Find a Therapist in Itasca, Illinois.

With every client, I strive to create an accepting, empathic, and warm environment while building a strong rapport. Building a strong rapport and therapeutic alliance is a top priority of mine while accurately and empathically supporting the client and creating a treatment plan. Under my care and support, you will feel heard, understood, and advocated for.

Being properly diagnosis is the first order of business. Feeling comfortable with your therapist is also very important. Having clear and concise goals for psychotherapy helps both the client and therapist stay on course and ensure a successful outcome in a time frame that allows for efficient change that is long lasting. Also working in conjunction with medical personal can help better use the therapy process.

Therapy is a powerful tool for healing, self-discovery, and growth. As a Licensed Professional Counselor in Illinois, I provide a supportive space where clients can explore challenges, develop coping strategies, and build resilience. Using evidence-based approaches like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and mindfulness, I help clients navigate anxiety, depression, trauma, and life transitions. Together, we identify patterns that hold you back, and work toward meaningful change. My goal is to empower you with tools for greater self-awareness, emotional balance, and healthier relationships. Seeking therapy is a courageous step—support is available to help you move forward with confidence.

Kari Hunter has provided psychotherapy for individuals, couples and families for over 25 years. She offers many types of psychotherapy for problems such as anxiety, depression, ADHD, child and adolescent problems, and relationship struggles. Psychotherapy today incorporates our knowledge about brain science and behavioral change. Evidence from research has led to development of treatments such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectic Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Mindfulness strategies, and many types of Marital and Family Therapy.

Psychotherapy is an effective way to gain insights, find hope, and get support. My approach is to demystify the psychotherapy experience. I am down to earth and like to provide support while also teaching you new skills and ideas to use in your life. It's not just talk therapy with me. In addition to processing stressors in your life I will also provide you with new real world tools to use.

We can work together to develop a game plan to help you to to accomplish your goals for our work together. This will include decisions about how frequently to meet (example: once or twice weekly), your specific goals (and what will be different when the issue is resolved), options for working towards your goals, and what specific strategies you would like to use (I can suggest a variety of them for you - for example, perhaps you are interested in mindfulness, meditation, or laughter yoga!!)

Psychotherapy is an in-depth review of where your life has been and where your life is going. Understanding how your history affects your emotions and current relationships gives you the chance to change long-standing patterns. The goal is to handle difficult emotions, while still making good decisions for yourself. While we all want to feel better, sometimes we have to do better to feel better. We take the time to define your desired outcomes because we will find a natural source of energy and motivation. We identify the behavioral and thinking patterns that will lead to your desired outcomes and a satisfying life.

I am trained in a variety of traditional and non-traditional treatment methods that I integrate in a holistic approach to psychotherapy. While grounded in scientifically proven methods such as Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, I also integrate with treatment methods such as Positive Psychology which emphasizes the development of strengths over targeting weaknesses, and hypnotherapy approaches that incorporate subconscious and body-based processes.

I believe that you are the expert of your lived experience. I’m not going to tell you what to feel or how to process it. I am here to guide you and listen to what you need. As your therapist, I am here to both empathize and challenge you, while still meeting you where you are what. I will actively listen to you and create a space of compassion and safety. I will also help challenge you whether that be challenging self-defeating thoughts or helping you identify actions you can take to help yourself grow.

Our focus with respect to psychotherapy involves utilizing a solution-focused brief therapy model. This model centers on identifying and building upon the client's strengths and desired future state, rather than dwelling on the problem itself; this includes techniques like asking future-oriented questions, exploring exceptions to the problem, and actively collaborating with the client to set realistic purpose driven goals.

I believe our current struggles often have a link to past struggles. I work with clients to understand the both/and. What are the current challenges and struggles that you want to improve or change and in doing that how is it link to the past. In other words what previous distortions or hurts are causing the person current struggles and how to they build current health to grow and heal from previous hurts.

Counseling is both a relational experience and learning process that can foster much personal and professional growth and healing. My approach is to provide a healthy, encouraging relationship that is both collaborative, instructive, and one that empowers you to become your best self and grow into the life and work that is most meaningful for you. I will model and teach you various skills, provides resources, and support you towards the solutions that fit you best.

James Hillman once said, "We've had a hundred years of psychotherapy and the world is getting worse." While there are many occasions where the validation and listening endemic to psychotherapy makes sense, there are times where we over assume that "feeling better" and "changing behavior" are the same. Grey Matters International, Inc. goes after the forgotten brain laws to behavior change that therapists miss when processing hours and hours of dialogues with people. Utilizing a cutting edge technology to facilitate the emotional process of change, we can make the therapy process way more effective, faster, and with less money spent. Contact kevin@kevinflemingphd.com or 877-606-6161.