and qualities help us to live a life that is full and free.  To accomplish this I take a holistic and integrative perspective in my approach to treatment.  This means I seek to unite both traditional and non-traditional approaches in my treatment.  
 
My education in traditional forms of treatment includes training in empirically validated treatments such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and behavior therapy at the University of Chicago's Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation while gaining my doctoral degree from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology, Chicago.
 
My education in non-traditional forms of treatment has been more or less continuous since my graduation in 2005 and includes ongoing training in treatments such as Heart-Centered Hypnotherapy achieving an advanced certification in this method in 2015.  Training and experience in other non-traditional treatment methods include, training in the psychology of the unconscious developed by people like Carl Jung and Herman Erickson as well as training in Positive Psychology with its emphasis on enhancing strengths over weakness, and humanistic and transpersonal forms of psychotherapy that place an emphasis on the subtle energy of the human spirit and spirituality.  
 
 I am a licensed clinical psychologist in the state of Illinois.  I take a holistic, integrative and systems view of the human condition which means I view symptoms such as depression and anxiety and other conditions as indicating a lack of balance in the larger picture of an individual's experience.  We are each part of a larger whole and there are times when our position within this larger landscape can influence us in challenging and sometimes negative ways leaving us feeling robbed of our freedom and limited in our pursuit of our vision of fulfillment.  My approach is collaborative as the intention and recommendations are oriented to the needs of the individual and their goals.  


Ralph Whetstine Reaches

Elk Grove Village IL