7 Chicago Therapists for High Functioning Adults
You get things done. People count on you. From the outside, your career, relationships, or daily life may even look enviable. But underneath the competence, you might feel anxious, exhausted, disconnected, or constantly worried that slowing down will cause everything to fall apart.
Being "high functioning" doesn't mean life feels easy. Sometimes, staying productive becomes a way to outrun difficult emotions, trauma, perfectionism, or the fear of disappointing others.
At Watch Hill Therapy, our Chicago therapists for high-functioning adults work with those who are used to carrying a lot and may have become very good at hiding how heavy it feels. Therapy offers a relationship where you don't have to perform, achieve, or have everything figured out.
Jump to a therapist
Best for complex trauma & dissociation: Tovah Means
Best for insight-oriented therapy & TRE™ (Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises): Jennifer Rolnick
Best for EMDR after childhood & relational trauma: Caitlin Lawler
Best for OCD, eating disorders & neurodivergence: Brad McGinnis
Best for harm reduction & substance use: Angie Zara
Not sure which therapist is right for you? Contact us, and we'll help you find someone whose approach fits what you're experiencing.
Meet our somatic talk therapists
Tovah Means, MS, LMFT
Best for complex trauma & dissociation
Tovah is a strong fit for adults who have learned to survive difficult experiences by becoming exceptionally independent, capable, or responsible. She specializes in complex developmental trauma, childhood trauma, dissociative processes, and somatic concerns, with a focus on helping people recover a more authentic sense of self. Her systemic and culturally responsive perspective can be especially meaningful when success on the outside has required disconnecting from needs, emotions, or parts of yourself along the way.
Credentials: Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
Location: 25 E. Washington St., Chicago, IL 60602
Virtual therapy? Yes, in addition to in-person
Jennifer Rolnick, Psy.D.
Best for insight-oriented therapy & TRE™ (Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises)
If you're highly self-aware but keep thinking, Why am I still doing this?, Jennifer may be a good fit. Her relational, insight-oriented approach helps adults understand how past and present patterns influence the ways they think, feel, relate, and respond to stress. As a Certified TRE™ Provider, she can also help clients move beyond intellectual understanding and attend to the chronic tension or trauma responses the body may still be holding.
Credentials: Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Location: 25 E. Washington St., Chicago, IL 60602
Virtual therapy? Yes, in addition to in-person
Caitlin Lawler, LCPC
Best for EMDR after childhood & relational trauma
You may understand exactly where your anxiety, hypervigilance, or perfectionism comes from and still notice your body reacting as if the threat is happening now. As a therapist for high-functioning adults in Chicago, Caitlin brings EMDR, attachment-focused therapy, somatic practices, grounding, and IFS-informed work together to help them address trauma more deeply. Her structured yet collaborative approach may particularly resonate with people who are accustomed to thinking their way through problems but need another way to access what hasn't changed through insight alone.
Credentials: Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor; EMDR trained
Location: 25 E. Washington St., Chicago, IL 60602
Virtual therapy? Yes, in addition to in-person
Brad McGinnis, LPC
Best for OCD, eating disorders & neurodivergence
Brad may be a good match when being capable has also meant spending years trying to function according to expectations that don't quite fit the way your brain works. He works with neurodiversity alongside complex trauma, anxiety, OCD, eating disorders, and dissociation, helping clients understand themselves without forcing their experiences into a one-size-fits-all model. His person-centered and narrative approach to therapy for high-functioning adults makes room for both the strengths that have helped you succeed and the patterns that may now be creating exhaustion, anxiety, or disconnection.
Credentials: Licensed Professional Counselor
Location: 25 E. Washington St., Chicago, IL 60602
Virtual therapy? Yes, in addition to in-person
Angie Zara, LPC
Best for harm reduction & substance use
Sometimes the coping strategy works until it doesn't. Angie works with high-functioning adults navigating trauma, substance use, anxiety, depression, grief, and relationship difficulties, using a harm reduction approach rather than shame or rigid expectations. Her background in forensic psychology and integrative use of relational trauma therapy, DBT, Motivational Interviewing, and existential approaches make her a particularly good fit for people who want to understand what a coping behavior is doing for them before deciding what meaningful change looks like.
Credentials: Licensed Professional Counselor
Location: 25 E. Washington St., Chicago, IL 60602
Virtual therapy? Yes, in addition to in-person
Trauma expertise at the core of our work. Our therapists understand how trauma and attachment experiences can influence anxiety, perfectionism, over-functioning, relationships, and the pressure to stay in control.
More than one way into the work. Our team draws from relational therapy, somatic approaches, EMDR, TRE™, ACT, DBT, attachment-based work, trauma-informed mindfulness, narrative therapy, and other approaches based on each person's needs.
Therapy that makes room for complexity. You can be successful and struggling. Grateful and burned out. Independent and lonely. Therapy for high-functioning adults doesn’t require reducing your experience to one label.
Culturally responsive care. Our team recognizes that identity, family, culture, neurodivergence, systemic experiences, and social context can all influence what "functioning well" requires from someone.
In-person and virtual options. Our therapists offer both in-person care in Chicago and virtual sessions for greater flexibility.
What sets our practice apart for high-functioning adults
At Watch Hill Therapy, we understand that someone's ability to keep working, caregiving, socializing, and meeting expectations doesn't tell us how they're doing underneath. Our unique strengths include:
You can seek support even when life still looks like it's holding together.
Common reasons high-functioning adults seek therapy
You're successful on paper but rarely feel satisfied with yourself.
Rest makes you feel guilty, restless, or unproductive.
Perfectionism and self-criticism make it hard to feel like you're doing enough.
You're used to being the dependable one but struggle to ask for support.
You overthink decisions and worry about making the wrong choice.
You keep functioning through anxiety, grief, burnout, or trauma because slowing down feels difficult.
You understand your emotions intellectually but have trouble fully feeling or expressing them.
Work, responsibility, or people-pleasing is starting to affect your relationships, boundaries, or sense of self.
What to expect from the therapy process
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High-functioning adults are often accustomed to preparing before asking for help. Therapy isn't another meeting you need to perform well in. We can begin with what's happening now and get curious together about what's underneath it.
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Overworking, perfectionism, people-pleasing, emotional distance, or staying constantly busy rarely appear for no reason. Instead of immediately trying to get rid of them, therapy for high-functioning adults in Chicago can help you understand what those strategies have protected and whether they're still necessary in the same ways.
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Insight matters, but knowing why you do something isn't always enough to change it. Depending on your therapist and goals, the work may include emotional processing, relational exploration, somatic awareness, trauma treatment, practicing boundaries, or developing new ways to respond to stress.
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The goal for Chicago therapy for high-functioning adults isn't to make you less motivated, ambitious, independent, or capable. It's to create more choice around how you use those strengths, so accomplishment doesn't always have to come at the expense of rest, relationships, emotional connection, or yourself.
FAQs about therapy for high-functioning adults
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High functioning isn't a formal mental health diagnosis. It's an informal phrase people often use when they continue meeting responsibilities despite experiencing significant anxiety, depression, trauma responses, stress, burnout, or other emotional difficulties. Someone may perform well at work, maintain relationships, take care of a family, and appear composed while privately struggling. Functioning and feeling well aren't always the same thing.
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External circumstances are only one part of emotional well-being. Sometimes earlier relationships, trauma, chronic stress, identity pressures, perfectionism, or long-established survival strategies continue shaping how you feel even when life looks objectively good. This can also create shame, where you might think “Other people have it worse, so why can't I just be happy?” Chicago therapists for high-functioning adults provide you room to explore what's happening without having to prove that your pain is bad enough to deserve attention.
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Sometimes. Perfectionism may develop as a way to create predictability, avoid criticism or rejection, earn approval, or maintain a sense of safety. For other people, it may be influenced by personality, family expectations, work culture, anxiety, or a combination of factors. Therapy can help you understand what drives your particular perfectionism rather than assuming there's one explanation for everyone.
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You don't have to reach a crisis before starting therapy. It may be worth considering if maintaining your current level of functioning requires constant anxiety, overwork, self-criticism, emotional suppression, substance use, or sacrificing your relationships and well-being. Therapy for high-functioning adults can also be useful simply because you're curious about yourself and want your internal experience to feel different.
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Watch Hill Therapy is in network with Blue Cross/Blue Shield PPO plans. For other insurance providers, our practice is considered out of network and we can provide you a receipt for you to submit to your insurance for possible reimbursement, depending on the benefits you have.