Associate Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist

SHE/HER

Mona Sterling is an Associate Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Illinois (IL License number: 208.001089.) She earned her Master of Science in Psychology from California Polytechnic State University and graduated from the University of California Berkeley with her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology.

Recognizing the immense courage it takes to begin therapy, Mona offers a warm, nonjudgmental energy throughout her sessions and engages in her clients’ concerns with open curiosity and empathy. She is deeply committed to supporting and accompanying her clients as they confront their toughest avoidances, uncover their vulnerabilities, and create meaning out of their difficult life experiences. Through their healing journey, Mona fosters her clients’ process towards achieving their own self-actualization.

Mona is fluent in German and was raised by German immigrant parents who helped shape her strong desire to embrace and understand cultures and identities that differ to her own. She has experience working with children, teens, adults, couples, and groups all of varying racial, ethnic, gender, and sexual identities. She has supported survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, intimate partner violence, along with other types of traumas; as well as people struggling with anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, grief, life and identity transitions, suicidal ideation, and self-harm behaviors.

Therapeutically, she practices from client-centered, strengths-based, and trauma-informed approaches integrating Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Solution-Focused Therapy, Narrative Therapy, and Psychodynamic Therapy. She has also completed the Gottman Method Couples Therapy Level 1 training.   

In her free time, Mona enjoys distance running, making friends with new dogs, and “Gemütlichkeit” with friends and family.