Today we’d like to introduce you to Susan Millner.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Susan. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
After graduating from college and graduate school in education, I returned home to the North Shore to teach special education. After several years, it became clear that my passion was helping students and their families through difficult emotional times. I returned to school and earned my Masters in Social Work from Loyola University Chicago.
After completing an externship at Rush University Medical Center, I was privileged to be invited to do my second-year externship at the Replogle Center for Counseling and Well Being. At RCCW, I discovered my love for working with adults with a variety of mental health issues and began my training in both ACT and mindfulness. Following the externship, I remained at RCCW, leading the student training group and supervising social work and psychology students in addition to seeing clients. Concurrently, I worked at the Robbins Headache Clinic, helping both adults and adolescents with chronic headaches cope with their condition.
After 8 years in practice, I took some time off to take care of my four children who were dealing with a variety of medical and developmental issues. During this time, I became uniquely acquainted with the issues facing families with children with special needs and the resources available to them.
In 2017, I founded Susan Millner Therapeutic services with two goals in mind: to continue helping adolescents and adults improve their mental health and to support parents and families of children with special medical or developmental needs.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Deciding to stay home with my kids in 2012 was a difficult decision for me. I have always valued both parts of myself–the mom part and the therapist part. I knew intellectually that my babies needed me at that time and that I wanted to be there 100% for them but I also struggled with the feeling that I was losing a big part of I was putting my career on hold.
I am so glad that I was able to be there for children at that time and looking back on it, it was absolutely the right choice. It also became clear to me over time that my work as a therapist was calling and while there was never going to be a perfect time to go back to work, it was important that I do so for my own sense of self and well being. Starting my own practice was my way of giving myself balance and flexibility to be able to be my best as both a mom and a therapist.
Susan Millner Therapeutic Services – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
What makes me unique is my focus on values. I strongly believe that when we are living a life that is out of line with our values, it leads to dissatisfaction. I view it as my role to join with my clients on their journey towards understanding, change, and acceptance.
I use a variety of modalities with a primary focus on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). I also utilize CBT, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, mindfulness, family systems, and a variety of other professional techniques.
I specialize in the treatment of a wide variety of issues such as:
Mood disorders (including depression and bipolar disorder)
Anxiety
Parents of children with special needs, medical issues, and/or food allergies
Chronic pain, chronic and acute illness
Headaches
Relationship concerns
Grief
Therapy for mental health professionals and students
Supervision/Consultation
I treat each client as an individual and strive to provide personalized and attentive service.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I was proud and honored to be invited to speak on the topic of resilience at the Replogle Center for Counseling and Well Being’s annual conference titled “ACT: Don’t Believe Everything You Think” last spring. I was even more honored to be elected to the Chicago board of the Association of Contextual Behavioral Sciences this past summer.
Contact Info:
- Address: 9711 Skokie Blvd.
Skokie, IL 60077 - Website: www.susanmillnerlcsw.com
- Phone: 847 525 4131
- Email: susan@susanmillnerlcsw.com
Image Credit:
Andrew Carter
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