The truth is,
we all long for connection.
Welcome
In 20 years of clinical social work practice, within various therapeutic settings, I have had the privilege of connecting people, families, groups and communities during times of crisis, loss and uncertainty. I learned that these challenges are faired better in the presence of a support system that creates a safe haven for connection and belonging.
My name is Susie Ortega, I am a Licensed Clinical Therapist (LCSW) and Certified Perinatal Mental Health Counselor (PMH-C) trained in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT) with a master’s degree in social work from Loyola University Chicago. My professional experience and personal story in trauma recovery, allow me to offer a unique lens from which I support, guide and inspire my clients.
I believe in helping my clients bridge the gap between mind and body, highlighting the importance of relational and emotional self-awareness. I value my role as a therapist because I am able to offer a therapeutic relationship that serves as a vessel towards healing relational wounds. Within therapy sessions I offer a trauma-informed perspective that stems from my clinical focus rooted in Attachment and Family Systems Theory, while applying cultural sensitivity and humility.
Whether you are seeking individual or couples therapy, my commitment to you is to provide a space for understanding of your unique perspective, to journey with you towards greater self-awareness, and to collaborate with you to identify new strategies for coping with what challenges you the most.
“When [they] realized that loss, abandonment, rejection, and betrayal were guiding [them] home, [they] stopped trying to rewrite the chapters of pain and allowed a story of empowerment to begin.”
Specialties
Couples Therapy
Perinatal Mental Health
Premarital Counseling
Intersecting Identities
Raising Bicultural Children
Breaking Intergenerational Trauma
Betrayal Trauma
Addiction
Grief & Traumatic Loss
Inner Child Healing
What is Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) for Couples?
“Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is a well-known humanistic approach to psychotherapy formulated in the 1980’s and developed in tandem with the science of adult attachment, a profound developmental theory of personality and intimate relationships. This science has expanded our understanding of individual dysfunction and health as well as the nature of love relationships and family bonds. Attachment views human beings as innately relational, social and wired for intimate bonding with others. The EFT model prioritizes emotion and emotional regulation as the key organizing agents in individual experience and key relationship interactions.”
- The International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT)
“We must recognize that we are more than ‘homo sapiens’. We are ‘homo vinculum’ -the one who bonds with others. And these bonds are what will save us. They always have.”