In-Person in Chicago, IL 60604
Online in Illinois
Gemstone Wellness offers trauma-informed, insight-oriented therapy for teens and adults seeking more than symptom relief. Our work is grounded in a deep understanding of trauma, anxiety, and nervous system regulation—helping you not just cope, but understand yourself at a meaningful level and create lasting change.
We also bring specialized expertise in sex therapy and grief and loss, supporting clients through some of life’s most vulnerable and complex experiences with care, nuance, and respect.
What sets us apart is how we show up. Therapy here is collaborative, human, and genuinely interactive. We are engaged with you—curious, attuned, and responsive. We laugh with you when it’s there, sit with you when it’s hard, and approach your story without judgment. You won’t find cold, clinical distance here—just real warmth, thoughtful insight, and a relationship that helps you feel seen.
Client Focus
Session Format: Couple, Individual sessions.
Age Specialty: Adult, Teen, Young Adult
Demographic Expertise: Hispanic / Latino, Jewish, LGBTQ+, Women clients.
Languages: English, Spanish
Treatment Approach
- Art Therapy Uses creative activities like drawing, painting, or sculpture as a way to express emotions. It is especially helpful when words are hard to find.
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) One of the most widely used approaches, CBT helps people identify unhelpful thoughts and replace them with healthier patterns. It is effective for anxiety, depression, and many other concerns.
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Combines CBT with mindfulness to help regulate emotions, tolerate stress, and build stronger relationships. Originally designed for borderline personality disorder, it’s now used more broadly.
- Existential / Humanistic Therapy Encourages people to explore meaning, freedom, and authenticity in their lives. It focuses on personal growth and living in alignment with one’s values.
- Feminist Therapy Addresses how gender roles, power, and social inequality affect mental health. It empowers clients to challenge limiting beliefs and systems.
- Multicultural Therapy Acknowledges the role of culture, race, and identity in mental health. It values diversity and adapts treatment to each person’s background.
- Person-Centered Therapy (Rogerian) Emphasizes empathy, unconditional positive regard, and authenticity. It provides a safe space for self-discovery and growth.
- Relational Psychotherapy Emphasizes the healing power of the therapist-client relationship. It uses trust and safety as a foundation for change.
Approach Description: We begin by getting to know you—how you think, feel, relate, and make meaning of your experiences. Change is not possible without first understanding the nuances of how you see the world. This phase is focused on building trust and rapport, gathering your history, and paying close attention to how the therapeutic relationship feels to both of us. We are attuning to you—how you communicate, what feels safe or unsafe, where you open and where you pull back—so we can join you in a way that is accurate and respectful. This foundation is essential; without it, deeper work cannot take hold.
Once a strong foundation is established, therapy becomes more active and exploratory. Patterns, themes, and relational dynamics begin to come into clearer focus. Your therapist may gently point out what has been outside of awareness, helping you see connections between past experiences and present behaviors. This phase may include thoughtful challenge or gentle confrontation, always grounded in care and collaboration.
We begin testing new ways of being—experimenting with boundaries, communication, emotional expression, and self-perception. There is often increased attention to the nervous system: noticing triggers, regulating responses, and building tolerance for difficult emotions. You may start to recognize automatic reactions in real time and develop the capacity to pause, reflect, and choose differently. This is also a space where grief, anger, or previously unprocessed experiences can be safely explored and integrated. The work here is both practical and deeply reflective—creating shifts not just in behavior, but in how you understand yourself.
Over time, insights and new experiences begin to integrate. What once required effort—pausing, regulating, responding with intention—starts to feel more natural. You may notice a stronger sense of self-trust, greater emotional flexibility, and more ease in relationships.
In this phase, therapy shifts toward reinforcing and sustaining change. We reflect on growth, solidify new patterns, and prepare for increased independence. The relationship remains supportive, but the reliance on therapy often lessens as you internalize the work. The goal is not dependence on the therapeutic space, but a deeper, more stable connection to yourself—one that continues beyond the therapy room.
Fees & Insurance
Fees
- Average Session Fee 180
- Affordable sliding scale therapy: apply if you may be eligible.
- Each therapist holds a few spots for sliding scale clients that do not have Blue Cross our Aetna insurance and cannot afford the out of pocket rate. Please inquire for more details, as we always do our best to accommodate anyone who is ready to take a serious step towards bettering their mental wellbeing.
- Accepts Insurance
- We accept BCBS and Aetna PPO plans, and we provide superbills for clients using out of network benefits
Education & Credentials
Gemstone Wellness, Inc. PsyD, LCPC, LCSW, LPC
- Female, Gender Fluid
- License # 071009181
- Licensed in IL
- Practicing Since 2016
Gemstone Wellness, Inc. Practice Details
Therapy Sessions
- Available In-Person in Chicago, IL 60604
- Available Online for residents of Illinois
- Online Therapy Details: Teletherapy
In short, we help heal nervous systems. But here are the details. Gemstone Wellness is a trauma-informed, identity-affirming group therapy practice based in downtown Chicago. We offer care for teens and adults seeking depth, clarity, and meaningful change. Our work centers on helping clients understand the roots of their experiences—particularly in the areas of trauma, anxiety, and nervous system regulation—so they can move out of survival mode and into a more grounded, connected way of living.
We specialize in working with complex and layered experiences, including trauma and PTSD, chronic anxiety, grief and loss, identity exploration, and relationship challenges. We also offer subspecialty care in sex therapy, supporting individuals and couples in developing more authentic, connected relationships with their bodies, desires, and intimacy. Across all services, our approach is depth-oriented and insight-driven—focused not just on symptom reduction, but on lasting transformation and self-understanding.
At the core of Gemstone Wellness is a deep commitment to multicultural awareness, cultural humility, and anti-oppressive care. We recognize that mental health does not exist in a vacuum—it is shaped by identity, systemic stress, culture, and lived experience. As a queer-led, women-led, and Latina-led practice, we are especially passionate about serving LGBTQIA2S+ communities and creating a space where gender, sexuality, and non-traditional relationships are not only accepted, but fully affirmed. Many of our clinicians share these identities themselves, and all are trained to provide nuanced, non-pathologizing care.
We frequently work with clients who have felt unseen or misunderstood in other therapy spaces—including neurodivergent individuals, those navigating religious or cultural trauma, and people exploring identity or alternative relationship structures. Here, you do not have to explain or justify your experience. We hold space for complexity, intersectionality, and the full context of who you are.
What truly distinguishes Gemstone Wellness, however, is not just what we treat—but how we show up. Therapy with us is collaborative, relational, and deeply human. We prioritize genuine connection and thoughtful therapist-client matching, because we believe healing happens in the context of a real relationship—not a clinical transaction.
Our therapists are engaged, responsive, and present. We are not distant or overly clinical. We are curious. We are warm. We laugh with you when it’s there, and we sit with you when it’s not. There is no judgment, no pressure to perform, and no expectation that you should already have it figured out.
At Gemstone Wellness, therapy is not about fixing you—it is about understanding you.