Participating in a weekly virtual therapy group has truly been a remarkable experience for me.  This group has become a sanctuary where I can explore and share things about myself that I never thought I’d be able to say out loud.  Through support and understanding of my fellow group members, I’ve become more of myself: more self-aware, empowered and compassionate and even daring.  My relationship with my spouse has improved, I am no longer triggered by random vicious slights and provocations from my extended family and, most importantly, I am finally, at the age of forty-nine, discovering what it means to be a “good man” without losing myself and fearing disappointing people.

Before I started working with Nadia, I’ve had a series of failed relationships and resentful friendships, and felt completely discouraged. I didn’t know how to be in a relationship without someone having to rely on me for everything and, through our work together, Nadia has slowly encouraged me to build boundaries and say “no” more often (she puts it as “saying ‘no’ to others while saying ‘yes’ to myself). Almost a year since our first session, I am still single but now by choice, I am speaking to my father again after many years of disconnection, and my time feels more like my own - I am not feeling overburdened by doing everything for everyone.

I found Nadia on a meditation website that I’ve been frequenting for the past several years.  As an experienced mediator who’s done a lot of seeking and growth work over the years, I wanted someone who is not just trained in therapy but has done their own healing and has wisdom and perspective. I’ve now worked with Nadia for over two years on Zoom and our time together has been invaluable to me, both in terms of perspective and growth. I have changed jobs, gone through a soul-crushing horror of online dating (that I could not have survived unharmed without Nadia’s help) and am now in a fulfilling relationship that has greatly benefited from my personal work.

Having worked in the past with two other therapists in person, I was very skeptical about starting therapy online. Nadia came highly recommended by my psychiatrist after I made a decision to quit Adderall and needed extra support. I was very surprised by Nadia’s ability to “see” me, and found that our connection didn’t feel at all encumbered by being on Zoom. Her empathy and intelligence is apparent from the beginning. I found that her voice and her words stayed with me throughout the week and made it easier to get through hard times.

My drinking was getting out of control and my partner finally presented me with an ultimatum. A counselor at an outpatient program that I started attending gave me Nadia’s information for individual therapy. Nadia is knowledgeable in addiction model and treatment, and has personal recovery experience, which made me feel that she got me and knew what I was going through. I never thought I would enjoy going to therapy, and it was difficult talking about personal things at times, but I always felt supported. I’ve now been sober for 14 months. Nadia also recommended a couples therapist for me and my partner, and we’ve recently started working on our relationship.

Nadia was recommended to me by a fellow activist as a vegan therapist. Even though my issues were only partially related to vystopia, it felt good to know that I am working with a therapist who shares my fundamental values. Nadia helped me work on my relationships with my immediate family and ultimately leave a romantic relationship that wasn’t fulfilling.

Our pediatrician gave us Nadia’s name to work with our young adult child who failed their first year of college and came home severely depressed. Nadia suggested family therapy instead, and it’s been invaluable for all of us to get on the same page in terms of addressing our son’s depression and helping him with setting new goals. He is now back in school and is working with an individual therapist that Nadia recommended.

As someone who comes from a very traditional culture, I wasn’t sure if a white therapist would understand my experience, but Nadia made me feel very comfortable with her from the start. We talked about our different backgrounds in the initial phone call and she promised to do her homework for the first session, which she did. I appreciated how comfortable I always felt with her, this was truly my one safe place from the world for many months during the pandemic.

I started working with Nadia when I moved to Chicago for a job in academia. The pressures of a very competitive professional environment combined with starting a family took a toll on my sleep, and I was having regular anxiety attacks in the middle of the night. Therapy hasn’t been a magic pill, but I am learning how to manage my anxiety and not let it take over. Therapy was often my one hour a week where I felt that I could be myself without expectations or pressures.

I’ve been in therapy on and off since high school, for the past twenty years. My last experience with a therapist was lukewarm - just talking about my week, and I was looking to make a switch. Nadia came recommended by a friend in a performing arts community.  As an actor I love hearing myself talk, but I needed someone strong enough to be able to challenge me in a way that I could hear and accept. Sessions with Nadia were both more intense and more comfortable for me than my previous experiences in therapy. I learned a lot about my blind spots and defenses but, more importantly, my creative power and my strength as a performer.

I reached out to Nadia in the aftermath of infidelity that shattered my world. I felt that she understood my pain and helped me sit through difficult feelings of shame, betrayal and loss. I ultimately decided to leave my marriage and reapplied to finish my graduate degree in another state. The eleven months working weekly with Nadia on Zoom were instrumental in helping me get my mojo back.

I’ve been in therapy for most of my adult life - over thirty years, with four or five different therapists and an experience of a long term psychotherapy group. About four years ago I got disillusioned with my group therapist (who I thought was creating dependency rather than encouraging independence), but loved the experience of a group and looked for group therapists in my area. My initial phone call with Nadia and subsequent assessment session pushed me more than the previous five years of therapy - she’s asked me questions and made observations that I never considered before. I got on a waiting list for her group and joined a mixed gender adult group a month before the pandemic. I had my reservations when we moved on Zoom, I wasn’t sure I’d get the same experience of connection and closeness. Well, this group has carried me through COVID - I can truly say that I would not have survived in one piece had I not had these ninety minutes each week. I told Nadia at our initial meeting that I didn’t want to be in a group forever, and we discussed my clinical goals and milestones that I’d reach before considering termination. I am happy to report that Nadia had stuck to our plan and was pointing out my progress and guiding me towards “graduation”, which happened earlier this year. I know I can reach out to Nadia whenever I need but, for now, I’ve been happily navigating my life on my own.

Nadia’s profile jumped at me when I was looking for a therapist on Psychology Today - it seemed refreshingly different from all others out there. I wrote to her asking whether she took insurance and, even though she didn’t, she guided me in figuring “out of network” benefits that made it possible for us to work together (for all you Northwestern people - we get 80% reimbursement!). I had done therapy as a graduate student, but my first “real” job in academia proved to be completely soul sucking, and I was seriously considering buying a van and disappearing. I still have these thoughts sometimes, but I am no longer afraid of them. Nadia helped me see that “football is life, and it’s also death, but mostly it’s life” (that quote is also on my Hinge profile, so if you see it - we have the same therapist!).

I’ve been living with a lot of shame about my sexuality that makes any kind of relationship very challenging.  I finally forced myself to look for a therapist and, at first, felt very discouraged - none of the “sex therapists” that I reached out to returned my calls, and I’ve been hung up on twice in the middle of a conversation when I tried to present my problem in an inquiry call.  I was ready to give up when I called Nadia, and she took my call and didn’t hang up.  She said that, even though she’s never worked with my particular kink, she’d read up on it and be ready for a session.  I came with a lot of reservations and fear but Nadia made me feel… “normal”, and I could tell that she’s done her research and was also comfortable talking about anything related to sexuality.  I was very surprised that we ended up talking about things that I never thought were related to my “presenting problem” - except that they were.  Over the course of our work together, Nadia kept pointing out how my shame was slipping away and was being replaced first by anger and fear, then sadness, then acceptance.  I’ve had one major realization related to my childhood somewhat in the middle of it all that took us in a different direction, but it all started to make sense eventually.  I thought I was “cured” of it all completely by about the eight month mark, so we agreed to switch to sessions every other week.  When COVID started, I felt weird talking online, so Nadia saw me for “walk and talk” sessions for the rest of the year.  I don’t think I am exactly “cured” but I also am in a place where I don’t necessarily want to be completely, I don’t see my sexual preferences as a problem anymore.  Even though I am no longer in therapy, I still have Nadia’s voice in my head sometimes, and it’s better than the voice I had there before, so I guess it worked.