Trauma therapy for helpers, healers, and high-achievers.
For people who who feel burned out by systems that weren’t built for them.
What You Want:
To stop waking up with that low-grade dread, wondering at the point of doing so much care or leadership work while the world is burning.
To be able to rest, cancel, or hand something off without the guilt spiral or the fear that you’re copping out.
To stop getting hijacked by competing parts—one that’s overfunctioning, one that’s exhausted, one that’s furious no one notices.
To feel your full humanity (maybe for the first time)—connected to people who get it, able to be in your body, and guided by something deeper than survival mode or the pressure to “perform” care, leadership, or activism work flawlessly.
To accept that you can’t fix everything (and to see that isn’t a moral failure)
Trauma-Informed Therapy in Illinois + Louisiana
You’re in the right place if:
No matter what room you’re in, you’re the eldest daughter, cruise director, default parent, planner or advice-giver.
You find much of your worth and value in serving and being selfless and resourceful (heck, you might have even made a career out of it).
You live in all-or-nothing (mostly “all”), and find yourself swinging between “I am invincible,” and “I cannot speak to another human for a week.”
The state of the world has you oscillating between late-night escape fantasies (“Alexa, how do I move to Canada?”), bursts of advocacy and caretaking, and doom-scrolling on the couch in a freeze state.
You’re running mental spreadsheets of every possible future, wondering why other people don’t seem to care as much, and talking yourself out of having any needs.
I work with:
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I work with: *
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You work in care, education, advocacy, or public service—and you’ve learned how to stay functional no matter what’s happening around you.
You’re good at anticipating needs, smoothing things over, and giving until that damn cup is dry. You probably learned early on that being responsible was safer than being needy. Over time, that turned into overfunctioning, chronic guilt when you rest, and a nervous system that never quite shuts off.
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You’re trained, thoughtful, and deeply attuned. You might be a therapist, coach, bodyworker, birth worker, or spiritual care provider. You understand trauma—sometimes too well—and you’re often holding space for others while quietly struggling yourself.
You may feel burned out, disillusioned, or resentful, then ashamed for feeling that way. You know all the tools, yet still find yourself exhausted, anxious, or disconnected from your own body. You’ve likely internalized the belief that you should be able to handle this better.
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You’re driven, capable, and used to being “the one who gets it done.” You might be an executive, entrepreneur, founder, or professional who carries real responsibility—and rarely feels allowed to fall apart.
From the outside, it looks like success. On the inside, it can feel like constant pressure, anxiety, imposter syndrome, or a sense that if you slow down, everything will collapse. You’ve likely been praised for your resilience while quietly paying the cost in your body, relationships, or sense of self.
Hi, I’m Allison Staiger, LCSW, PMH-C (she/her/hers).
I’m a licensed clinical social worker practicing in Chicago, and licensed in Illinois and Louisiana, with over 15 years of experience supporting people in caregiving, healing, and helping roles.
I work with folks navigating complex trauma that often feels ordinary, burnout, moral injury, identity shifts, parenting, grief, loss, and the impossible task of showing up for others while trying to stay intact yourself.
In our work together, I bring a trauma-informed, politicized, and relational lens. My approach integrates EMDR, parts work, somatics, and attachment theory. It’s not one-size-fits-all- it’s grounded, collaborative, and built to move at the pace of your nervous system.
We get curious together about how you’ve learned to navigate the world. We name what’s really happening. We let humor into the room. We build the kind of therapy relationship that can hold your whole truth, not just the polished or selfless parts.
Here’s the truth:
you are not the problem.
You are a person responding (brilliantly!) to a system that was never built with you in mind.
Burnout, anxiety, rage, grief, numbness, shame, and overwhelm aren’t symptoms of personal failure. They’re signals. And when we slow down enough to listen, they point toward what needs tending- not just inside you, but all around you.
My clients are folks who have been conditioned (in their families, their careers, or their traumas) to be responsible, functional, accommodating fixers as a way of having value and staying in control. They are parents, therapists, teachers, nurses, clergy, birth workers, activists, and creatives.
They are drowning (and telling themselves it’s just a little damp).
And that’s where I come in.
In my practice, we make space for the messy, tender, contradictory truth of being a human in a culture that demands you numb out to survive.
We build your capacity to feel, to rest, to resist, to question, and to reimagine.
This is not therapy that asks you to cope your way back into unsustainable conditions.
It’s therapy that helps you recognize what’s not yours to carry, and decide what kind of life you want to build instead.
Let’s work together
Ready to have a consultation call or get started? Fill out this form and I will get back to you within one business day.