Love, Culture and the Inner Work of Coming Home to Yourself

Manifesto

We are formed at the intersection of our earliest attachments and the cultural messages that tell us who to be. Therapy is the process of unweaving these influences to discover the Self that has been trying to become actualized all along.

Culture has never been short on prescriptions for the good life. But something has shifted. The language of healing and growth seems to have forgotten its underlying soulfulness. Today, the language of growth is often used to fuel the same pressure to perform that leads us to therapy in the first place. Wellness is treated as a metric and self-improvement as an achievement. But genuine healing and “wholeness” is a slower, more courageous act. It is the quiet work of learning to sit with what is difficult, what is true and to accept and feel at home in your own life.

My focus is not on helping "optimizing" you, but on meeting the actual person—The person that exists in relationship — shaped by attachments, complicated by loss, longing for belonging, and trying to make sense of it all. I believe real growth happens over time, in the presence of another, when safety finally allows for honesty.

That is the kind of space I hope to offer and explore together.

About

Woman with short curly hair and bangs wearing a floral blouse, sitting on a green chair, with a plant in the background.

Jennifer Stridh, MS, LMFT, CCTP

Founder & Psychotherapist

(She/Her)

Guiding Values

honesty . curiosity . authenticity . transparency . mutuality . compassion . commitment . reliability . courage . accountability . connection . trust . reclamation. acceptance . humor . empathy . truth . coherence . symbolism . integration . reverence . individuation . consciousness

Hello & Welcome to my therapy practice. I’m glad you’re exploring options for support and considering entrusting me in the process.

I work with individuals, couples & families navigating traumatic experiences, difficult life transitions, and the broader challenges inherent to life, relationships, culture and identity. I believe within every person there is a wish to grow, and therapy is a place to explore and actualize that wish. I bring both clinical training and personal experience to this work, and strive to model compassion and accountability. My own lived experiences of struggle and what I've learned from them informs my genuine understanding of what it means to be stuck — and what newfound capacities support recovery and a way forward.

Grounded in an integrative and relational approach, I draw from multiple frameworks while placing the therapeutic relationship at the center. Together we look at your history, inner life & complexes at play while making conscious what is unconscious, (Psychodynamic & Jungian), your body’s experience of stress and emotion (Somatic), the social contexts shaping your experience (Systemic & Socio-Emotional), and how you relate to yourself and others (Relational). Central to this work is a move away from self-judgment and toward genuine curiosity and acceptance about ourselves in service of change and hope.

In my work with couples, I hold the belief that relationships should be good for everyone in them. Together, we explore what supports that — and what gets in the way.

I look forward to hearing about your story, and your hopes for yourself.

Qualifications & Trainings

  • Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist in the states of Illinois & Colorado

  • MSc- Marriage & Family Therapy - Northwestern University

  • BM- Vocal Arts & Performance - Manhattan School of Music

  • Certified Clinical Trauma Professional (CCTP)

  • Clinical Practicum -The Family Institute’s Bette D. Harris Family & Child Clinic

  • Clinical Training Program in DBT & RO-DBT -The Family Institute’s Mindfulness & Behavior Therapy Program

  • Post-Graduate Clinical Training in Analytical Psychology - The Salomé Institute of Jungian Studies

  • Post-Graduate Advanced Clinical Training & Consultation - Chicago Center for Integration & Healing

  • Post-Graduate Clinical Consultation - WomenCare Counseling & Training Center

  • 10 years experience practicing in clinic, private group & solo practice settings in Chicago

Clinical Specialties

  • Areas of Specialization: Relationship Therapy, Complex Trauma, Relationship to Self, Family of Origin, Toxic Shame, Perfectionism, Difficulty Trusting Self & Others, Life Transitions, Pre-Marital Counseling, Clinical Consultation (Please see offerings & services tab for a full list of clinical topics)

  • Framework: Relationally-Centered, Insight-Oriented, Compassion-Focused and Trauma-informed.

  • Individuals: We work one-on-one to deepen your self-understanding, explore current and past impactful experiences, and foster capacities needed to face life’s challenges with clarity and agency.

  • Couples: I help partners understand their relational patterns, moving away from cycles of conflict or disconnection toward greater intimacy, and "real" connection.

  • Families: I work with adult family members (parents and their adult children, or adult siblings) to repair unresolved ruptures, establish healthy boundaries, and improve communication patterns.

“You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”
― Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit

Location

Offering in-person appointments in the Lincoln Square-North Center neighborhood of Chicago, and offering HIPAA-compliant telehealth appointments to Illinois & Colorado residents. 

4256 N. Ravenswood Ave., Suite 219

Chicago, IL