Lauren is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and graduated from UIC’s Jane Addams School of Social Work with a concentration in mental health. She’s passionate about working with adults and adolescents wanting to explore anxiety, gender identity, body image and self-esteem, racial and ethnic identity, and multicultural experiences. As a bicultural Latinx therapist, she’s attuned to the unique challenges and strengths that come with navigating the intersections of multiple identities. Understanding the impact of systems of oppression on well-being, her work centers around unlearning shame and promoting radical healing.

Mindfulness based techniques are also integral to her approach. She believes strengthening body awareness is an essential step towards a deeper self connection, managing stress, and cultivating inner peace. In line with this belief, she completed yoga teacher training at Room to Breathe Psychotherapy and Yoga, further enriching her ability to integrate somatic practices into therapy.

Her clinical experience includes working with adults, adolescents, and children both in non-profit agencies and school settings. She’s provided support to survivors of intimate partner violence and sexual assault and approached this work with empathy and sensitivity to address the unique needs of survivors.

In this episode of The Nest, Christine Vinci, LCPC of Geode Health discussed the youth mental health crisis.

Christine is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor and have been providing individual, family, and group therapy services for over 10 years in outpatient, schools, hospitals/ERs, in-home, private practice, and community mental health settings. I see teenagers, young adults, and adults and address ADHD, anger management, anxiety, depression, grief, mood disorders, post-traumatic stress, relationship challenges, and women's mental health. I understand the importance of the therapeutic relationship, striving to meet clients where they are at, developing goals for their individual needs and building connection and partnership in a safe, non-judgmental, and Supportive environment. My role as a therapist is to help clients gain a better quality of life to challenge negative thoughts and cognitions, be able to self-regulate in their emotions, process trauma and traumatic events, manage mental health symptoms, build better relationships, handle transitions, improve their functioning in many areas in their lives, and process and adjust to unexpected events that occur in their lives.

In this episode of The Nest, Molly Maffeo, LCPC of Harper Grace Counseling in Lombard discusses Eating Disorders & Transgender Individuals.

Molly Maffeo is an LCPC, WPATH member, workbook author and in house supervisor at HarperGrace Counseling in Lombard, IL. She specializes in gender identity and eating disorders and works with clients of all ages. She also trains all staff in providing comprehensive letters of readiness for transgender individuals who are in need of medical transition.