Love, Culture and the Inner Work of Coming Home to Yourself
Manifesto
We are each shaped by two powerful currents — the bonds we formed in our earliest relationships, and the messages our culture handed us about who we should be. Over time, these influences become so familiar they can feel like truth. Part of the work of therapy is learning to tell the difference between what was given to you and a Self that has always been trying to become.
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 and has been absorbed into the same achievement-oriented logic it was meant to offer relief from. Wellness has become another performance. Self-improvement, another metric. We live in a time & culture saturated with the language of self-help, pop-psych and diagnostic narratives — yet in all that content, genuine self-encounter remains rare. Learning how to sit with what is difficult, accept what is true, and feel at home in our own lives and bodies is a quieter, slower, and more courageous undertaking than any algorithm can offer.
What I am most interested in is not the optimized Self, but the actual one. The Self that exists in relationship — shaped by attachments, complicated by loss, longing for belonging, and trying to make sense of it all. My work is rooted in the belief that real growth is not an achievement to be earned but something that happens over time, in the presence of another person, when we finally feel safe enough to be honest about who we are and what ways we are called to grow.
That is the kind of space I hope to offer.
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
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 (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