Tamela Polanin, LCPC
Compassionate, story-focused counseling
Details
| Name | Tamela Polanin |
|---|---|
| Credentials | LCPC |
| Based in | Illinois |
| Licensed in | Illinois |
| Session format | Online |
| Languages | English |
| Years in practice | 20 |
About Tamela
Tamela Polanin is a licensed clinical professional counselor (LCPC) based in Illinois with 20 years of experience. She speaks plainly and listens carefully to help people facing stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, parenting strain, or struggles with relationships and self-esteem. Tamela aims to create a steady, respectful space where clients set the pace and goals for their own lives.
She describes her work as client-centered, meaning she follows each person’s priorities and helps them find their own solutions.
Background and approach
Narrative therapy is part of her approach, which involves looking at the stories people tell about themselves and finding different ways to tell those stories. She also uses cognitive behavioral techniques and emotion-focused ideas when they fit a client’s needs. Tamela draws on two decades in mental health and a personal understanding of trauma to shape her approach.
She focuses on trauma, grief, addiction, parenting concerns, bipolar challenges, ADHD, and other life transitions. She also supports people dealing with adoption and foster care issues, attachment questions, codependency, and communication difficulties. Sessions aim to be practical and grounded.
Tamela helps clients build tools for coping, manage difficult feelings, and work toward clearer relationships and self-understanding. She works with adults from varied backgrounds and accepts clients internationally when arrangements suit both parties. Outside of her work she is a parent and lives in the country in Illinois, which informs her calm, down-to-earth manner in sessions.
What this therapist works with
Her listing names Stress, Anxiety, Relationship issues, Family conflicts among the things Tamela works with, alongside the areas below.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
- Depression
- Addictions
- Grief
- Intimacy-related issues
- Parenting issues
- Anger management
- Self esteem
- Career difficulties
- Bipolar disorder
- Coping with life changes
- Coaching
- Compassion fatigue
- ADHD
- Abandonment
- Adoption and foster care
- Attachment issues
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Dependent personality
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Personality disorders
- Postpartum depression
- Post-traumatic stress
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Approaches listed
- Narrative Therapy: Named in her listing among her approaches.
- Client-Centered Therapy: Listed by Tamela among the ways she works.
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Listed by Tamela among the ways she works.
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): Listed by Tamela among the ways she works.
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT): Listed by Tamela among the ways she works.
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR): Listed by Tamela among the ways she works.
- Mindfulness Therapy: Listed by Tamela among the ways she works.
- Solution-Focused Therapy: Listed by Tamela among the ways she works.
- Trauma-Focused Therapy: Listed by Tamela among the ways she works.
- Training stated: This directory copies the approaches a therapist names and does not check training records. Ask Tamela directly how much of the work is narrative and what a session usually looks like.
Narrative Therapy in this listing
Narrative Therapy appears in this therapist's own list of approaches. That tells you it is part of how she works. It does not tell you how much of a session it shapes, and this directory does not check or rate training.
If a narrative approach is what you are looking for, it is worth asking Tamela directly how she uses it and what a session usually looks like.
Online session options
Approaches that guide online sessions
Tamela uses Narrative Therapy to help people examine the stories they tell about themselves and their relationships, then look for different, more helpful ways to describe their lives. This can be useful for issues like identity, attachment questions, and feeling stuck in old patterns.She also works from a client-centered stance, which means sessions follow the client’s priorities and pace while offering steady support and reflection. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) methods are brought in when useful to identify thoughts and behaviors that keep problems going and to build concrete skills for change.
Finding the right approach is collaborative. The therapist will listen to your goals and try methods that fit your needs, adjusting as you go. You and the therapist decide together which techniques feel most useful and practical for your life.
Online formats offered include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video calls let you use visual cues and longer therapeutic work. Phone sessions require less bandwidth and can fit into a work break. Live chat and text messaging can serve as shorter check-ins or a way to keep momentum between longer sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy into busy schedules and to match the format to the work you want to do.
Common questions about this listing
What kinds of issues does she help with?
She works with stress, anxiety, depression, trauma and abuse, addictions, grief, relationship and intimacy concerns, parenting and career challenges, and ADHD among other areas.
How would you describe her therapeutic style?
Her style is client-centered and collaborative, using narrative ideas to reframe life stories along with cognitive behavioral and emotion-focused techniques when helpful.
What is her background and experience?
She has 20 years of experience in mental health and reports a personal understanding of trauma that shapes her practice and priorities.
What are her credentials and where is she located?
She holds the LCPC credential and practices from Illinois.
Can sessions be conducted in languages other than English?
Sessions are offered in English.
What session formats are available?
Formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to fit different schedules and communication preferences.
How does payment and cost work?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability; sessions use a subscription model that can be canceled at any time.
How do I begin working with her?
Click the Start Therapy button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and schedule sessions according to the therapist's availability.
Contacting this therapist
Sessions with Tamela are arranged through our partner platform. It asks a few questions about what you are looking for, then shows you the therapists available to you, including Tamela where she has space. Ask about fees, and whether she holds a licence or registration where you live.
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