Hello and Welcome!
My name is Kaitlyn and I am a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor. I recognize how hard it can be to reach out for help and I am happy that you are here! Here is a little bit about me and my work.
I moved to Chicago from Ohio after receiving my Bachelor's of Fine Arts in Theater. Through professional and personal experiences, I recognized a new calling and went on to receive my Master's in Counseling from The Family Institute at Northwestern University. I have been practicing for the past four years in both outpatient and community mental health settings, working with a diverse population of clients. I specialize in working with trauma, mood, anxiety, and substance use concerns. I aim to provide a non-judgmental, authentic, and collaborative environment to enable insight-building and change.
I take an individualized approach to treatment, honoring that clients are the experts of their lives and come in with unique experiences and strengths. In practice, I gravitate towards Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Through DBT, I support clients with developing skills such as mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. These skills can help decrease the intensity of emotions and any behavioral responses that are causing additional stress. At the same time, DBT encourages balance and works to increase positive life experiences and more effective coping skills. Through CBT, I support clients with exploring thought/feeling/behavioral patterns and begin to challenge automatic thoughts and core beliefs that are interfering with daily life. In my work with those recovering from and/or managing addiction concerns, I embrace both the 12-step model as well as harm reduction approaches.
I look forward to working with you soon!
Additional areas of focus: Relationship issues, Family conflicts, Eating disorders, Anger management, Self esteem, Career difficulties, Coping with life changes, Compassion fatigue, Abandonment, Attachment issues, Co-morbidity, Codependency, Coping with Natural or Human-Caused Disaster, Drug and Alcohol Addiction, Eating and Food-Related Issues, Emptiness, Family of Origin Issues, First Responder Issues, Impulsivity, Life purpose, Mood disorders , Obsessions, Compulsions, and OCD, Personality Disorders, Post-traumatic stress, Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling), Self-Harm, Sexual Assault and Abuse, Smoking/Vaping Cessation, Social anxiety and phobia, Workplace issues, Young Adult Issues
Clinical approaches: Client-Centered Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Trauma-Focused Therapy
IL LCPC 180.012079
These quotes represent just a few of the many positive reviews that we have received for Kaitlyn Whitebread. We don't pay anyone to provide their review and they are all made voluntarily. Some people's experience receiving therapy with BetterHelp might be different.
Kaitlyn has been so wonderful! She really an expertise in her field. She is very easy to talk to and give really sound advice and is super understanding without judgment. I strongly recommend her. I haven’t had any other counselor that is as helpful and supportive as Kaitlyn.
Written on Aug 10, 2021 after therapy with Kaitlyn for 1 year on issues concerning depression, stress, anxiety, lgbt, family conflicts, trauma and abuse, intimacy-related issues, and self esteem
I genuinely love kaitlyn so much. We connect so well and she is really good at calming me down and making me think things through more.
Written on Apr 05, 2021 after therapy with Kaitlyn for 8 months on issues concerning depression, stress, anxiety, relationship issues, family conflicts, trauma and abuse, eating disorders, sleeping disorders, parenting issues, self esteem, career difficulties, bipolar disorder, coping with life changes, compassion fatigue, and adhd
Kaitlyn was very attentive to my concerns and needs from the beginning. She has been extremely flexible with my unpredictable schedule. Kaitlyn always gives great insight in our discussions and challenges me to think more about the reason I started counseling in a constructive way.
Written on Oct 16, 2020 after therapy with Kaitlyn for 2 months on issues concerning depression, stress, anxiety, addictions, lgbt, relationship issues, family conflicts, intimacy-related issues, eating disorders, anger management, and bipolar disorder