Melissa Buckley LCSW

After we have collaborated and are on the same page regarding your goals and desires, I will give you the education, tools, relationship, and activities to meet your identified goals and desires. I also like to revisit items of focus to ensure that they're still a primary focus; I'm happy to shift according to your wants and needs. I have had majority of my clients give the feedback that when they leave our session, they feel empowered and motivated to incorporate the things we've discussed in session. During our time together, I will support you in holding yourself accountable for taking action throughout your journey.

If you were to take my core values and stir them together, you would get my personality which is a major influence in my approach to therapy. I operate on a real level of humility and relatability as I feel that these are important aspects of the therapeutic relationship. I don't consider my relationships with clients to be intervention driven, but instead connection driven; I view myself as an unconditional support. I want to help those around me feel comfortable, safe, and not judged. I also am quirky, humorous, have ADHD tendencies, and have zero reservations with profanity when my clients are comfy with it. I'm an honest, caring, and non-enabling person, so you'll see this in our time together.

I feel that success is an ever-changing, ever-evolving thing and it looks different for all of us. So, success in therapy can look like a ton of different things depending on your goals. But in a general sense, my clients know they are making progress when they're able to acknowledge things they've been silent about, live with grace and patience, and respond more readily and with greater strength to triggers or stressors.

• Illinois, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, 149.024911

Whether you’re new to counseling or have received counseling before, I empower and support high-functioning adults in Illinois find answers to the questions about themselves that keep them up at night. I have lots of experience and strength in liberating individuals who want support in relationship stress, life stressors, communication skills, self-care, making large and important decisions in life, meeting themselves where they're at, and also exploring coping skills to manage things like depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and mild impacts of trauma. I also have a specific passion for supporting entrepreneurs and/or independent business owners step outside of their comfort zones so that they can live a life at the mercy of their own hands and not anyone else’s. I'll meet you where you're at in your journey to living a flourished and fulfilled life. During our sessions together, I'll provide you with support, education, tips and tricks (all evidence-based, of course) to improve areas of your choosing, empower you, promote your accountability in reaching goals, and also provide some humor and tough love as well. You deserve a safe space to heal, grow, and be your unapologetic self. I'm so happy to be able to provide you with this. Let's work together and flourish!