Alisa Neary , LCSW

Alisa Neary (she/her) is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) based in Illinois with nine years of clinical experience. She is dedicated to inspiring hope and supporting meaningful change for adults recovering from interpersonal violence and difficult relationship patterns. Alisa focuses on helping people reclaim personal power after childhood abuse, adult relationship abuse, sexual assault, domestic violence, and other forms of trauma, guiding clients toward clearer boundaries and healthier connections.

She helps individuals reduce symptoms of post-traumatic stress, anxiety, and depression while working to lessen self-blame and isolation. Her work emphasizes building self-esteem, fostering self-acceptance, and identifying both healthy and unhealthy relationship dynamics. As a client-centered practitioner, she aims to create a comfortable, empathic, and non-judgmental space where each person’s strengths and goals are central to the process. Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) denotes that she is trained and licensed to provide mental health therapy as a social work professional.

Alisa’s practice addresses a broad range of concerns including stress, relationship difficulties, trauma and abuse, self-esteem challenges, coping with life changes, grief, parenting and family dynamics, career stress, anger, compassion fatigue, and issues affecting LGBT individuals and women. She also focuses on divorce and separation, domestic violence, guilt and shame, post-traumatic stress, self-love, and recovery from sexual assault. Her approach integrates client-centered methods with evidence-informed tools to tailor care to each person’s needs, meeting clients where they are and supporting steady progress toward well-being.

Therapeutic approaches and online care with Alisa Neary

Client-Centered Therapy emphasizes a supportive, empathetic relationship in which the therapist follows the client's lead and helps them explore their values and goals. This approach is useful for building self-acceptance, strengthening self-worth, and navigating sensitive topics such as relationship dynamics or grief.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying and gently shifting unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. CBT techniques can help manage symptoms of anxiety and depression, improve coping strategies, and reduce patterns that contribute to stress.

Mindfulness Therapy incorporates present-moment awareness and self-compassion practices to reduce reactivity and increase emotional regulation. It can be helpful for managing anxiety, trauma-related symptoms, and everyday stressors.

Finding the right approach is part of the therapeutic process. Alisa collaborates with each person to determine which methods fit their needs, goals, and preferences, adapting techniques over time to support gradual, meaningful change.

Online therapy offers practical flexibility - sessions can be scheduled as video calls or phone conversations, and some people prefer live chat or text-based messaging for more frequent, shorter check-ins. These options make it easier to access licensed professionals and therapists from different locations, creating more ways to engage in consistent, goal-focused work while accommodating busy schedules and life demands.