Joan French

Joan French is a licensed clinical professional counselor with 17 years of experience who helps people feeling isolated, overwhelmed, or unheard. She works with adults facing stress, anxiety, depression, relationship strain, grief, and identity questions. Joan welcomes people who identify as LGBTQIA2S+ or who are exploring gender identity.

Joan aims to build a trusting, nonjudgmental space where clients can say what feels unsayable. She listens closely and helps clients feel understood before moving into problem solving. Her style is patient and often creative, and she will use humor when it seems helpful.

Her approach is trauma-informed and integrative. Joan draws from cognitive behavioral techniques to change unhelpful thinking patterns. She also uses dialectical skills to support emotion regulation and acceptance and commitment ideas to help people act on their values.

Joan incorporates client-centered conversation, emotionally-focused work around relationships, and expressive tools from art therapy when useful. She mentions practical skill-building for communication, anger management, and managing attachment or codependency concerns. The work often includes clear, doable steps someone can try between sessions.

Joan earned a Master of Arts degree in Community Counseling from Governors State University and holds an Art Therapy Certificate from Northwestern University. She practices in Illinois and offers therapy to adults 18 and over who want steady, collaborative support through life changes.

Approaches that guide online therapy

Joan often uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in her work. ACT helps people clarify their values and take small steps toward a meaningful life even when difficult thoughts or feelings appear. CBT focuses on spotting unhelpful thinking and testing new, more helpful ways of thinking and behaving.

Finding the right approach is part of the process. Joan will talk with each person about their goals and preferences and suggest a mix of techniques that fit. She treats the choice of methods as collaborative, adjusting the plan as work progresses.

For practical matters, confirm current session options before booking since formats are not specified here. Online therapy can make it easier to fit appointments into a busy week, keep brief check-ins during a lunch break, or meet without needing travel time. It also lets people use therapies like skills practice, values work, and emotionally focused conversation in a way that fits into their daily life.