Colleen Koncilja
Wednesday – 10:00am – 7:00pm
Thursday – 10:00am – 6:00pm
Friday – 10:00am – 4:00pm
In network with:
Blue Cross PPO
Blue Choice Insurance
United HealthCare/Optum, UMR & Oxford
Medicare – (Not Medicare Advantage)
Hi, I’m Colleen.
I help adults by providing a safe space where you can feel heard, supported, understood, and cared for while you explore new ways to cope, reduce your suffering, and begin healing when you are facing circumstances and struggles that are unwanted, unwelcomed, and unexpected.
If you are dealing with anxiety, depression, chronic illness, chronic pain, past trauma, grief and loss, stressors from being a caretaker, relationship difficulties, or problem gambling, I would consider it a privilege to help support you. Together we can help you develop a way back to who and what is most important to you in life while helping you create the life you want and deserve.
If you’re like me, when I am looking for a Bartlett area health care provider, I search for them online, read what I can find about them so I can get a sense of who they are, what they are like, and try to determine if I think they will be able to help me. I wonder if they know all the things they should know, how long they’ve been guiding, treating, and helping people, if they keep up to date with new treatments and research, and what their specialties are. By searching and checking them out, I try to discern if I will be able to talk to them, if I will feel comfortable with them, and if I can be confident in their knowledge and abilities.
Who I Am
I thought I would take this opportunity and explain some different things to you to help shed some light on who I am, what I know, what I’ve been doing, what I believe, and some other random things about me. In doing so, I hope you will get a better idea of what I may be able to do for you and how working together can benefit you.
The Pain We All Experience
I believe that each of us is confronted with things that are devastating, painful, and overwhelming at different times in our lives. It is at these times we are called to find the courage that lies within us, to face whatever the difficulties are, and to tap into our internal strengths and resilience to survive these experiences.
Often, the pain and devastation that lingers from these experiences is something that can continue to hurt us. When this happens, we may find that we need additional support, professional guidance, understanding, and compassion so that we can heal the parts of ourselves that were hurt and are still hurting because of these painful and difficult experiences.
What I hope to provide through counseling and therapy
I offer to you an opportunity to build a safe, supportive, and empowering relationship where you can work through disappointment, grief, hurt, trauma, fear, or loss.
Introducing and teaching people strategies and coping skills that assist them in reducing their depression, anxiety, chronic pain, trauma, and chronic illness is vital in my therapy practice. Supporting adults who are working through relationship issues and are seeking couples counseling or marriage therapy is another part of my practice that I enjoy.
Having the opportunities to help those who struggle with self-doubt, self-esteem, social anxiety, perfectionism, or parenting stress is something I’m grateful for.
Whether you are struggling with one of the above issues or concerns, or past trauma, complex trauma, or problem and compulsive gambling, I would welcome the opportunity to help you work through the emotions and issues that are keeping you from living the life you want. With support, guidance, encouragement, and assistance, together, we can help you to reduce, improve and/or resolve whatever you are struggling with.
It would be a privilege to support and join with you.
My Professional Journey as a Therapist
I’ve been providing individual therapy, group counseling, and treatment services for the past 30 years. I’ve had a private practice therapist in Bartlett, Illinois and Elgin, Illinois, for a total of 11 years.
I provide therapy to adults and couples in our practice, Health and Healing Therapy LLC, which is in Bartlett, Illinois, where I serve as the Director as well as a Therapist. I have the honor and pleasure to work with our amazing clinical team made up of licensed professional counselors, licensed clinical professional counselors, licensed social workers, licensed clinical social workers. Our therapists each have unique therapy and counseling experiences as well as graduate, and postgraduate clinical training.
At Health and Healing Therapy we work as a team and collaborate together so we can provide the best care. We often work with different members of a family and coordinate care. For instance, I may work with a mom while another therapist may counsel their teen daughter or son. Or one of our couples therapists may provide marriage counseling to two partners and then each of those partners may have their own individual therapist within our practice. Together we do our best to not only treat the whole person, but when given the opportunity also treat the whole family with the help of ongoing clinical consultation and clinical supervision.
In addition to my work as a therapist, I serve as a Board Approved Clinical Consultant, supporting and helping other gambling addiction therapists and problem and compulsive gambling counselors learn more about how to help friends, family members, and those individuals who struggle with and need problem gambling, compulsive gambling, or need gambling disorder treatment. As a Board Approved Clinical Consultant, I assist therapists throughout the state of Illinois to meet all the requirements to become Internationally Certified Gambling Counselors.
Previously, for 22 years, from April of 1996 – July of 2018, I served as the Director of a non-profit community counseling program that had offices in Elgin, Illinois, St. Charles, Illinois, and Streamwood, Illinois.
Throughout my clinical career, I’ve provided clinical supervision and directly supervised over a hundred (100) therapists and counselors in training. Together, the teams of clinicians I’ve supervised, mentored, and supported have provided counseling and therapy services for over 18,000 people. It’s been a profound privilege to have been involved in serving so many people while helping to enrich their lives.
My Commitment to You
I am a lifelong learner and, because of that, I continue to seek and learn about the most updated, research-based clinical practices that are proven to work and help people transform their lives. Since the early 1990s, I’ve done just that as I continue to strive to learn and grow as a therapist. I learn every day. It’s not just a cliché – I do learn new things every day. I continually read, gather information, improve my skill set, and seek specialized clinical training so I can offer the most proven, appropriate, and helpful services and care possible.
This allows me to help people learn, change, grow, and support their healing – it’s how I honor and fulfill what I am professionally meant to do: help people improve their relationship with themselves, grow closer to others, and begin their healing from their emotional pain and trauma so they can live their lives in new ways that promote health, hope, and joy.
Using Science and Research within Therapy
I value and, at times, even cherish the health care professionals I see as a patient who keeps abreast of the most current research and updates on the most successful medications, and, overall, best treatments available. So, I assume any person who chooses to work with me as one of their healthcare providers through counseling and therapy would want nothing less from me. In doing so, I use various evidenced-based therapeutic practices that science supports through research, showing proof that change can and does happen and people get and feel better.
Professional Bio
COUNSELING AND THERAPY APPROACHES
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Attachment Based Therapy
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Skills (DBT)
Gottman Therapy Method for Couples Counseling
Motivational Interviewing (MI)
Psychodynamic Therapy / Insight – Oriented Therapy
EDUCATION AND CERTIFICATIONS
B.A. in Psychology, Bradley University, Peoria, IL
M.S.W. in Social Work, University of Illinois, Jane Addams College of Social Work
Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Illinois License #149008267
Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor, Illinois #12158
International Certified Gambling Counselor (ICGC-II)
Board Approved Clinical Consultant (BACC) #1261
Certified Compulsive Gambling Counselor, American Council, #337
In Closing
Hopefully, sharing these things about myself has helped you gain a picture and impression of me. Now you get to decide if I seem to know my stuff, if you think I can help you, and if you are willing to take the next step…contacting me so we can begin working together.
You deserve support, encouragement, and grace, and it would be a privilege to walk alongside you as you make the necessary changes in your life that will enable you to start living the life you want and deserve to have.
Article Interviews
Why Are We Ashamed to Need Medication?
Folks: a Pillpack Magazine
April 24, 2019
We compare the outside lives of others to the inside lives of ourselves,” explains psychotherapist Colleen Koncilja LCSW. “When we do this, we will most often come up short. People ‘look’ like they have it all together on the outside. We don’t know that they too have moments when they feel like they are crumbling, upset, suffer, or struggle to deal with life’s stressful situations. What we see on Facebook are happy moments, perfect makeup, and the best times of someone’s life. Mental illness and medication for it sure don’t blend with those perfect facebook moments, and the internal pressure to be like everyone else can be so powerful that one denies their illness and their need for treatment.”
How ‘Pill Shaming’ Hurts Those Who Take Medications for Mental Health
Healthline
October 18, 2018
“Treatment adherence to medication is one of the most difficult challenges for people who have a mental illness,” Colleen Koncilja, a licensed clinical social worker with a private therapy practice in Illinois, told Healthline.
“Taking medication is a continual reminder that one has ‘something wrong’ with themselves that needs to be treated,” Koncilja said. “People can often struggle with negative beliefs about themselves, thinking they are ‘less than’ if they have a mental illness or if they need medication.”
“That can be a powerful deterrent if someone is already ambivalent about taking medication,” Koncilja said. “Often, side effects subside after our bodies acclimate to the medication, but some do persist. Like any treatment, the pros need to outweigh the cons.”
“Mental illness is not a moral failing or a lack of motivation, and it doesn’t only affect people who don’t try hard enough,” Koncilja said. “Instead, mental illness is a chemical imbalance in our brains, and in order for us to not experience symptoms or active illness, we need to seek out and receive ongoing treatment.”
Podcasts
Guest: Colleen Koncilja LCSW, CADC, ICGC-II, BACC Bartlett Illinois Problem Gambling Counselor
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