773-659-9207
laura@riverrocktherapy.com
4753 North Broadway
Suite 608
Chicago, Illinois 60640

Teens In Transition

When teens are struggling with their gender identity, it's not only difficult for them, but it affects the whole family. Often parents struggle with their own learning curves. How do you know if it's right for your teen to begin physically transitioning? What does physically transitioning even include? What things should you consider? Where do you find competent medical care? These are only some of the questions you're beginning to consider. Families often feel like their left on their own to figure out how tell extended family and friends, and either educate their current healthcare providers, or search for trans-competent healthcare providers alone.

About Kristen Wright

Kristen Wright

I have a doctorate in clinical psychology. I received my Bachelor of Science in psychology at Central Michigan University and then relocated the Chicago School of Professional Psychology to earn my Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology and Doctorate of Clinical Psychology from an APA accredited program. I started my clinical work as a counselor at Kennedy King College’s Wellness Center, then continued on to work for the city of Chicago at Lawndale Community Behavior Health Center, and completed my internship year working full-time Adult Out-Patient Addiction Services at Linden Oaks at Edwards. My experiences in these settings have provided a great learning base about the nature of human resilience and have led me to highly value the advocacy side of psychology. For me, part of the beauty of diversity is that there are so many variations of behaviors, identities, and ways to be in the world, allowing that there is always more to discover and learn.

Therapy is about creating a safe space for you to be able to explore yourself and the situations in your life. I work with individuals, couples and families (with no judgments about how you many define your family) and groups for therapy. My current focus in psychology is working with gender and sexual minorities. I am comfortable with the idea of my clients as the expert on themselves and I am the bringer of a psychologically-based toolkit to the journey that is therapy. I believe what is meaningful to an individual is highly important and pull heavily from Acceptance and Commitment therapy (ACT) and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) tools. I am also qualified to provide psychological assessments.

Social Networks

Visit our Facebook page. Follow us on Twitter. Visit our Google+ page. Read Laura's blog. Send us an email.

Online Support Communities

  • The Chicago FTM Yahoo Group: A community of support for FTM people in the Chicago area.
  • The FTMFIT Yahoo Group: A community of FTM persons sharing information on physical fitness.
  • The Transgender Boards: A community of help, support, and information for people affected with Gender Dysphoria, Gender Identity Disorder, or GID, and their significant others, family, and friends.

Tahoe

Tahoe the emotional support and therapy dog

Tahoe is a two-year-old standard poodle. He was adopted from a shelter in Wisconsin when he was only a few months old. He's been trained to be an Emotional Support Animal and a therapy dog. Because he is a poodle, he does not bother people with any allergy issues. He does, however, offer great affection when you want it and is calming and gentle in anxious situations.

Venues

We have trained and presented to over 2000 providers in large and small settings. Speaking and training venues have included, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Illinois Department of Public Health, Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Programs
  • Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine
  • Loyola University School of Social Work
  • Chicago Department of Public Health
  • Midwestern Medical University
  • Howard Brown Health Center
  • DePaul University
  • ACCESS Community Health
  • Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC)