MEET OUR THERAPIST
Jenny Lake, LPC
Therapy for Career in Illinois
Relational, trauma-informed career counseling for adults trying to make sense of life in capitalism. Build self-trust and navigate career struggles with a therapist who’s right there with you.
Adults 18+
Illinois & Michigan · Virtual Sessions
Blue Cross Blue Shield Illinois · Private Pay Available
Accepting New Clients
Areas of Focus
Navigating career change, uncertainty, and difficult decisions with self-trust
Recovering from career grief, burnout, exploitation, and workplace trauma
Assessing whether graduate is the right move for your career–support from admissions to graduation, especially for first-generation college students
Structuring and sustaining a job search, especially for executive functioning challenges
College to career transition and young adults exploring their relationship to capitalism
Support for resumes, cover letters, and interviewing
Approach
Career struggles are often framed as an information challenge:
If I just figure out the right job for me…
If I just learn how to fix my resume…
If I just find a good boss…
When I believe career struggles are an emotional challenge:
How do I stay curious while feeling anxious about who I am and what I want to do with my life?
How do I take care of myself during a job search process that is long and full of rejection?
How do I accept and grieve that no boss or company will value me as much as I value myself?
I combine practical career guidance with support for the emotional work of sorting through contradictory advice, making difficult decisions, and learning to trust yourself along the way.
Therapy From Someone Who’s Right There With You
I’m right there with you in two ways:
First, I’m a career counselor– and I continue my own career journey of discovery, success, and hardship along with my clients. At 34, I ended my joyful but exploitative 10-year career in higher education and went back to school to become a counselor. Since then, I’ve navigated layoffs, divorce, hiring chaos, unemployment, and the tender optimism of developing my niche in career counseling, drawing from almost a decade of career development writing instruction and advising. Much of what brings me to this work is my desire to make clients feel that they’re not alone in their career struggles. In community and connection, there is power.
Next, I’m right there with you in the way I strive to be present with clients. I believe my role is to witness you however you show up to counseling, assuming your unique strengths and gifts will lead you to the growth you seek at your own pace. I encourage, validate, and gently challenge my clients with humor, genuineness, and hope for the days you aren’t feeling it. I draw from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), attachment theory, IFS (Internal Family Systems), mindfulness, motivational interviewing, and narrative therapy, and work through the lens of Person-Centered and Relational Cultural therapies.
Culturally Grounded Care
You might’ve heard the phrase “It’s nothing personal–just business.” Perhaps you were denied a promotion, laid off during a “reorganization,” or told company policy prohibits a certain hairstyle. Yet, after enough rejection, criticism, and exploitation, it's natural to begin taking business personally. It’s natural to think: Why would I be struggling so much if it’s not at least a little my fault?
I want to affirm: Work is personal. It shapes our ability to pay rent, care for our families, access healthcare, and imagine our futures. And this personal is political. Race, gender, disability, immigration status, socioeconomic class, and other identity aspects all influence opportunities available to us and barriers we face.
When the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately harmed Black and Hispanic professionals. When cis-het women are doing more than twice the domestic labor of their male partners no matter how much money they both earn (and how many hours they both work). When AI hiring tools lead to increased systemic and race-based rejection. It’s important to me that we discern where we can build skills to navigate these barriers: Where we can take accountability, and where the skill is naming when systems should take accountability.
I also take accountability for my position of power as your therapist. I make learning life-long, reflecting on my position in systems, on our client-counselor relationship, and on the relationship I have with myself. I try to approach each with care and humility, hoping that misunderstanding between us or times I get it wrong are sacred opportunities for repair, healing, and a fuller freedom for us to show up as ourselves.
“Abolition is a relational practice…it begins in the smallest place where domination or liberation can be rehearsed: Our relationships.” - Care, founder of Erotics of Liberation
RELATIONAL THERAPY, ROOTED IN YOU
Ready To Begin?
Schedule a consultation to learn more about working with a therapist at Sohail Counseling & Care.