Counseling Plainfield, IL

It all starts with a healthy mind, and a fresh perspective. From there, focusing on your well-being, mental and emotional health, and physical wellness comes into play like never before. You’re taking the first steps on a journey, but you’re not taking them alone.

Whatever obstacles and struggles someone may be going through in life, I consider it a privilege to help them deal with. I understand that the patients I see are entrusting me to give them the right resources to guide them down a new path, with a new perspective, so they can achieve their own goals. With a healthy balance of listening, guiding, and even learning, I take pride in using my own experience and resources to help people really start off on the right foot on that path. Whether you, or someone you know struggles with something like depression, or simply wants a different outlook on their life, it’s something to work through together, and by setting up a consultation, we can get started.

Child Therapy
ADHD
Anxiety/Panic
Behavioral Issues
Children/Adolescents
Depression
Life’s Changes
Women’s Issues

Men’s Issues
Trauma
Young Adult Transitions
Marriage/Couples
Divorce
Family Conflict
Grief/Loss

As a professional therapist, my role is to guide you as you take steps towards positive life changes, healing, and a healthy mind. Together we’ll work to uncover and better understand life’s challenges and day-to-day stressors that detract from your life and focus, and begin identifying and practicing things that will make you stronger.

I consider all my patients to be more than just another name, or an appointment. Therapy is meant to be a completely individual experience, and I treat it as such, with deep compassion and absolutely no judgment. Not only do I want to provide support and encouragement for each of my clients, but it’s my goal to offer them practical resources that they can put into practice immediately in their lives. I used both modern approaches and tried and true methods to fit each client’s individual needs with understanding, no matter who they are, or their particular walk of life. Everyone can achieve more personal growth and strength, and it’s an honor to work on that together.

Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP): The Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) is designed to help children and adults feel better, think better and connect better. SSP is a five hour innovative intervention designed to improve an individual’s social and emotional processes and regulate the autonomic nervous system. The program is designed to reduce stress and auditory sensitivity while enhancing social engagement and resilience to stress. It improves an overall sense of well-being and increases emotional control, behavioral organization and regulation, and listening and hearing sensitivity. It is designed for clients with ADD/ADHD; PTSD; Social Anxiety and Communication Disorders; Chronic Anger/Irritability and Mood Disorders; Mild Traumatic Brain Injury; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Sensory Processing Disorders; Sleep Difficulties; and Stress.

The Safe and Sound protocol uses the auditory system to access the vagus nerve and related nerves. The vagus nerve is responsible for regulating the bodily states, listening and vocal communication. This protocol is rooted in Polyvagal Theory and the work of Dr. Stephen Porges, https://www.stephenporges.com/ (Porges, 1995,1997,1998, 2001, 2003, 2007). Dr. Porges is known for his theory of how the nervous system works to help us feel safe. For more information on the Safe and Sound Protocol.

Deanna Reed, LSW is a certified provider of the iLS Safe and Sound Protocol. Please contact her by email at [email protected] or by phone at 815-999-5684.

The Focus Program: The Focus Program is like an exercise program for the brain. It improves brain and body function combining elements of music, movement and language to build foundational supports for body organization. As the body becomes organized, so does the brain which results in improved ability to process information from the environment, sustain attention and learn. This increases an individual’s ability to manage stress, cope with emotions, increase social adeptness, and improve school and work performance. A foundation for attention and learning is formed that may have never fully developed or lost due to brain injury. Clients report having more ability to control impulses, self-regulate behavior and engage with others more easily. Clients report having more energy, increased mental clarity, improved organization, and greater ease at getting things done. The Focus Program is effective for individuals who have been diagnosed with ADHD/ADD, Social Anxiety, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Sensory Processing Disorders, Speech and Language Disorder. The Focus Program improves Written Expression and Reading Comprehension, Memory and Attention Performance, Motor Skills and Balance, and Processing Speed.

The Focus program uses the auditory system to access the vagus nerve and related nerves. The vagus nerve is responsible for regulating the bodily states, listening and vocal communication. This protocol is rooted in Polyvagal Theory and the work of Dr. Stephen Porges, https://www.stephenporges.com/ (Porges, 1995,1997,1998, 2001, 2003, 2007). Dr. Porges discovered that we are able to calm our nervous system by exercising and rehabilitating the middle ear and auditory system. As a client learns to process certain speech related frequencies, they improve the functioning of two cranial nerves that are important for promoting overall social behaviors. The Cranial Nerve VII (Facial Nerve) helps clients focus on the human vice and tune out irrelevant frequencies. The Cranial Nerve X (Vagus Nerve) enables self-soothing and nervous system regulation. For more information on the Focus Program.

Deanna Reed, LSW is providing the Focus Program. Please contact her by email at [email protected] or by phone at (779) 252-7276.

Worry Wise Kids: Worry Wise is an interactive, engaging therapeutic group to address your child’s anxiety. The small group consists of 3-8 children, aged 8-11 years that will run for 16 weeks. It is based on the empirically supported treatment of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to teach your child how to recognize and understand their emotional and physical reactions to anxiety, understand their thoughts and feelings in anxious situations, and develop a coping plan that can be self-evaluated and self-reinforced. Parents will be an important part of the process and will be invited to attend various sessions throughout the program to receive individualized progress updates regarding their child.

Sisters’ Circle: Sisters’ Circles is a small group of up 10 women to offer a safe space to come together and offer support to each other by sharing their stories and understanding of life’s difficulties. Various books are discussed that will facilitate healing, empowerment and personal growth during a time of crisis or transition in their lives such as from divorce, a loss, or an important change such as an “empty nest”, illness or change in circumstances.

A New Day Family Counseling in Plainfield, IL  believes in healing not only individuals but attends to the healing of the whole family.  After all, our family relationships are the most important human connection we will have and have the power to hurt or heal us.   We take a collaborative, family-centered approach and use brief, solution-focused and evidence-based treatment methods.  Our therapists listen deeply, empathically and non-judgmentally and seek to understand your feelings and beliefs to help create a new and empowering story about who you are. We will teach you how to identify old, limiting beliefs that interfere with your relationships, your sense of purpose, and inner peace. We will work on healing that unhealthy relationship with yourself so that you may embrace a new one that is whole, genuine, and resilient.  And, we will work on restoring your family relationships with authentic, safe and healing communication, teaching the art of compromise, and restore bonding and attachment that has been challenged by difficult times, loss, trauma, emotional injuries, addiction and mental health issues.

We offer individual counseling for adults, teens and children, family counseling, couple/marital counseling.  We also offer Telehealth services.  We treat anxiety, depression, bi-polar disorder, chronic anger, personality disorders, women’s issues, trauma, grief and loss or coping with stress or inevitable changes in life that challenge us in so many ways. We will assist your family with blending, parenting, step-parenting, and coping with and addressing behavioral and emotional issues and disorders including ADHD, autism, developmental disorders, and mood disorders. We provide help to couples and families suffering from relationship problems, intimacy issues, divorce, physical and mental illness,  loss, or trauma. 

We provide counseling services to Plainfield, Romeoville, Shorewood, Joliet, Oswego, Naperville, Yorkville, Bolingbrook, and Aurora and the surrounding areas in Will County, IL. Gwen Ginski, MEd, LCSW