Chicago Psychotherapist Celebrates Her Clients Successes
Rachel Dubrow, LCSW is a psychotherapist at Rachel Dubrow, LCSW. Dubrow is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with a private practice in Skokie. Dubrow holds a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She worked in the non-profit sector before returning to school to earn her Master of Social Work with a specialization in mental health from Washington University in St. Louis.
What are the scope and responsibilities of your current role?
"I treat adults ranging in age from 18 to 85 who want to work on a variety of issues. Some come to see me to work on building self-esteem, managing stress or tackling a specific fear or worry. Others want to work on relationship issues, finding a work/life balance or working through grief and loss. I work hard to ensure that every person feels comfortable sharing their stories with me, and I use my knowledge of different forms of therapy to give them the tools they need to achieve their goals. Therapy is individualized, and the length of time a person is in treatment varies. Part of my day also includes administrative tasks such as marketing, billing, bookkeeping and writing progress notes for insurance."
What is your favorite part of your daily duties?
"I enjoy building relationships with each person and celebrating the successes no matter how small. Every person is unique and brings different stories and experiences to therapy, which keeps my day from being anything but monotonous."
Do you feel your education prepared you for your current role?
"I believe my education gave me a very solid foundation to do a lot of what I do in my practice. Without a Master of Social Work, I could not have become licensed to practice independently. With that said, I believe my hands-on experience in the field prepared me to tackle certain challenges and to ultimately open my own practice. The mental health field is constantly evolving, and I like to keep up-to-date on the latest research and techniques to best help my clients."
Do you have any advice for people who desire to pursue a similar career?
"If you are contemplating a career in mental health or as a therapist, talk to people in the field and learn their story. The mental health field is very broad, so it can be helpful to narrow down what you are interested in and then target your job or education search to those interests. If private practice is your goal, find a supervisor who can provide quality supervision as you study for the LCSW exam. Focus on knowing the diagnoses and use it as a guide as you practice, but do not think of every person as a diagnosis. It is also important to learn the art of networking. In my field, it's just as much about how much you know as who you know."
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