Life Transitions Counseling and Therapy in Chicago, IL

Meet Our Life Transitions Therapists

Feeling overwhelmed by changes in your life?

  • Did you just go through a relationship breakup or lose a loved one?

  • Maybe you just moved, had a baby, adopted a pet, or started a new job?

  • Has life felt like a whirlwind of multiple changes at once and you’re just trying to reach a new stable point?

While all of this can be a normal part of life, it can be quite challenging to navigate life changes and transitions alone. We have therapists who are here to you with anything that you may be going through at any stage in your life - from just graduating high school or college and figuring out what’s next, to a messy breakup and move that has you recalibrating to a new way of being.

Common Life Transitions

  • New Addition to Your Family

    Maybe you just had a baby or adopted a pet. Babies and Puppies have similar high needs!

  • Breakup or Divorce

    Maybe you just broke up with your long term partner or are somewhere in the process of divorce.

  • Graduating

    Whether you’re graduating from high school or grad school, the transition to what is next can be jarring,

  • Moving

    Moving to a new home, even locally, is one of the most stressful life events a person can go through.

  • Job or Career Change

    Often our professional lives evolve and develop over time and it’s helpful to assess our feelings and what’s important to us.

  • Grief and Loss

    Loss can show up in a lot of ways, though may be death of a loved one or a pet, or even loss of a job or good health to a chronic illness.

  • Getting Married

    Getting married, and perhaps planning a wedding as well, is very exciting yet still often incredibly stressful.

  • Empty Nest

    Women who have focused on caregiving responsibilities for decades can find it difficult to adjust to newfound space for other possibilities.

The Impact of Life Changes on Mental Health

No matter what transition (or perhaps transitions) you’re navigating, and whether you consider it a “good” or “'bad” change, it can be challenging for your overall mental and emotional health. Whenever we go through a change, we have to recalibrate and reconsider our needs. Just as our external life circumstances change, our internal world of thoughts and emotions is impacted and changes as well. This can lead to heightened stress levels, anxiety, and even a depressed mood. Often the mental health challenges that we face after a life change are temporary, as we learn ways to adjust. With the help of a therapist, you can likely adjust more quickly and make the experience overall more positive.

Empowerment

At Balanced Awakening, empowerment is a key component of the therapy services that we provide. The threads of empowerment come in handy, too, when going through a life change. We want to work with you to build resilience, so that no matter what changes or challenges life throws your way, you have an easier time adjusting and coping. We can help you build resilience by working with you on coping skills, building a more positive mindset, advocating for what you need in relationships, and engaging in more self-care.

Support and Therapy

Life transitions counseling can help in a lot of ways! The therapeutic space can create a nonjudgemental, open, and supportive space for you to explore how you feel about whatever changes or transitions you may be going through. Your therapist can be by your side as you process emotions or develop new insights about your experience. Your therapist has both broad expertise in emotional processing, and may also have specific expertise in the transition that you are going through.

Why Us for Life Transitions Counseling

At Balanced Awakening, we have a diverse team of therapists available who all lend a unique perspective on what you may be going through. One of the easiest ways to get connected with a therapist at Balanced Awakening who might have either the expertise or experience that you are looking for is to engage with our matchmaking process. Catalina, our Client Coordinator, offers a matchmaking phone call for prospective clients who want a tailored approach to finding a therapist here who is a good fit. Or, if it’s more convenient for you, we also have an easy matchmaking form that you can fill out!

We’re here to help with transitions!

No matter what life may be throwing your way, we have therapists who can help you in your particular situation. If you'd like to learn more about our life transitions counseling in Chicago or schedule a free 15-minute call, please visit our contact page. We offer both in-person and virtual services throughout Chicago, IL, as well as virtual services in Miami, FL.

Balanced Awakening Lakeview
4043 N Ravenswood, Ste 301 & 302
Chicago, IL 60613
 
Balanced Awakening Andersonville
5215 N Ravenswood, Ste 201 & 208
Chicago, IL 60640
 
Balanced Awakening Loop
25 E Washington, Ste 1505
Chicago, IL 60602
 

Life Transitions Blog Posts

Life Transitions Counseling FAQs

  • The frequency and duration of therapy for life transitions often depends on how many aspects of life feel overwhelming and/or how severe the challenging feelings and experiences are. Your therapist will assess your symptoms and experience of day-to-day life and advise you on how many sessions you may need to feel better and how frequently those sessions may occur. Most people benefit from weekly therapy sessions for a few months in order to see bigger changes in their life.

  • In the first two sessions, your therapist will ask you questions about your life currently, your history, and where you hope to be in the future. From there, you and your therapist will discuss goals for therapy and a plan of action to help you feel better sooner. Some sessions may focus on understanding your feelings better, learning tools to cope with the demands of changes, and figuring out how to create more positive experiences in your life.

  • If in doubt, give it a try! Our therapists are not only trained to help you with your experiences around life transition, but to help you improve your overall life in other ways. So even if you’re not sure how much changes in your life are impacting you, if you have a hunch that you could feel better, we can help you.

  • Yes! But with some exceptions. There are 3 situations where, legally and ethically (whether we want to or not) we would have to break your confidentiality. These include if we learn of any potential child or elder abuse from you, we determine that you are at risk of harming yourself or someone else, or we receive a court order for your medical records. Also, some of our providers are under supervision and regularly consult with their supervisor about their client sessions. Supervisors have the same obligation to client confidentiality.

  • All therapists at Balanced Awakening have a strong foundation in psychotherapy and mental health concerns of women. Our life transitions therapists have specific expertise in different life transitions and have unique ideas about how to help you navigate them.

  • Our therapy rate for the first two sessions is $245. After that, 55 minute sessions are $220. Most of our therapists accept BCBS PPO and Aetna insurance.

  • Yes! We offer virtual therapy for moms as well as in-person. Sometimes, especially when life is chaotic, it’s easier for our clients to get support from a therapist over video.