GET TO KNOW your therapist

Madeline Root, LCSW

she/her

“It’s always darkest before the dawn”

Insurances I Accept:

  • BCBS PPO
  • BCBS HMO Northshore
  • Humana
  • Optum/United Healthcare
  • Cigna
  • Aetna
Ages I work with:
  • 11+
Languages I speak:
  • English
  • Spanish(conversational, I can converse with your Spanish-speaking family members, but I’m not fluent enough to do our therapy sessions entirely in Spanish!)
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Who Am I?

Hi! I’m Madeline Root (Mad-uh-lyn, she/hers), a clinical social worker who works with preteens (11+), teens, young adults and new parents. Being a social worker informs how I approach therapy, both from my educational background and past work experiences in that I view each person as a product of their environment. Together in therapy we will look at the forces that have shaped you and your beliefs, be those family influences, societal pressures, or broader systems of oppression that affect us all in different ways. I am an active and outdoorsy cisgender White woman who is also a relatively new mom.

I love working with:

teens and preteens, young adults, college students and new parents – people struggling with anxiety, depression and life transitions. I have a lot of experience working with people who have experienced trauma, particularly with sexual violence or abuse, and with people who self-harm and/or struggle with suicidal ideation. I love to provide support to new parents who need all the support they can get – I knew that before, but now as a new parent myself I can empathize with these experiences on a whole different level.

Some of my favorite approaches include:

A strengths-based perspective (helping you identify your existing traits/skills that can help you through your current struggles), CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or learning how our thoughts, actions, and emotions are related), DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, or learning to tolerate and manage uncomfortable emotions, improve relationships, and be mindful of the present moment), narrative theory (developing our understanding of our experiences as a part of our life story), self-compassion (developing our inner voice to be kinder to ourselves), and exposure therapies (for phobias, or obsessive thoughts and compulsions). I am a fan of an integrative and holistic approach to therapy. Therapy methods that work for one person may not work well for another person, and each therapeutic approach brings its own helpful perspectives.

I love to incorporate creativity in whatever way feels natural for you, whether through art, crafting, or musical exploration, or even just coloring during a session.

HOW I HELP

Everyone has a different style that they want from their therapist. You might want a space to vent about your week, someone to keep you accountable for the goals you’re working towards, a person to just sit with you in your heavy thoughts and feelings, or safety to work through some traumatic past experiences. From our very first session I will try to uncover which style you are looking for in our sessions, and will check in periodically as needed to see how we are doing in meeting your initial expectations. We will work on developing coping skills, unlearning unhelpful thinking patterns and building up your social support in your life outside of therapy.

I believe you are the expert on your own life. Though we may share some identities, we may differ in others. I’m here to learn from you about how your identities and experiences have shaped who you are now.

I also believe that you are the only person that can truly make changes in your life. I’m here for suggestions, support and listening, but therapy is only one hour a week! So we will also be focusing on the things you do outside of our sessions that may either be helping or hurting you.

I believe therapy works best when we have a strong, trusting relationship with one another. So initial sessions will be helping us develop that while we begin to build skills and work on what brings you into therapy in the first place.

I believe change is possible. Period. Otherwise I wouldn’t do this work. Sometimes it’s not as fast as we would like it to be, but I’m here to be patient alongside you as we traverse through the challenges that come up.

What it’s like in a session with me

Again, this will probably vary from person to person. With younger kids, I am often playing games or doing activities – therapy can be fun sometimes! With teens and adults, I like to take your lead, shaping our sessions to be what you’re looking for. Do you just want to vent? Great, let’s do that. Do you want to build new coping skills? Awesome, there’s so many different ones we can try. Do you want to talk about something that you haven’t been able to talk about anywhere else? I’m here to listen.

More about me

I used to pride myself in my amazing ability to practice what I preach as a therapist in terms of self-care. Regular exercise (it used to be marathoning, playing beach volleyball, hiking), crafting (sewing, crocheting, painting, coloring), gardening or just being outside in general, and spending time with friends. And then I had a baby and that went, just about, all out the window. These days I try to squeeze in at least one of those things at least a few times during the week, and call that a win. And the rest of the time I’m just marveling at how cute this little person is and watching him toddle around! I’ve also got 2 adorable/aggressive/insane cats for extra snuggles when I need them/when they will tolerate that.

SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT

Schedule your first appointment. For follow up appointments (existing clients), please contact your therapist at 773-774-4444.

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