Anxiety Therapist Chicago, IL for Adults & Couples
Stop people-pleasing, understand the patterns keeping you stuck, and build relationships where you don't have to lose yourself.
Now Welcoming New Clients
I intentionally keep my caseload small so I can provide thoughtful, consistent care and build meaningful therapeutic relationships. As my schedule has allowed, I've opened a limited number of every-other-week daytime appointments for adults throughout Illinois.
If you're navigating anxiety, people-pleasing, relationship transitions, perfectionism, or intergenerational family patterns, I'd be happy to see if we're a good fit.
Maybe you’ve noticed…
You find yourself:
shrinking yourself to keep others comfortable
over-explaining or second-guessing yourself
feeling guilty when you set boundaries
worrying that your needs are too much
repeating relationship patterns you don't understand
You don’t have to go through this alone.
These patterns didn’t appear out of nowhere.
Maybe you grew up believing love meant being helpful.
Conflict was scary and should be avoided.
Maybe you learned to put everyone else's needs before your own.
Those coping strategies may have helped you then…
But after a breakup or divorce, they left you questioning yourself, overthinking every interaction, and struggling to trust your own intuition.
The goal of therapy isn't to blame or vilify your past.
It's to understand it with compassion so you can begin making different choices moving forward.
Many clients discover that what they've called self-sabotage is actually their nervous system trying to protect them.
How I Help You Move Forward
Many of my clients learned growing up that love meant keeping the peace, overextending themselves to meet others' expectations, or putting themselves last.
After experiencing a breakup or divorce, those old patterns often become impossible to ignore.
Together, we'll explore where those patterns came from and help you build relationships that reflect who you are today.
You do not have to stay in the role of the caretaker if it no longer fits who you are becoming.
Hi, I’m Shirley!
Hanging out with my dog-nephew!
A Space Where You Can Reconnect With Yourself
As a second-generation Chinese-Vietnamese American, I understand how cultural expectations, family roles, and the pressure to keep the peace can shape how we see ourselves and our relationships.
This is the space I want to offer my clients: the permission to slow down.
We get to know your story and the parts of your identity within it.
Together, we'll practice sitting with uncomfortable emotions instead of running from them.
They don't scare me.
Services I provide
Anxiety Therapy
Couples Counseling
Post Breakup Therapy
Intergenerational Trauma Therapy
What clients often tell me after doing deeper work:
“I learned to trust myself and my body’s signals to spot abusive behaviors within MONTHS, instead of years! And walked away without feeling guilty.”
“All these years I felt shame about my circumstances, thinking that if I carried it for others, it would help. Now I realized it was never mine to hold.”
Resources for Understanding Yourself and Your Relationships
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Frequently Asked Questions in Chicago, IL
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You may be a good fit if you're ready to move beyond simply managing symptoms and want to understand the deeper patterns that keep repeating. Many clients I work with have learned coping skills or tried to work through things on their own but still feel stuck in the same cycles of anxiety, relationships, or self-doubt.
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Therapy with me is a space where you can slow down, feel understood, and explore the patterns that have shaped your relationships with yourself and others. Clients have shared that therapy feels "cathartic" and that they finally feel "seen." Together, we work toward creating meaningful change at a pace that feels supportive.
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Yes. I offer virtual therapy throughout Illinois, making it easier to receive support from the comfort and privacy of your own space.
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Start by completing the contact form below to schedule a free 15-minute Zoom consultation. This gives us the opportunity to talk about what brings you to therapy and see if we're a good fit to work together.
You've been holding it together for a long time. Maybe too long.
If something on this page made you pause, even for a moment, that's worth paying attention to.
You don't have to have it all figured out before reaching out. A free 15-minute consultation is just a conversation. No pressure, no commitment. Just a chance to see if this feels like the right fit.