6 Chicago Therapists for Nurses & Healthcare Workers
When your job requires you to stay calm while someone else is in crisis, it can become difficult to notice when you're the one running on empty. Nurses, physicians, therapists, and other healthcare professionals spend their days making decisions, witnessing pain, supporting families, and moving quickly from one difficult moment to the next. Sometimes there's barely enough time to process what happened before another person needs you.
At Watch Hill Therapy, our Chicago therapists for nurses and healthcare workers help those navigating burnout, anxiety, trauma, grief, relationship stress, and the emotional weight of caring for others. Therapy offers a place where you don't have to be the capable one in the room.
Who we work with
Healthcare workers are often expected to tolerate conditions that would be difficult for anyone: long or unpredictable hours, high-stakes decisions, emotionally intense interactions, staffing challenges, and regular exposure to illness, trauma, and loss.
Our therapists work with professionals across healthcare settings, including:
Nurses working in ER, ICU, med-surg, oncology, labor and delivery, and other specialties
Physicians, residents, fellows, and medical students
Nurse practitioners and physician assistants
Mental health therapists, psychologists, and social workers
EMTs, paramedics, and other emergency medical professionals
Physical, occupational, and speech therapists
Medical technicians and support staff
Healthcare professionals balancing caregiving work with parenting or relationships
No matter where you are in your healthcare career, therapy for healthcare professionals can offer a place to make sense of what the work has asked you to carry and reconnect with the parts of yourself that can get lost along the way.
Meet our Chicago therapists for nurses & healthcare workers
Caitlin Lawler, LCPC
Hi, I'm Caitlin. I work with adults who have experienced trauma and know that difficult experiences can linger not only emotionally, but physically through tension, disrupted sleep, anxiety, or feeling constantly on alert. Using EMDR, attachment-focused work, somatic practices, and other trauma-informed approaches, I help healthcare professionals slow down, process what they’ve been carrying, and rebuild a greater sense of safety and trust in themselves.
Offers therapy for healthcare workers ✓
Credentials: Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor; EMDR trained
Specialty areas: Trauma, childhood abuse, domestic and sexual violence, attachment and relational trauma, anxiety
Location: 25 E. Washington St., Chicago, IL 60602
Virtual therapy?: Yes, in addition to in-person
Rachel Lara, MA, ATR-P
Hi, I'm Rachel. My background in trauma-informed counseling and art therapy includes clinical work with veterans, service members, and military-connected families navigating PTSD and complex trauma. For those who have witnessed or carried experiences that are difficult to explain, I offer both traditional therapy for nurses and healthcare workers and creative approaches that can make room for emotions and memories when words alone do not feel like enough.
Offers therapy for healthcare workers ✓
Credentials: Registered Art Therapist-Provisional
Specialty areas: PTSD, complex PTSD, dissociation, trauma, LGBTQ+ concerns
Location: 25 E. Washington St., Chicago, IL 60602
Virtual therapy?: Yes, in addition to in-person
Angie Zara, LPC
Hi, I'm Angie. I work with adults navigating trauma, substance use, relationship concerns, anxiety, depression, and grief, including times when the ways you’ve learned to cope are beginning to create new problems. My strengths-based, harm-reduction approach gives healthcare workers a space to understand what has helped them survive demanding seasons while finding safer, more sustainable ways to care for themselves.
Offers therapy for healthcare workers ✓
Credentials: Licensed Professional Counselor
Specialty areas: Trauma, substance use, relationships, anxiety, depression, grief
Location: 25 E. Washington St., Chicago, IL 60602
Virtual therapy?: Yes, in addition to in-person
Aspen Fultz, LSW
Hi, I'm Aspen. I work with people navigating complex trauma, relationships, LGBTQIA+ identity, grief, and the major emotional shifts that can come with becoming a parent. For healthcare professionals balancing an intense caregiving role with questions about identity, family, or their own well-being, I offer an affirming, collaborative space where you can focus on yourself without having to minimize or explain important parts of who you are.
Offers therapy for healthcare workers ✓
Credentials: Licensed Social Worker
Specialty areas: LGBTQIA+ concerns, gender and sexual identity, parenting, grief, relationships, PTSD, complex trauma
Location: 25 E. Washington St., Chicago, IL 60602
Virtual therapy?: Yes, in addition to in-person
Jennifer Rolnick, Psy.D.
Hi, I'm Jennifer. As a clinical psychologist and Certified TRE (Trauma Release Exercises) Provider, I specialize in trauma, anxiety, mood concerns, and life transitions, with an approach grounded in insight, relationships, collaboration, and connection. I work especially well with healthcare professionals who are accustomed to functioning at a high level but want to better understand the deeper patterns, relationships, and past experiences that may be shaping how they respond to stress today.
Offers therapy for healthcare workers ✓
Credentials: Licensed Clinical Psychologist; Certified TRE Provider
Specialty areas: Trauma, anxiety, mood concerns, life transitions
Location: 25 E. Washington St., Chicago, IL 60602
Virtual therapy?: Yes, in addition to in-person
Brad McGinnis, LPC
Hi, I'm Brad. I work with adults navigating complex trauma, anxiety, OCD, dissociation, eating concerns, and neurodivergence, and I know that occupational stress isn’t always the whole story. My collaborative, trauma-informed approach to therapy for nurses and healthcare workers in Chicago can be particularly helpful for healthcare professionals who want to understand how their individual wiring, past experiences, and coping patterns interact with the demands of their work rather than treating everything as simple burnout.
Offers therapy for healthcare workers ✓
Credentials: Licensed Professional Counselor
Specialty areas: Complex trauma, anxiety, OCD, eating disorders, dissociation, neurodiversity
Location: 25 E. Washington St., Chicago, IL 60602
Virtual therapy?: Yes, in addition to in-person
How therapy can help healthcare professionals
Process what happens after the crisis is over
Healthcare often rewards the ability to compartmentalize. There may not be time to feel fear during a code, grief after losing a patient, or anger after an aggressive interaction. You simply move on to the next task.
But putting something aside isn't the same as processing it. Chicago therapists for nurses and healthcare workers can give you a consistent place to work through experiences that continue showing up as intrusive memories, irritability, numbness, anxiety, sleep problems, or physical tension.
Recognize burnout before pushing through becomes the norm
Burnout doesn't always look like being unable to go to work. You might still be getting excellent performance reviews while feeling increasingly detached, exhausted, cynical, or resentful.
Therapy for nurses and healthcare workers in Chicago can help you become more aware of what your mind and body are communicating before exhaustion becomes your baseline. This may involve examining boundaries, perfectionism, workplace expectations, responsibility, and the belief that other people's needs always need to come first.
Make room for grief and moral distress
Healthcare professionals sometimes know exactly what a patient needs while also knowing that circumstances, resources, policies, or medical realities limit what can be done. Other times, you may replay a difficult outcome and wonder whether you should have done something differently.
Therapy provides a confidential space to process grief, helplessness, guilt, anger, and other complicated reactions without expecting you to immediately turn those emotions into a lesson or solution.
Reconnect with relationships and life outside of healthcare
After spending a full shift listening, problem-solving, and attending to other people, conversation at home can feel like one more demand. Partners and family members may interpret withdrawal as disinterest when you are simply depleted.
Therapy for healthcare professionals can help you understand these patterns, communicate what you need, and reconnect with parts of yourself that exist beyond your professional role.
Common reasons healthcare workers seek therapy
At Watch Hill Therapy, we've built our entire practice around the understanding that trauma lives in the body. Our unique strengths include:
You feel anxious or tense before your shift even begins.
You replay difficult patient interactions or outcomes after leaving work.
You're becoming emotionally numb, irritable, or detached.
Rest no longer seems to restore your energy.
You feel guilty setting boundaries with coworkers, patients, or family.
Your relationships are feeling the effects of exhaustion or unpredictable hours.
Alcohol, food, scrolling, or other coping behaviors are taking up more space than you would like.
You're wondering whether you can continue working in healthcare without losing yourself in the process.
What to expect from the therapy process
We know that trauma healing isn’t linear. Think of these stages less as a prescriptive step-by-step formula for recovery and more as a general guideline of what to expect during your therapy journey.
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You don’t need to know exactly what’s wrong or have the perfect words for what you’re feeling. The consultation is simply a chance to share a little about what’s been weighing on you, ask questions, and see which therapist may be a good fit for your needs, schedule, and goals.
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Healthcare workers often become skilled at compartmentalizing, staying productive, and moving on to the next task. In therapy, we can slow down and look at what those patterns have helped you survive, whether they still serve you, and how experiences such as trauma, grief, perfectionism, over-responsibility, or emotional exhaustion may be affecting you outside of work.
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Therapy isn’t about making you better at tolerating an impossible amount of stress. Depending on your therapist and what you want to address, the work may include trauma processing, relational exploration, somatic awareness, strengthening boundaries, reconnecting with emotions, or finding different ways to respond to stress. The goal is to help you move through your work and relationships with more flexibility, connection, and room for yourself.
FAQs about therapy for nurses & healthcare workers
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Yes, they can. Healthcare professionals may be directly exposed to traumatic injuries, death, medical emergencies, violence, or other distressing events, while repeated indirect exposure to suffering can also take an emotional toll. Not every difficult experience leads to PTSD, but persistent symptoms such as intrusive memories, avoidance, hypervigilance, disrupted sleep, or feeling constantly on edge may be worth discussing with a mental health professional.
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Stress often improves when the pressure eases, or you get meaningful rest. Burnout tends to feel more persistent and may include emotional exhaustion, cynicism or detachment, reduced motivation, and the feeling that time away from work is no longer enough to recover. You don’t need to determine which label fits before starting therapy.
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There is no single therapy approach that works best for every healthcare professional. Someone dealing with a specific traumatic experience may benefit from trauma-focused treatment such as EMDR, while another person may benefit from relational, somatic therapy, insight-oriented, art-based, or integrative therapy. The right approach depends on what you're experiencing, your history, and what helps you feel safe enough to engage in the work.
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That's not the goal. Coping skills can be useful, but therapy can also make space to explore anger, grief, boundaries, workplace conditions, identity, relationships, and decisions about what you are or are not willing to continue carrying. Sometimes meaningful change involves responding differently to stress; other times it means acknowledging that something around you needs to change.
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Watch Hill Therapy is an in-network provider with Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO plans. For other insurance companies, the practice works as an out-of-network provider and can give you documentation to submit for possible reimbursement based on your plan's benefits. We’re also not in-network with Medicare or Medicaid plans.
Start therapy for nurses & healthcare workers in Chicago today
You spend so much of your life showing up for others. Therapy can be a place where you don’t have to carry everything alone. Reach out to see if we’re a good fit.