Professional life · Individual therapy · Chicago
Therapy for engineers in Chicago
A habit of solving problems can be valuable at work and frustrating when your own emotional life does not respond to a clear fix. You may understand a pattern logically without finding it easy to change.
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What you may be noticing
- Analyzing feelings without feeling relief
- Work pressure and perfectionism
- Difficulty switching out of problem-solving mode
Your experience may look different. These examples are starting points for a conversation.
How we can work on this
We can bring curiosity to how you think and respond without treating your strengths as the problem. Therapy can make room for uncertainty, emotional awareness, and practical experiments in daily life.
I am Sam Rustum, LCPC. My work is collaborative: we will discuss your priorities, choose a starting point, and check whether our approach is useful to you.
Going beyond an explanation of the problem
You may be able to describe a pattern precisely and still find yourself repeating it. Knowing why you become defensive, for example, does not always change what happens when someone sounds disappointed. We can use a specific interaction to understand that moment more closely.
What did you hear? What happened in your body? Did you begin explaining, correcting, withdrawing, or trying to solve the other person’s concern immediately? We can explore what your response was trying to accomplish and what the other person may have experienced. This gives us something concrete to examine together.
An experiment between sessions might involve asking a question before offering a solution, naming an emotion in plain language, or noticing when more analysis no longer provides useful information. We would review what felt unfamiliar and what you observed. Careful thinking can remain a strength while you develop other ways of responding. Our conversations can also include work pressure, uncertainty, rest, and the meaning you attach to being accurate or dependable.
Questions you may be asking
Will sessions have a practical focus?
We can connect conversations to a recent situation and agree on something to notice or try. We will also make room to understand recurring patterns when that helps explain why a practical change has been difficult.
Can therapy help with relationship communication?
We can explore what happens when you disagree, try to help, or feel criticized. That may involve understanding your own reaction and practicing how to communicate what you need or ask about the other person’s experience.
What if I prefer straightforward language?
You can tell me what kind of explanation is useful. We can discuss your experience through concrete examples and introduce therapy terms only when they help us understand the work.
A place to begin
Let’s make room for what you need.
A free 15-minute consultation gives us a chance to talk about what is difficult, answer your questions, and consider whether working together fits what you need.