Misty Spencer, LCSW

Misty Spencer is an LCSW - Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Illinois with seven years as an LCSW and 18 years working in social work overall. She helps people manage anxiety, depression, stress, relationship strain, and the daily weight of caregiving and parenting. Her practice also addresses trauma, attachment concerns, codependency, and challenges like sleep disruption and burnout.

She uses practical tools most people can try between sessions. Misty often draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to notice and shift unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. She pairs that with Solution-Focused Therapy to set clear, short-term goals the person can test right away.

Misty also works with trauma-related challenges. She brings Trauma-Focused Therapy techniques to help people process painful memories and reduce the ways past hurt shows up now. She works with attachment and family-of-origin issues so people can better understand patterns that repeat in relationships.

Sessions emphasize concrete skills: communication strategies, boundary-setting practice, and steps for reducing people-pleasing. She offers mindfulness tools to calm the body and focus attention during hard moments. These are presented in simple, repeatable ways that fit into a busy life.

Misty has experience with adoptive and foster care concerns, caregiver stress, ADHD, and grief. She supports people who want clearer priorities, steadier moods, and more control over daily reactions. To begin, she asks about current struggles and helps pick practical next steps.

Therapeutic approaches used in online sessions