Tara Hartley
Compassionate CBT-informed therapy for practical change
LCSW Illinois
- Experience
- 9 years in practice
- Focus areas
- Stress, Anxiety, Relationship, Trauma and abuse
- Approaches
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Client-Centered Therapy
- Languages
- English
About Tara
Tara Hartley is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) practicing in Illinois who brings nine years of combined clinical experience to her work.
Background and approach
She blends cognitive behavioral techniques with client-centered and dialectical approaches to create practical, compassionate treatment plans for people coping with anxiety, depression, trauma and abuse, addiction, relationship strains, grief, and a wide array of life transitions. Her background includes specialized training in trauma-focused care and previous work as a substance abuse counselor, which inform a trauma-aware, strengths-based style.
Her sessions aim to be warm, interactive, and tailored to each client's needs, emphasizing respect, sensitivity, and a nonjudgmental stance. Tara often incorporates mindfulness and existential perspectives alongside structured cognitive tools to help clients build coping skills, address patterns that cause distress, and pursue clearer goals.
She also addresses concerns such as intimacy-related difficulties, parenting challenges, compassion fatigue, and family or communication problems. Prospective clients in Illinois who prefer English-language care can expect collaborative planning and practical strategies suited to their situation.
Practical approaches for online change
Many clients benefit from structured, evidence-informed methods like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and complementary humanistic approaches. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying unhelpful thought and behavior patterns and learning concrete skills to change them, which can help with anxiety, depression, and stress-related problems. Client-Centered Therapy emphasizes a respectful, supportive therapeutic relationship where the therapist offers empathy and validation to help people explore values, choices, and personal growth. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) adds skills for regulating emotions, tolerating distress, and improving interpersonal effectiveness, which can be useful for intense emotional reactions and relationship conflicts.Choosing the specific approach is a collaborative process. The therapist works with each person to assess needs, goals, and preferences, and then tailors a combination of techniques rather than adhering rigidly to a single model. This partnership helps ensure that the plan fits what the client hopes to accomplish and can be adjusted over time as progress unfolds.
Online therapy expands access through multiple remote formats including video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. These options provide flexibility for scheduling, allow continuity of care when in-person visits are difficult, and make it easier to practice new skills between sessions. Licensed professionals can adapt the therapeutic methods above to work effectively across these formats.
Frequently asked questions
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Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Also works with
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
9+ years
Licensed
Illinois
Languages
English