Carol Fetzner graduated with a Masters Degree in Community Counseling from Northern Illinois University in 1991 and has been a full time, licensed, practicing clinician since that time. She has wanted to be a counselor since she was a young child and fondly recalls playing "psychologist" with her little sister by pretending to read ink blots while laying on a couch.  

 she works with people of all ages including children and adolescents, demonstrating  compassion that creates a safe context for open exploration of problems and difficulties.  She has a gift for engaging otherwise  resistant adolescents in the therapy process.  She is skilled in the provision of play therapy with younger children with general emotional and behavioral concerns.  She also has an affinity for teens and young adults who are developing independent living skills, coping with social anxiety or depression, divorce conflicts or self esteem issues. 

Carol is an ally for LGBTQ+ persons and is an active member of  PFLAG.  She specializes in working with gender identity disorders using individual, family and group therapy modalities as well as parent consultation and support.  She currently offers an ongoing therapy group for non-binary, gender non-conforming and transgender youth.  Additionally, she started a free drop in center for gender non conforming youth at The Break in Crystal Lake as a means of giving back to the community and filling a necessary void in services for this population.

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Her clinical orientation is primarily cognitive behavioral.  She believes in the resiliency of the human spirit and utilizes a combination of strength based and solution focused approaches into her clinical work.   She believes that the therapeutic relationship itself can be trans-formative as a context for learning and practicing more effective ways of interacting with others.  She strives to guide her clients in living authentic lives and values sincerity..Expect her to be laid back and easy to talk to.

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​She cares deeply for the well being of her clients and has assisted countless people, children, adolescents and adults, in becoming their own best selves and in finding meaning and purpose to living.  Her enthusiasm and belief in the possibility for recovery and change is infectious.  She is also a Gottman Level 1 trained therapist and uses the Gottman method in her approach towards couples therapy.

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Carol enjoys working with parents and their children using a  parent/child interactive therapy modality and parenting coaching methods that draws from the Trust Based Relational Intervention Approach (TBRI) to effect behavioral change for emotionally and behaviorally challenged children.  She also conducts family therapy, believing that the family is a social ecological system.  As stress that impacts one family member affects the other family members, she strives to aid families in achieving balance. She is also an Adoption Competent Certified therapist and can assist with family reunification issues.  . 

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Carol has raised three responsible children of her own and was both a Cub Scout and a Girl Scout leader for many years. She is proud to add that her oldest son is an Eagle Scout as recognized through the Boy Scouts of America and her middle daughter was honored to be the Valedictorian of her High School Class of 2017.  Her youngest is intellectually gifted and on a path towards greatness as well!

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