BRITT JAGODNIK, LCSW
People usually come to therapy because something in their life is painful, repetitive, or no longer working.
These are some of the concerns I often work with. They overlap, and they do not have to fit neatly into one category.
Anxiety or low mood may be the immediate reason someone begins therapy. We take the symptoms seriously and work to understand them in context. That can include the relationships, conflicts, losses, expectations, and ways of coping that may be contributing to how you feel.
Some people become skilled at reading the room, avoiding conflict, and taking care of everyone else. These abilities may have developed for good reasons. Over time, they can make it difficult to know what you want, tolerate another person’s disappointment, or speak directly about your own needs.
Early relationships can continue to shape how you trust, depend on others, handle conflict, and respond to yourself. Therapy can help you understand these patterns without reducing your history to a label or assuming that every current difficulty has a simple cause.
Starting a career, building a partnership, becoming a parent, ending a relationship, or taking on a new role can bring anxiety, grief, and questions about identity. Therapy offers a place to understand what the transition is asking of you and what it may be bringing up from the past.
MARSDEN HARTLEY, MOVEMENT, 1913
ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO
MARSDEN HARTLEY, PROVINCETOWN, 1916
A SPECIALTY AREA
I specialize in working with body image concerns and body dysmorphic disorder. This may include intrusive appearance concerns, comparison, repeated checking or avoidance, reassurance seeking, and difficulty participating fully in work, relationships, or daily life.
My approach includes established symptom-focused methods as well as relational and psychodynamic work.
INDIVIDUALS AND COUPLES
I work with individuals and couples who find themselves repeating patterns they can describe but have not been able to interrupt.
We slow the pattern down, look at what each person is trying to protect, and make room for more direct communication.
Charles de Wolf Brownell, East River, Sunrise, 1862
IN CLOSING
These descriptions are meant to offer orientation. People are more complicated than a list of specialties, and many concerns are connected.
If you are unsure whether my practice is the right fit, a brief consultation is a reasonable place to start.
Marsden Hartley, Movement, 1913, Art Institute of Chicago (1949.544). Marsden Hartley, Provincetown, 1916, Art Institute of Chicago (1949.545). Charles de Wolf Brownell, East River, Sunrise, 1862, National Gallery of Art (2005.146.1). All works are in the public domain and were obtained from the holding museum’s open access collection.