Coming Out to as Queer to Your Straight Partner

While many LGBTQIA+ Americans living today realized their orientation and came out of the closet when they were teenagers, there are many adults who experience this at an older age and have the challenge of coming out to a romantic partner. It can be emotionally fraught to not only face the reality that your orientation is different than you originally believed, but to admit this to your partner. There is so much to consider – will they be supportive? Will this fundamentally change the nature of your relationship? If you’re anxious or unsure about how to come out as queer to your straight partner, we offer some guidance in this post to help you prepare for the conversation. 

Start with Self-Reflection 

Before you ever come out to anyone else, it’s helpful to take time to be curious about yourself and your own exploration. You definitely don’t need to have all of the answers, but having a sense of how you identify, your emotions surrounding the exploration of this part of yourself, or even your own questions that may still be unanswered, can help you feel capable of talking it through with your partner. 

Borrow From a Few Therapy Methods

There are a few therapy methods that can help you self-reflect and emotionally prepare to come out to your partner, as well as other people you trust.

• Narrative Exploration: Think about the narratives that have impacted your relationship to self, gender identity, and sexual orientation. What narratives have made it difficult to know or acknowledge this part of yourself? What narratives are you holding onto about queerness that don’t fit with your values, and how do you want to reauthor these narratives? While this is a story that may still be unfolding, this kind of curious exploration can allow you to better understand and better communicate to your partner some of the complexities that go hand-in-hand with coming out as an adult or as someone in a straight- or cisgender-presenting relationship.

• Write It Out: Feeling overwhelmed and afraid you won’t touch on important parts of your narrative? There is nothing wrong with having a list of things you want to address when coming out to your partner. Being able to refer to a written list of thoughts can help you stay calm and confident if you start to feel overwhelmed.

• Grounding: It’s normal to be nervous and maybe even afraid, but coming out to your partner is an important conversation to be present in. Think about what you can do to ground yourself and stay in the moment. Hold a warm cup of tea or a cold glass of water; light a candle with a soothing fragrance; have your favorite Squishmallow at the ready.

• Take Space: Even if the conversation is going well, coming out can be very emotionally overwhelming for a lot of reasons. Pay attention to what your body is telling you and allow you and your partner to take a break and come back if you need it. 

Prepare for the Conversation

Despite how long or how well you know each other, it’s hard to know how your partner might react when you come out to them, so plan to have the conversation in a private, comfortable space. 

Prioritize your safety – emotional, psychological, and physical. It’s okay to take space or disengage from the conversation if your partner isn’t responding supportively. 
Ask trusted friends or family to be on standby. Maybe you’re sure your partner will celebrate you, or the conversation will go better than you expected; maybe you’ll be surprised, or overwhelmed, or unsure of your partner’s reaction – either way, having a support system can be incredibly important and validating. 

Come into the conversation with honesty and intention: what do you want the relationship to look like after you’ve come out? Be clear about your feelings and thoughts.

Give It Time

Coming out can be emotional for a multitude of reasons. While a partner’s response of anger, frustration, shock, confusion, or grief may feel hurtful to you or not be the response you were hoping for, hold space for their feelings. Coming out can be a big shift, and just like you likely needed time to process what this means for you, your partner likely needs space to do the same. That being said, if you begin to feel unsafe or at risk, end the conversation and prioritize your safety. 

Find a Queer-Friendly Therapist Near You

Wherever you’re at on your journey of coming out and accepting your queerness, you deserve support. Our sexual and gender identities can have a unique impact on our mental health – from how safe we feel to express our full selves, to facing discrimination, to coming out to loved ones and peers. ECC therapists are here to help you navigate the challenges and the joy, and find the path to being your authentic self. Our diverse, multidisciplinary team supports individuals, relationships, and families of all backgrounds and identities. We’ll help you find the therapist and therapy methods to help you thrive. Reach out today to book a session. 

About ECC: 

Empowered Connections Counseling is a practice of licensed therapists providing quality, multidisciplinary counseling for adults, children & teens, relationships, and families in Chicago and across Illinois. Whether by in-person session or via telehealth, we work with clients to find the therapist and treatment methods that best suit their needs. Connect meaningfully with your life by booking an appointment today.

Collaboration, Connection, and Community: Q&A with ECC Therapist Peter Beer

Not all therapists start out knowing they want to be therapists. Some, like ECC Affiliate Therapist Peter Beer, start out in an entirely different field and realize that human relationships are what they want to dedicate their careers to. In his Q&A for our blog today, Peter shares about what led him to therapy and the approaches he finds beneficial in working with clients. And with June being Men’s Mental Health Month, he shares about the most common issue he sees among young men seeking therapy for the first time—loneliness—and how he coaches them through it.

Peter Beer, MA, AMFT

Affiliate Therapist

What inspired you to become a therapist? 

So many reasons! I actually took a roundabout way to this field—my undergrad was in Industrial Engineering. Although I enjoyed a lot about being in STEM, I found myself wanting more relational pieces to my daily work. I also wanted to feel more directly involved in helping others, particularly in my local communities, and have a career that allowed me to incorporate social justice into my work. Finally, I knew from personal experience how powerfully healing therapy could be, and I wanted to try and impart that to others!

If there’s one thing you could say to a person thinking about starting therapy for the first time, what would it be?

It can be daunting to jump into therapy for the first time—and even more daunting to choose a first therapist! But the biggest thing to remember is that you, as a client, have agency in deciding what that therapy experience should look like and feel like. Have a conversation with your therapist about what you’re looking for so that you can get a feel for how you want sessions to go (and if that’s difficult to articulate for now, no worries, that’s what the therapist is there to help put specifics to!)

In your bio, you say that you draw from a few different therapy approaches: Solution-Focused therapy, Collaborative Language Systems, and Symbolic-Experiential therapy. Can you talk more about what those are and why you find them helpful as a therapist? What kind of benefits do you see for your clients (or hope to see for your clients) through them? 

I see solution-focused and collaborative approaches in similar ways, because they both highlight the client’s own strengths and abilities to facilitate change. I believe everyone has the capacity to heal, and my job is simply to help them unlock that capacity. To me, Solution-Focused Therapy is all about helping clients find the language to describe where they want to “go.” Collaborative Language Systems is about empowering a client to take the lead on directing a session. Both approaches center around the concept that nobody knows better than yourself what feels helpful. I also believe both approaches are inherently trauma-informed as they allow clients to set their own pace in sessions.

Symbolic-Experiential Therapy, to me, is more about how I believe change occurs. In this approach, therapy invites emotional experience into the room so that clients can feel something different during the session. I believe that in order to be different, oftentimes we have to feel different first! That’s what I aim to do in a safe and secure way.

June is Men’s Mental Health Month. Stats show that 16% of American men are in mental health therapy, vs 25% of women. When you talk to men and boys who are seeking therapy for the first time, what comes up? What kinds of experiences make them decide to choose therapy? How do you coach them through overcoming the stigma around seeking help? 

Most of my experience currently is with teens and families, so I might be able to speak to this from an adolescent perspective best. I see a lot of boys—especially in high school—struggling to find community. Many boys aren’t encouraged or taught how to form close, supportive emotional connections with friends. And so attempts to find a sense of belonging can end up being unsuccessful or even damaging to themselves and/or others. Sometimes those attempts to find belonging don’t occur at all. I’ve gotten many teenage referrals who are simply needing generative human connection. For these clients, I aim to meet them where they’re at, and I use my own therapeutic relationship with them as a way to explore what safe, validating interactions can look like.

What are you reading / watching / listening to right now?

I’m currently on a Brandon Sanderson kick! So I just finished Elantris, and I’m on the second Mistborn book. I’ve really liked fantasy recently as a way to access some playful imagination. The other book I’m in the middle of is Warrior Girl Unearthed—young adult books can just be so sweet and enchanting, so I’m hoping this one pans out that way! I’m also an avid bridge player, so my current e-content is full of bridge educational videos and series (Peter Hollands and Gavin Wolpert are my favorites!)

Applying Harm Reduction in Mental Health Therapy

We utilize the principle of harm reduction in our everyday lives without really thinking about it: recycling, driving with a seat belt, donning protective gear to use power tools, putting on a helmet to ride a bike, or using bandaids or heel guards when wearing new shoes. While these actions don’t completely prevent the possibility of something like a car or bike accident, they reduce the likelihood of life-threatening consequences. In a therapy setting, harm reduction is a useful–and proven–approach to treating people who engage in higher risk behaviors. In this post, we explore how and why harm reduction is improving mental health outcomes. 

What is Harm Reduction? 

Harm reduction is an evidence-based therapeutic approach that focuses on reducing harm associated with risky behaviors. Its roots began in communities centered around sex work and substance abuse: in the 1980s as the AIDS epidemic grew alongside heroine and crack cocaine addictions, harm reduction became a useful approach for preventing blood-borne infections and treating substance use disorders. But research has shown that harm reduction can be applied anywhere that behavioral harm or risk can occur, i.e., self harm, eating disorders, relational dynamics, maladaptive coping skills, and more. 

Harm reduction aims to reduce negative effects of a behavior without stopping the behavior completely or even at all, particularly if stopping that behavior would increase an individual’s distress or create unrealistic expectations that they cannot meet given their current mental health condition. Harm reduction theorizes that pressuring individuals to stop certain behaviors can actually escalate feelings of distress, lead to more of the unwanted behavior, and fuel cycles of guilt and shame.

Critics of the movement have vocalized concern since its inception, saying that harm reduction enables and encourages drug use and other risky behaviors, rather than stopping them. However, its practical applications, such as overdose education and naloxone delivery, have proven highly effective in reducing death rates among substance users, and it is emerging as an effective strategy for other mental health conditions such as self-harm.

Harm reduction also recognizes and prioritizes bodily autonomy, choice, sustainability, and safety by centering individual and community needs, as well as working to minimize the harmful effects of risky behaviors instead of simply ignoring or condemning them. 

“Harm reduction holds that society has a responsibility to care for all people, no matter their choices, behaviors, or desires. It views individuals as the sole authority on what happens to their own bodies — and it acknowledges that trying to force an outcome or behavior change on a person who doesn’t want it is not only destined to fail, it’s a violation of their consent and dignity.” – Devon Price, Ph.D., Psychology Today

Because harm reduction centers the person, their needs, and their goals, it is inherently trauma-informed, person-centered, and culturally competent when utilized appropriately.

How Is Harm Reduction Applied in Mental Health Therapy? 

In applying a harm reduction approach to mental health treatment, the therapist aims to meet the client where they're at, and without judgment. This means they will take several things into consideration: 

• The individual's goals: The therapist will not assume that full recovery from a mental health condition such as self-harm, substance use, or an eating disorder is possible or even the client’s own personal goal.

• The complexity of recovery: The therapist also acknowledges that recovery from certain mental health conditions is not linear and that relapses happen for a variety of reasons.

• Unintended consequences: The therapist is aware that abstaining from a certain behavior such as self-harm or disordered eating can have negative consequences that can trigger distress or lead an individual to engage in other unwanted or unsafe behaviors.

• Collaboration: The therapist will prioritize creating a collaborative environment and work with the client to build a treatment plan tailored to their needs and centering their goals.

In harm reduction-based therapy, the goal of treatment is not to stop the individual's behavior but to get curious about what needs those behaviors are meeting for the individual, help them work through those ideas and feelings, and find less harmful ways to live. 

Some practical examples of harm reduction strategies look like: 

• Self-harm: Snapping a rubber band against the wrist whenever the urge to harm becomes overwhelming; learning about proper wound care and safe anatomical positioning.

• Eating disorders: Purging once daily instead of three times daily; opting to eat something small, like an apple, instead of nothing; decrease excessive exercise by 10 minute intervals. 

• High-Risk Sexual Behavior: Get tested regularly; use a condom; use a safeword; use pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).

• Unhealthy Relationship Dynamics: Instead of a cut off, begin to institute small boundaries or limit communication.

• Addiction: Decreasing the amount of a substance consumed but not abstaining; nicotine patches or gum; using syringe exchange programs or safe consumption sites.

What Are The Benefits of Harm Reduction in Mental Health Therapy? 

There are several benefits to harm reduction-based therapy: 

• It reduces stigma of the risky behavior between the therapist and individual, making it more likely for the individual to continue care, because they know they can receive nonjudgmental support, even if they’ve relapsed.

• It makes change more accessible by meeting individuals where they’re at and identifying what is desired or achievable at any given time instead of setting expectations (self, social, familial, cultural) that can’t be met, which can often lead to cycles of shame, disappointment, self deprecation, self hatred, etc. 

• Positive change vs. coerced change: harm reduction also seeks to transform the individual’s relationship to change itself by facilitating positive, self-led change, rather than coercing them into conforming to outside pressure.

• It can help rebuild the individual’s connection to self and open the door to identifying needs by requiring intentionality when engaging with behaviors. 

Finding Harm Reduction Support Near You 

Harm reduction is all about ending the cycles of shame and fear tied to our riskiest impulses and maladaptive coping mechanisms. When you have a nonjudgmental therapist who is committed to your safety and autonomy, you can feel safe enough to get curious about what needs those behaviors are meeting in your life, and begin to forge your own path toward healing. If you're seeking harm reduction support, reach out to us today. We’ll connect you with the therapist and therapeutic approach to help you thrive.

About ECC: 

Empowered Connections Counseling is a practice of licensed therapists providing quality, multidisciplinary counseling for adults, children & teens, relationships, and families in Chicago and across Illinois. Whether by in-person session or via telehealth, we work with clients to find the therapist and treatment methods that best suit their needs. Connect meaningfully with your life by booking an appointment today.

Somatic Experiencing Therapy for Neurodivergent People: Why It Helps

Does this scenario sound familiar? You made plans to hang out with a friend, but when the day comes to meet up, your friend cancels. Even though they’re super apologetic and kind about having to cancel—and on a cognitive level you know they love and value you as a friend—you still feel a strong sting of rejection and have a hard time getting rid of that feeling. Whenever you think about it, your heart races and you have a hard time calming down or being productive. If you struggle with being able to release strong emotions on a physical level, Somatic Experiencing Therapy (SET) might be a helpful approach for you. In this post, we’ll walk you through what Somatic Experiencing Therapy is, its benefits, and how to find a somatic experiencing therapist near you.

First, What is Somatic Experiencing Therapy? 

“Somatic” comes from the Greek word “soma” meaning body. Somatic Experiencing Therapy is a method in a broader approach known as mind-body therapies. It is the application of somatic psychology, a field that explores the lived experience of being embodied as the basis for how we live in and relate to the world. The principle theory behind Somatic Experiencing Therapy is that stress and trauma become trapped in the body and can manifest as emotional dysregulation, or with physical side-effects that cause prolonged discomfort, such as an elevated heart rate. 

Returning to the example above, in response to a friend’s last-minute cancellation, the person might feel anxiety and experience an elevated heart rate every time they think about the situation, and find it difficult to bring their heart rate back to baseline. This difficulty regulating emotions and bodily sensations might be a result of trauma, or a symptom of a neurodivergent condition. Someone might seek therapy when they realize that despite being able to think through a stressful situation, and yet still experience significant distress over how they feel physically in their bodies about it. Cognitive techniques in traditional talk therapy like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy are useful for helping us think differently about a situation, but sometimes our bodies don’t create different feelings just because we’ve been able to think something differently. Somatic experiencing is designed to address this by helping increase an individual’s awareness of their body as a way of reconnecting with their internal experiences (interoceptive, proprioceptive, and kinesthetic sensations) and emotions.

Let’s take a moment to define those three internal awareness terms: 

• Interoception is the awareness of bodily sensations such as heart rate, breathing, hunger, temperature, pain, the urge to use the bathroom, etc. 

• Proprioception is the awareness or perception of the movement and position of the body.

• Kinesthesia is the sensation of movement or strain in muscles, tendons, and joints.

SET increases an individual’s awareness of these internal sensations in response to emotions, and teaches them how to experience them safely.

What Happens in Somatic Experiencing Therapy? 

In a traditional talk therapy session, a therapist will start with the brain—in other words, they work with patients to use cognitive skills to approach memory and trauma. But in Somatic Experiencing Therapy, therapists flip the script and start with the body to work towards the brain, addressing bodily sensations as a path to accessing thoughts, emotions, memories, and trauma. To facilitate this, a therapist might use the SIBAM framework, which stands for Sensation, Imagery, Behavior, Affect, and Meaning. 

Using our earlier example of the friend who canceled social plans, you might start the session by discussing the experience with your therapist, and then use the SIBAM framework to process those feelings: 

• Sensation — how does this memory or experience make you feel in your body? 

• Imagery — what are the sensory impressions from that experience: sight, smell, sound, taste, and touch? 

• Behavior — the therapist will observe your behavioral responses: what is your body language and posture like, as you recall this experience? 

• Affect — how did you display your emotions in the moment (language, tone, speed, and volume) and how are you expressing them now? 

• Meaning — after processing all of this with your therapist, what is your perception of the situation now and what does it mean to you? 

SET can include many other techniques from breathwork and dance, to bodily awareness, resourcing, titration, and pendulation. At Empowered Connections Counseling, our therapists will work with you to find the right combination of techniques to suit your needs and goals. 

What Are the Benefits of Somatic Experiencing Therapy? 

SET can be beneficial for anyone with a history of: 

• Trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

• Grief

• Anxiety

• Substance abuse disorders

• Chronic pain

• Neurodivergent conditions such as autism (more on this below)

Each of these experiences can contribute to emotional dysregulation, or trigger one of the four fear responses: fight, flight, freeze, or fawn. Emotional trauma and the memory of that trauma can instigate fear responses, well beyond the point where the individual is exposed to the trauma, and cause both cognitive and physical symptoms that make it hard to function normally, from confusion and difficulty concentrating, to irregular heart rate and difficulty breathing. 

The outside-in approach of SET that starts with the body to access thoughts and memories of trauma helps teach the body that you are safe, even when you approach a stressful or traumatic memory. 

Another benefit of Somatic Experiencing Therapy is that it builds an individual’s awareness of the connection between their emotions and their awareness of internal bodily experiences so that they can learn to relieve tension and stress in healthy ways, especially when they are feeling triggered.

Somatic Experiencing Therapy for Neurodivergent People: Why It Helps

A common experience among neurodivergent people with different diagnoses is a heightened experience of body sensations due to sensory processing differences. These sensory processing differences can be related to our five outward senses, such as sensitivity to noise, bright overhead lighting, or large crowds, but these sensory differences can also occur with interoception—what we feel inside our bodies, such as the physiological sensations of emotions, digestion, or pain. 

No one enjoys feeling emotionally uncomfortable (anxious, sad, angry), but that discomfort can be perceived as extra scary or threatening if you process sensations differently. So while a neurotypical person may be able to experience a heart rate increase related to anxiety and go about their daily lives with minimal disruption, a neurodivergent person may experience that heart rate increase and not be able to focus on anything else. 

Somatic experiencing therapy can be a useful therapeutic tool for helping neurodivergent individuals learn to experience these uncomfortable body sensations safely and release tension or stress in healthy ways. 

Somatic Experiencing Therapy in Chicago

When we learn how to safely connect our bodily sensations with our emotions and memory, we can better release the stress and tension that keeps us experiencing contentment and joy. Somatic Experiencing Therapy can be a powerful therapeutic experience to help you enjoy your life and relationships. If you're curious about whether SET is right for you, or you're ready to give it a try, reach out. At ECC, we're committed to helping our clients find the right therapy approach and therapist to help you thrive. 

About ECC: 

Empowered Connections Counseling is a practice of licensed therapists providing quality, multidisciplinary counseling for adults, children & teens, relationships, and families in Chicago and across Illinois. Whether by in-person session or via telehealth, we work with clients to find the therapist and treatment methods that best suit their needs. Connect meaningfully with your life by booking an appointment today.

What is Neurodivergent-Affirming Therapy?

You've probably heard or seen the term "neurodivergent" come up in conversation online and offline in recent years, and you may even identify with the term yourself. In a society that often stigmatizes any behaviors that deviate from what is considered neurotypical, being neurodivergent can be an exhausting experience, and the healthcare system, including psychotherapy, hasn't always been supportive of neurodivergent people. Yet new approaches to therapy are emerging for neurodivergent people, what's known as "neurodivergent-affirming therapy." In this post, we'll explore what neurodivergent-affirming therapy can look like, why it's important, and how to know if it's the right fit for your needs. 

What Is Neurodivergence? 

The term neurodiversity was coined by Australian disability rights activist Judy Singer. According to the Cleveland Clinic, neurodivergence or neurodiversity are nonmedical terms that describe the variations in human neurology that impact how the human brain works. People who are neurodivergent experience different strengths and challenges than those who do not have those neurological differences. Although some people who are neurodivergent may have medical conditions, learning disabilities, and other conditions, others may not have a medical condition or an identifiable diagnosis. Autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, clinical depression, and learning disorders, are just a few examples of types of diagnosable neurodivergence. 

By contrast, neurotypical is a nonmedical term used to describe people whose strengths and challenges are not affected by a difference that changes how their brain works, according to Cleveland Clinic. 

Ultimately, these nonmedical terms aim to empower people with neurological differences to identify and embrace those differences, rather than trying to suppress or hide them. 

What Are The Risks of Psychotherapy That is Not Neurodivergent-Affirming?

Historically, the healthcare system has not been helpful to or supportive of neurodivergent people, and neurodiversity was not respected as a natural part of the human population. From institutionalization, to surgical procedures like lobotomies, to shock therapy and over-medication, treatment of neurodivergence was centered around suppressing symptoms and forcing conformity to socially acceptable or “neurotypical” behavior. Traditional psychotherapy or “talk therapy” as it is better known, also encouraged conformity to neurotypical behavior.

These treatments were the culmination of what’s known as “neurotypical bias,” or using neurotypical behavior as the standard for mental health, which causes harm to neurodivergent people by exacerbating the mental exhaustion and stress of masking their symptoms, as well as by over-pathologizing behaviors that aren’t harmful. Therapists with neurotypical bias tried to correct a client’s behaviors such as stimming, without understanding how the behavior was interconnected with the client’s neurodivergence, or that the behavior might have been an attempt to self-regulate or cope with uncomfortable sensory experiences. Neurotypical bias is still very prevalent within the mental healthcare system today, but thanks to the work of Judy Singer and many medical and mental health professionals, a shift to neurodivergent-affirming therapy is underway. 

What is Neurodivergent-Affirming Therapy? 

Rather than trying to suppress behaviors and symptoms that deviate from what is considered neurotypical, neurodivergent-affirming therapy is a therapeutic approach to treatment and overarching philosophy that neurodivergence is not something that needs to be fixed or corrected, but rather something that can be seen as a strength, even with its challenges. 

There is no one modality that is considered harmful or helpful when engaging in neurodivergent affirming therapy. What is most important is how a modality and related treatment interventions are applied. Neurodivergent folks often experience frustration with providers that don’t take the time to understand why a certain intervention or approach isn’t working and this can lead to clients choosing to disengage from therapy that could potentially be helpful. 

With a neurodivergent-affirming approach, the therapist collaborates with the client to figure out a modality that feels right for them, and use it to build on their individual strengths. Common goals often include building a better understanding of the client's specific experience of neurodiversity/condition, cultivating acceptance and self-compassion, and developing individualized coping skills to manage distress related to functioning in a neurotypical society. 

Every person expends energy trying to fit in with our peers and social norms, and often neurodiverse individuals can have increased difficulty navigating this, from trying to mask or hide their symptoms, to trying to decipher social cues, to experiencing sensory overwhelm, and so many other reasons. In neurodivergent-affirming therapy, the therapist works with the individual to identify how this manifests in their daily life, and how it impacts their relationships, their work and school, and more. 

Similar to trauma-informed therapy that recognizes the unique impact of trauma on an individual’s mental health, or LGBTQ-affirming therapy that recognizes the unique impact that a person’s sexual or gender identity has on an individual’s mental health, neurodivergent-affirming therapy is a form of cultural competence. Neurodivergent-affirming therapists are working to be aware of potential biases, understand the nuances of neurodiversity, and trust the client’s own experiences. 

The Benefits of Neurodivergent-Affirming Therapy

The fundamental benefit of neurodivergent-affirming therapy is that it works with the person’s brain, rather than against it. The therapist works with the client to discern when different behaviors are healthy self-regulations, versus maladaptive. 

Another benefit is the self-trust and acceptance that it builds in clients as they learn to embrace and build on their strengths. Each person’s experience of neurodiversity will be unique, and it can be very healing to explore those aspects in a therapy setting where that is affirmed and celebrated. 

Neurodivergent-Affirming Therapists in Chicago

Moving through the world as a neurodivergent person can feel like an emotional rollercoaster, at times exciting as you realize how uniquely your brain functions, and other times exhausting as you face engrained social biases and misunderstanding. Having a safe space to explore these experiences with a therapist who trusts your perspective can help you build self-acceptance, confidence, and contentment. 

At ECC, we have several therapists who offer neurodivergent-affirming therapy, applying multidisciplinary methods from Acceptance and Commitment therapy, to expressive art techniques, to somatic experiencing, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, and other methods to create a unique experience suited to each individual’s needs and goals. 

If you’re looking for neurodivergent-affirming therapy in Chicago, Empowered Connections Counseling offers treatments for individuals of all ages. Reach out today to book an intake session.

About ECC: 

Empowered Connections Counseling is a practice of licensed therapists providing quality, multidisciplinary counseling for adults, children & teens, relationships, and families in Chicago and across Illinois. Whether by in-person session or via telehealth, we work with clients to find the therapist and treatment methods that best suit their needs. Connect meaningfully with your life by booking an appointment today.