THERAPY FOR HELPING PROFESSIONALS IN ILLINOIS
You're great at taking care of people. But how are you doing?
Therapy for therapists, nurses, teachers, and the people who hold everyone else together.
You show up for people on their hardest days. But lately, you're carrying more home, finding it harder to switch off, and wondering how long you can keep up this pace. Here, you get to focus on yourself without having to be the one with all the answers.
(And yes, this one’s open to the men in the helping fields too.)
You can advocate for everyone but yourself
You'll go to the mat for a client, a family, a patient, or a student. You'll stay late, take the extra case, cover the shift, and find the words nobody else could find. But when someone asks what you need, you go completely blank.
Somewhere along the way, needing things started to feel like a luxury you couldn't afford. Boundaries feel selfish. Asking for less feels like failing. So you keep absorbing everyone's hardest days, carrying them home in your body, into your evenings, and into the space that's supposed to be yours.
Eventually, it catches up with you. The exhaustion that sleep doesn't touch. The Sunday scaries. The quiet worry that you're running low on the very thing your whole career is built on.
You don't need to care less about the people you help. You need to stop hauling the whole day home in your body and start advocating for yourself the way you do for everyone else.
What we work on together
Calming a nervous system that never clocks out
When your job requires you to stay alert, responsive, and emotionally available all day, your body doesn't always get the memo that the workday is over. You might be home, but your mind is still replaying conversations, worrying about someone you helped, or running through tomorrow's responsibilities. We work on practical ways to help your nervous system settle, so you can actually enjoy your evenings instead of spending them recovering from the day.
Advocating for yourself, for once
You'll go to bat for a client, patient, or student without thinking twice, but asking for what you need is somehow a different story. We work on turning that same advocacy inward, recognizing your limits, communicating what you need, and setting boundaries without the guilt spiral that tends to follow. You can be compassionate, dedicated, and really good at your job without being available to everyone all the time.
Making the work actually work for you
Sometimes the problem isn't that you need better coping skills. It's that your workload, schedule, or the expectations placed on you simply aren't sustainable. Together, we look at what you can realistically change, whether that's protecting your time, having a difficult conversation with a supervisor, or rethinking what you need from your career. The goal isn't to make you better at tolerating an impossible workload. It's to help you keep doing work that matters to you without losing yourself in the process.
SUPPORT FOR THE PEOPLE WHO SUPPORT OTHERS
How I work
I know what it's like to spend your days taking care of other people. I'm a helper too, and I understand how easy it is to keep showing up for everyone else while putting your own needs somewhere at the bottom of the list. When we work together, you don't have to explain why your job matters so much to you or defend why you're exhausted by it. Both can be true.
My approach combines ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) with somatic and nervous-system tools. ACT helps us look at what matters to you, both in your work and outside of it, so you can start making decisions based on your own values instead of guilt or obligation. We also pay attention to what stress is doing in your body and practice ways to help you settle when the workday is over. I can incorporate Reiki when you're interested, but it's always optional. You don't have to be into anything holistic to work with me.
This isn't about convincing you to quit a career you love or teaching you to tolerate more than you should. It's about figuring out how to care for people without constantly running yourself into the ground. We'll work at a pace that makes sense for you, with virtual sessions available throughout Illinois.
Robin is unique in her approach and openness. She is comfortable broaching deeper topics as well as finding humor in most situations. She is heart centered and kind.
Kate Letournea—LPC
WHEN CARING COMES AT A COST
You can love what you do and still need something to change.
Maybe you've spent years building a career around helping people. You care about your clients, your patients, or your students, and you know the work you do matters. So when you start feeling resentful, exhausted, or even a little disconnected from it all, there's a part of you that feels guilty for admitting it.
It's hard to acknowledge that something isn't working when you've invested so much of yourself in it. You might worry that setting boundaries means you're less dedicated, or that needing a break says something about your ability to do the job. And when the people you help genuinely depend on you, even small changes can feel like you're letting someone down.
But recognizing your own limits doesn't erase how much you care. Sometimes the expectations placed on helping professionals are simply too much for one person to carry. Therapy gives us room to look at what's happening, what you actually have control over, and what you need outside of the roles you fill for everyone else.
You don't have to stop being someone who cares deeply about others. There's room to care about yourself, too.
Frequently Asked Questions
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No. Therapists, nurses and healthcare workers, teachers, and other helping professionals all land here. If your job is caring for people or maybe you’re in a non-paying caregiver role and it’s wearing you down, you’re in the right place. This is also the space that welcomes men.
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Not at all, and I get it from both chairs. Being the professional in the room your whole career doesn’t mean you have to be one here. You get to just be a person.
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That’s kind of the point. Sessions are online, so there’s no commute and no waiting room, just you, wherever you are in Illinois, fitting this in around a real schedule.
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You can love what you do and still feel like it's taking more out of you than you have to give. We don't have to start with the assumption that you need a new career or that you've stopped caring. Sometimes it's about figuring out what's wearing you down, where you have room to make changes, and how to have a life outside of the people who depend on you.
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There's no set timeline, especially when we're working through patterns that have been part of your life for years. Some things may start to shift as you understand yourself better, while others take more time and practice. We'll move at a pace that makes sense for you and check in along the way.
You don't need another lesson in self-care.
You spend enough time figuring out what everyone else needs. Here, we get to focus on you. What's frustrating you, what's no longer working, and what you'd like to change. You can leave the professional hat at the door and just show up as yourself. Let's start with a free consultation and see if we're a good fit.