Practical Audacity Therapy IL - Chicago, Illinois

Jay B.

I have worked with two therapists at this practice - Sammy and one other therapist.
I have been working with Sammy for a few years now and will excitedly recommend them to anyone. Sammy has helped me with my relationships, sexuality, and anxiety. I am much more confident in myself since beginning to work with Sammy.
The other therapist I’ve worked with at practical audacity was for couples counseling. He was fine. Not every therapist is the right fit for every person but he did the best he could to make it work, and I believe our sessions were still productive.
I’m concerned about recent changes to the cancellation policy. The new policy seems to say that if you cancel within 72 hours (3 days!!!) of your appointment, you will be charged $150. This seems unreasonable and not what I have experienced at other practices. This is especially surprising coming from a practice that seems to be all about social justice.
Like I said, most of the care I’ve received at Practical Audacity has been with Sammy who is amazing so that’s why it’s 4 stars instead of 3.

Emma M.

Our experience with our couples therapist is great. We are queer women and that is taken into account along with all the other general relationship challenges many couples face. He is respectful, understanding, attentive and very very helpful. We’ve been with him for a year now and have made great improvements. I have recommended him to a lot of friends.

The space is clean and very beautiful. It’s comfortable and kind. I have been in all kinds of therapeutic spaces for about 12 years and this one feels top notch too me.

Sam B.

I have had two therapists through Practical Audacity and both have been excellent. Great range of specialists ranging in focus from gender and sex, relationships, and couples therapy in addition to coaching and workshops, one of which I attended recently titled "Pleasure as Resistance".

Always have felt comfortable communicating my needs, thoughts, and feelings in a judgement-free environment and have benefited from the perspectives and knowledge of the therapists I have worked with here. Can personally recommend both Casey and Avi from experience. Rae, the owner was a great help in getting me onboarded with the paperwork and outlining the guidelines of their practice.

Relaxing and friendly space and aesthetics with individual offices unique and creatively decorated.

Jennifer S.

In principle, I liked the idea of this gender therapy practice. After eight months there I was still happy with the practice and my therapist and was working on a letter of recommendation with her. The next week I was told there would be no letter. The week after that I was kicked out of the entire practice, which I did not see coming. The reason I was given for them kicking me out of the practice was that I have a severe trauma condition. They had known about this condition for the entire eight months I was there. I was quite confused because, why suddenly get so upset about my trauma condition eight months into therapy, and because such conditions are quite common among trans and nb people. I don't know what really transpired. After a couple months to ponder what happened, I doubt I was told the truth about why they refused to sign the letter or why I was kicked out of the practice. If you would not like it if you were kicked out of therapy with no warning, especially just as you are pursuing a letter of recommendation, you may want to consider finding somewhere else to seek therapy.

Shannon S.

As a queer, non monogamous black woman in a interracial relationship (my partner is white) - I was seeking an anti-racist, culturally competent and non monogamous couples therapist. We were matched with LK. My biggest concern is how performative and optical an ally LK was.

My partner accused me of emotional manipulation because white fragility flared and I called them out for racist behavior. LK did absolutely nothing about it. Didn’t stand up for me. Didn’t say that was micro-aggressive, didn’t explain why. None of it. She sat there, in COMPLETE SILENCE and watched this individual tell me that I was manipulative and wrong for calling them out — an embarrassingly complicit and silent bystander as I explained why what I said was not manipulative (because obviously LK wasn’t doing it).

Before all this, I sent not one but two emails to this therapist: the first email contained a chapter from an antiracism book on allyship and what it means to be a good ally. I asked her to read it and come prepared to talk about it and use the tools outlined in the chapter to facilitate a safe and healthy conversation about interracial relationships and allyship. The second email was me begging her to show up and be a good anti-racist therapist before our session because I told her I didn’t feel protected or believed.

Time and time again she missed the mark and it came at my psychological cost. She was worried about and prioritizing my partner and their asks but was silent when I needed the same acknowledgement and support.

After I had some time to recover from that psychologically jarring event, I emailed her to let her how dismayed and upset I was with her antiracism and allyship work. In her response back, she didnt even say “I’m so sorry Shannon.” Not once. I should’ve taken more time to read the reviews about this practice. Embarrassingly bad. I also have all the receipts too. YIKESSSSS

Eleanor T.

I saw 2 therapists at this location, Galini and Elizabeth. They both in our final sessions said they would provide referrals, they both failed to do so. It was an egregious failing on Galini's part as I was expressing intent of self harm at that time and they allowed me to ghost with 0 followup.

Overall this practice is great for you if you have small problems and don't mind therapists who lie/fail to keep their word.

Additionally this is my second review of this establishment as the owner left an unsatisfactory response to my initial one in which they felt it appropriate to share diagnosis info and imply I am a racist. If you review the other 1 star response you will see the owner is no stranger to unprofessional acerbic responses.

For real, if you have serious issues, look elsewhere. This practice is after easy money, not improving lives.

MH

Samatha Peachey is SUCH an incredible human being. For the first time in my life, I feel heard, affirmed, and understood for my pain and my fears in a professional setting. They are just...words can't describe how amazing they have already made me feel. My wife and I go into every discussion with them as if we were talking to an old friend. If I could give a 10/5 stars I would. Amazing, affirming, calming, caring, and SO helpful. I follow a large group on reddit for partners of Trans people, and I will be letting all of them know to go to them if they can 🙂 Amazing practice. So SO happy we found a place to speak to therapists who, from a personal level, understand the queer experience.

Dain B.

I’ve been seeing Kohen for nearly a year now and they’ve been a key voice and presence in some pretty important (wonderful) growth and life changes I’ve made. Couldn’t have asked for a better therapist to help me through CPTSD, queer and trans questions, polyamory, and basic emotional regulation skill building.