Jenna Alaskar

Many of the people I work with have spent years becoming who they needed to be. They may be thoughtful and highly self-aware, yet still find themselves repeating the same relationship patterns, questioning their own needs, or feeling disconnected from who they are beneath the roles they have learned to occupy. A person may look successful from the outside while privately feeling disconnected from their own needs, uncertain in relationships, or caught in patterns they understand but cannot seem to outgrow.

My approach is relational, insight-oriented, and trauma-informed. Therapy becomes a place to slow down and look more closely at the experiences that shaped you. Together, we explore how family relationships, attachment patterns, and early emotional environments influenced the beliefs you carry about yourself and others. We pay attention to what repeats, what those patterns may be protecting, and what they have come to mean about who you are.

I often work with young professionals, executives, healthcare professionals, and other high-achieving adults who are navigating burnout, perfectionism, relationship concerns, identity development, or major life transitions. Many are accustomed to functioning well and caring for others, yet feel less certain about how to care for themselves. Our work creates room to understand the internal pressures, inherited roles, and relational expectations that may be keeping them disconnected from a more authentic sense of self.

I also work with couples who find themselves returning to the same conflict, distance, or misunderstanding despite their efforts to resolve it. Drawing from Emotionally Focused Therapy, I help partners look beneath the surface of the argument to understand the attachment fears, longings, and protective responses shaping the cycle between them. Rather than deciding who is at fault, we work to understand what is happening between them and create the possibility of a more secure, responsive connection.

I believe meaningful change often begins when something that once felt confusing becomes understandable. As we bring language to the patterns that have lived quietly beneath the surface, clients can begin to experience themselves with greater clarity and compassion. From that understanding, new ways of relating to oneself and to others can slowly become possible.

My work is grounded in relational and attachment-based psychotherapy, while integrating trauma-informed care, Emotionally Focused Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Narrative Therapy, cognitive behavioral approaches, and mindfulness-based practices when they support each client’s needs.

Offers in-person therapy at our Chicago office and virtual therapy throughout Illinois.