Colleen Abbott, MA, JD
Psychotherapist

Colleen has specialized experience in grief and loss, complex trauma (CPTSD), life-limiting diagnosis, and parenting and caregiver concerns. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English literature and history from Miami University. In 2001, Colleen went on to receive a Juris Doctor from Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

 

Colleen and her husband are the parents of five living children and a son, Finn, who was stillborn in 2010. Her beloved mother’s death, coupled with her eldest daughter’s diagnosis with a rare neuroimmune disease, led Colleen to pursue a career in counseling. She received her Master of Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Northwestern University.

Colleen’s twenty-year career as an attorney, together with her lived experience as an advocate, caregiver, and mother, provides a unique blend of skills and empathy to her clients. With extensive experience in hospital, mental health, and educational settings as an advocate and deeply collaborative relationships with multidisciplinary care teams, she brings steadiness and clarity to patients, providers, and families navigating complex challenges.
 

Her therapeutic interventions include psychodynamic theory, eye movement reprocessing and desensitization (EMDR), internal family system (IFS) influenced parts work, and dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT). Notably, she offers Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) in partnership with Journey Clinical, an organization that has a specialized medical team that prescribes ketamine and collaborates in monitoring outcomes. Colleen is excited about the profound impact Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy has in assisting clients experience more frequent breakthroughs and sustained improvement in symptoms.
 

Colleen’s therapeutic approach balances compassion with structured support toward growth and healing. She is grateful for the opportunity to support others who experience grief, loss, trauma, and the myriad of challenges of being human.

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Available for sessions in Joliet office and via telehealth.