Tara Hartley , LCSW

Tara Hartley is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with nine years of experience providing therapy in Illinois. She focuses on helping people manage stress, anxiety, depression, relationship and intimacy concerns, addiction, and grief. Her work often addresses parenting challenges, LGBT concerns, and coping with life changes.

Tara uses a warm, interactive style that centers the person seeking help. She listens without labels and works with each person to set clear, practical goals. Conversations in sessions are collaborative and aimed at developing tools people can use between meetings.

Her clinical work draws on client-centered methods, cognitive behavioral strategies, dialectical behavioral techniques, existential thinking, and mindfulness practices. Tara mixes these approaches to match each person's needs rather than following a single formula. This means sessions can include skill practice, values-based reflection, and steps to change unhelpful thinking patterns.

She has experience addressing trauma and abuse, addiction concerns, and compassion fatigue, and she also supports people facing medical or caregiving stress. Tara has spent time working with people dealing with divorce, blended family issues, and communication or commitment problems.

Tara offers video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to fit different schedules. Sessions use a subscription model that can be canceled at any time. People who want to begin complete a short matching questionnaire and schedule a time that fits their availability.

Therapeutic approaches and online care

Tara commonly uses client-centered therapy, which means conversations focus on the person and their goals; the therapist listens closely and helps guide decisions without imposing labels. This approach helps people who need support sorting values, relationships, and life choices.

She also incorporates cognitive behavioral therapy, which looks at how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors connect. CBT often involves setting specific goals, testing unhelpful thoughts, and practicing new skills between sessions to reduce anxiety, depression, or addictive behaviors.

Finding the right approach is part of the work together. Tara will talk with each person about goals, preferences, and what feels most useful, then adjust methods as needed. That collaborative process helps tailor the work so sessions focus on practical steps the person can try.

Online therapy options include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video is useful for deeper conversations and guided exercises. Phone sessions are a good fit when bandwidth or camera use is limited. Live chat and text messaging can support quick check-ins, skills practice, or brief coaching between longer sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy into a busy schedule and to choose the format that works best for daily life.