Mark Silveira, LCPC Psychotherapy
First off because a lot of them seem to promise the same things. Help with your anxiety, an answer to your depression or relationship issues. A solution to feeling terminally overwhelmed, lonely or just plain stuck.
But your worries aren’t the same as everyone else’s worries, your fears aren't the same as the person you saw on the street today’s fears and your concerns about anything— your life, your relationships, your job— aren't identical to anyone else’s concerns.
All of which makes this whole finding a therapist business frustrating, confusing, annoying and frankly enough to send you out looking for a therapist.
So here's what I'd suggest:
A. Talk to a few of us (since most therapists offer free intial consultations).
B. Ask as many questions as it takes to get a sense of whether or not this is a person you might be able to connect with, share your feelings with and eventually get comfortable being uncomfortable around.
Some hints you’ll glean from having such a conversation with me: I will happily talk with you about CBT, ACT, DBT, Psychodynamic and Existential approaches. But I will not bombard you with with an alphabet soup of manualized therapies. I mean, aren't bookstores and the Internet positively groaning with that sort of content?
What you’ll get from me—assuming you’re 18 years or older—is a lot of questions, plenty of analogies and metaphors and a certain kind of bluntness that smart, verbal, curious people who want to know more about themselves find very provocative.
Especially if they are the sort of highly educated professionals who are used to having all the answers and find themselves flummoxed by the fact that living a reasonably fulfilling life populated by some rewarding relationships can appear so maddeningly difficult at times.
Practical Considerations
Having made it this far, maybe it’s time to talk about some practical considerations such as the insurance carriers I work with—United Healthcare PPO, BCBS PPO and Blue Choice, Aetna Student Health, Cigna and Humana—my session fee, which is $160 and when we might start, which depends on the location you'd prefer—Chicago or Evanston—and how you feel about in-person versus Telehealth sessions.
Chicago
Hours
Today | By Appointment |
Evanston
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