Manifesto
Many of us spend a lot of time living out expectations we didn't choose. Between the ways we learned to adapt in early relationships and environments, and the constant background noise from culture around us, it gets hard to tell where those outside voices end and where you actually begin.
In a culture preoccupied with self-improvement & image, even healing & growth can start to feel like another thing to perform. We learn to optimize our habits, work on our flaws, and move on quickly. While those have their place, it sometimes overlooks what’s happening underneath the surface of things.
Growth & change are much quieter, at times. I hope to offer a space to slow down, become more curious & honest about what you’re experiencing. This may offer a chance to learn how to accept human parts of life, feeling more at home in the realities of your own life & Being. I’m not here to give you a life hack or tell you who to be. I’m here to meet you as you are—navigating relationships, carrying loss, looking for connection in the world, and trying to make sense of it all, one step at a time.
We don't figure these things out in isolation. We do it in relationship, over time, when there's enough safety to drop the pretense. That's the process we explore together in therapy.
About
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
Practice Ethos
My practice is dedicated to providing ethical, trauma-informed mental health care that honors the unique lived experiences of each individual. I recognize that healing cannot occur in isolation from the broader social context; therefore, I actively work to identify and dismantle systemic biases within my clinical work and acknowledge the profound impact of institutional oppression on mental well-being, including the well-being of therapists and providers. By offering inclusive, anti-oppressive therapeutic spaces, I aim to foster resilience and support equitable access to healing resources, helping individuals, families, and communities cultivate lives of genuine connection, purpose, and peace.
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.
My interest lies in depth-oriented therapy, a process oriented towards on-going self-discovery, areas of personal growth, and the integration of the unexamined parts of ourselves, whether that is buried grief, shadow aspects, or unspoken inner conflicts and desires. Clients have described my presence as both warm and direct. I bring an intuitive understanding to your struggles, paired with incisive, supportive interventions to help you practice new capacities that foster change. I deeply enjoy the creative and collaborative nature of this work, finding purpose in discerning when to offer tending to vulnerable spaces, and when to bring helpful confrontation and challenge needed to spark true growth.
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 HIPAA-compliant telehealth appointments to Illinois & Colorado residents.
My Practice is now fully virtual.