About Mary
Mary Jennifer Meister is a licensed clinical social worker with 17 years of experience helping people manage stress, anxiety, depression, and trauma. She uses practical, down-to-earth methods to help clients find clearer thinking and steadier emotions. Mary focuses on real problems like grief, parenting strain, career shifts, and relationship struggles.
She is based in Illinois and offers services in English, including for international clients. Mary combines client-centered care with targeted techniques such as cognitive behavioral therapy and EMDR.
How Mary works
Sessions aim to make feelings easier to understand and daily steps more manageable. She often blends motivational interviewing to clarify goals and the Gottman Method to address communication habits in relationships. Her work emphasizes listening first, then helping people try small changes that add up.
Mary pays attention to attachment issues, abandonment wounds, and family-of-origin patterns that often affect adult relationships. She also supports people facing aging and caregiving stress, cancer or hospice-related challenges, and complicated grief. Practical problem-solving and coping skills feature alongside deeper trauma work when needed.
For mood disorders and personality concerns she helps clients develop routines and coping tools that reduce overwhelm. Coaching-style conversations are available for those wanting clearer life purpose or career direction. Teletherapy options include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging.
New clients begin by completing a short matching questionnaire and scheduling based on therapist availability. Sessions use a subscription that can be canceled at any time.
Mary lists 6 ways of working on the entry:
What Mary works with
The areas below are the ones Mary selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Attachment issues
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Grief
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Life purpose
- Mood disorders
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Post-traumatic stress
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Stress, Anxiety
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Training and background
| Register | LCSW |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 17 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | Illinois |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
Approach-driven care online with practical tools
Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and understanding each person's experience. The therapist follows the client's lead, reflecting feelings and priorities so people feel heard and can decide what matters most to change.Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, helps identify unhelpful thoughts and test new behaviors. It is useful for anxiety, depression, stress, and mood regulation because it breaks problems into small steps and practical exercises.
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, EMDR, is a trauma-focused method that aims to reduce the intensity of distressing memories and triggers. It can help when talking alone has not relieved persistent reactions linked to past events.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist collaborates with each person to choose techniques that fit their goals, needs, and comfort. That process may include trying a short CBT exercise, using motivational interviewing to set aims, or shifting into EMDR when trauma processing is appropriate.
Online therapy offers flexibility for busy lives. Video calls allow face-to-face interaction, phone sessions can fit a short break, live chat works for quick check-ins, and text-based messaging supports ongoing reflection between meetings. These options make it easier to keep regular care while juggling work, caregiving, or travel.
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Common questions
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What credentials and location apply?
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A practical next step
Write down two things you would want to be different in six months. That is the most useful thing to bring to a first session, whoever it is with. If you would rather start now than keep reading, online sessions are the quickest route.
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