Alisa Cates

Alisa Cates, LCPC listens without judgment and helps people who feel stuck or alone. She focuses on creating a space where clients can talk through what’s weighing on them and work toward clear, manageable changes. Her approach emphasizes respect for each person’s differences and priorities.

Alisa has been a licensed clinical professional counselor in Illinois since 2013. She has 13 years of experience in community mental health, inpatient hospitalization, intensive outpatient programming, corrections, and private practice. This range means she has worked with many kinds of problems and settings.

She uses a person-centered foundation that keeps the client’s goals front and center. From there she integrates Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Emotionally-Focused Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Narrative Therapy, and Solution-Focused techniques as needed. These tools are used to address anxiety, depression, mood disorders, grief, and stress, among other issues.

Alisa often helps people who are coping with life changes, anger, relationship and family concerns, parenting stress, career questions, and addiction-related struggles. She also pays attention to issues such as impulsivity, isolation, grief, and compassion fatigue.

Her style prioritizes building strong rapport so clients feel heard and can try new strategies. She aims to translate insights into practical steps that fit everyday life. Prospective clients are invited to begin by describing what matters most to them and then plan next steps together.

How therapy approaches guide online work

Alisa draws on Client-Centered Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in ways that translate well to online work. Client-Centered Therapy focuses on listening carefully and building a strong working relationship so clients feel comfortable sharing what matters. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy looks at thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and guides clients to try practical experiments and new ways of responding.

Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will talk with the client about goals, preferences, and what feels most helpful. Together they decide which methods to try and adjust them as progress is made.

Please confirm the available session formats before booking, as specific options are not listed here. Online sessions can make it easier to fit therapy into a busy routine, shorten commute time, and allow regular check-ins during life transitions. They also let people use quieter or lower-bandwidth setups when needed, and can support using worksheets, behavioral experiments, and conversation-based techniques without changing the core of the work.