2nd Story Counseling | Career Counseling in Chicago’s Lakeview
📍 655 W Irving Park Rd #204, Chicago, IL 60613 | 📞 773-528-1777
If you are searching for career counseling in Chicago, you have come to the right place. At 2nd Story Counseling, we understand that your career is rarely just about work. It is tied to your identity, your sense of purpose, your relationships, and your mental health. When something is off professionally, it tends to affect everything else — and that is exactly where a skilled therapist can help in ways a traditional career coach cannot.
Our therapists bring both clinical training and real-world professional experience to career counseling. We work with Chicago professionals navigating career transitions, workplace stress, professional identity questions, and the emotional weight that comes with ambitious work in a demanding city.
What Is Career Counseling?
Career counseling is a process that helps you align your personality, values, skills, and background with meaningful professional direction. It is designed to help you make smart, strategic choices — not just for your next job, but across the arc of your working life.
At 2SC, career counseling sits at the intersection of professional development and personal insight. We are not a staffing agency or a resume mill. We are therapists who understand that career decisions are rarely purely logical — they are shaped by your history, your self-concept, your relationships, and the parts of yourself that either push you forward or hold you back.
How Is Career Counseling Different From Regular Therapy?
During general psychotherapy, career issues will often come up — but the primary focus is on treating a specific concern like depression or trauma. Career counseling, by contrast, keeps professional development and workplace challenges at the center of the work. Many clients benefit from both running in parallel, and our therapists are equipped to move fluidly between the two.
💼 Career Counseling At 2SC
Our therapists work with Chicago professionals facing a wide range of career challenges, including:
- Career transitions — changing industries, roles, or professional direction
- Job search support — strategy, resume review, interview preparation, and accountability
- Career identity questions — figuring out what you actually want and why
- Impostor syndrome — persistent self-doubt despite real accomplishment
- Workplace relationships — navigating difficult colleagues, managers, or teams
- Leadership and promotion challenges — stepping into or preparing for leadership roles
- Workplace discrimination and microaggressions
- Work-life balance and boundary-setting
- Quarter-life and midlife career reckonings
- Salary negotiation confidence
- Professional purpose and meaning — when success no longer feels like enough
- Early career direction — recent graduates and young adults finding their footing
What Can I Expect During Career Counseling?
Career counseling at 2SC is collaborative and goal-oriented. Sessions are structured around where you are now and where you want to go. Depending on your situation, the work may include:
- Identifying your current skills, strengths, and blind spots
- Exploring values, interests, and what genuinely motivates you
- Career inventory and assessment
- Reviewing your educational background and future development needs
- Setting clear, realistic career goals
- Resume and professional narrative development
- Interview preparation and role-play
- Salary negotiation strategy
- Identifying and working through mental and emotional roadblocks
- Building self-confidence and professional self-concept
- Accountability support across sessions
The Inner Work of Career Change
One of the things that sets therapy-based career counseling apart is the ability to address what is happening beneath the surface. Using an Internal Family Systems (IFS) lens, our therapists can help you identify the internal patterns that shape your professional life — the part of you that plays it safe, the inner critic that says you are not qualified, the protector that keeps you from going after what you actually want.
These are not character flaws. They are understandable responses to past experiences that show up in your career whether you invite them or not. Working with them — rather than pushing through them — is how lasting professional change happens.
🏙️ Chicago Professionals We Work With
Our career counseling clients reflect the diversity of Chicago’s professional landscape. We work with:
- Healthcare and medical professionals navigating demanding careers
- Tech and startup professionals facing rapid change and uncertainty
- Finance and legal professionals questioning long-term fit
- Nonprofit and education workers wrestling with purpose and sustainability
- Creative professionals building or pivoting careers
- First-generation professionals navigating systems without a roadmap
- LGBTQ+ professionals managing identity in the workplace
- Women navigating gender dynamics, leadership ceilings, and career re-entry
- Recent graduates and young adults establishing direction
How Long Does Career Counseling Last?
Career counseling is generally briefer than open-ended therapy. Some clients accomplish their goals in six to eight sessions. Others prefer ongoing support across a longer transition. The right length depends on your goals, your starting point, and how much deeper personal work is woven into the process. We will discuss this with you early on so you have a realistic picture of what to expect.
Career Counseling via Telehealth
Career counseling translates exceptionally well to telehealth. Virtual sessions via secure, HIPAA-compliant video allow you to work with your counselor from your home, office, or anywhere in Illinois — no commute required. Many busy Chicago professionals find that telehealth makes it far easier to protect time for this kind of work.
Everything available in person — career assessments, resume review, interview role-play, goal-setting — is fully available via telehealth. Virtual sessions are available throughout Illinois.
How Much Does Career Counseling Cost?
Career counseling sessions are priced the same as our standard therapy sessions. Visit our fee schedule page for current rates. Depending on your insurance plan, some career counseling may be covered. We accept Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO and offer self-pay options.
⭐ Why Choose 2nd Story Counseling for Career Counseling?
- Therapists with real-world professional experience across multiple industries
- IFS-informed approach that addresses the inner patterns shaping your career
- Goal-oriented, practical sessions with measurable progress
- Comfortable, private office in Lakeview on Chicago’s North Side
- Telehealth available throughout Illinois
- Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO accepted; self-pay options available
- Flexible scheduling including evening appointments
- Over 20 years serving Chicago professionals
Your career is one of the most significant parts of your life. If it is not working — or if you are not sure what working would even look like — that is worth exploring. Our Chicago career counselors are here to help you figure it out.
Ready to get started? Call us at (773) 528-1777 or reach out through our confidential online contact form.
Frequently Asked Questions: Career Counseling in Chicago
What is the difference between career counseling and seeing a life coach?
A licensed therapist brings clinical training that a life coach does not have. That means we can address the emotional and psychological dimensions of your career — self-doubt, fear of failure, relationship patterns at work, identity questions — alongside the practical strategy. Many people find they have already tried the tactical approach and what they actually need is to understand why they keep getting in their own way.
Do I need to be in a career crisis to benefit from career counseling?
Not at all. Some clients come to us mid-crisis — just laid off, deeply unfulfilled, or facing a difficult workplace situation. Others come proactively — wanting to develop their leadership, prepare for a transition they see coming, or simply gain more clarity on where they are headed. Both are equally valid reasons to start.
Can career counseling help with impostor syndrome?
Yes — and this is one of the areas where therapy-based career counseling has a real advantage. Impostor syndrome is rarely solved by accumulating more credentials or achievements. It is a pattern rooted in how you see yourself, and it responds well to the kind of deeper work we do at 2SC, including IFS therapy and CBT.
Is career counseling available via telehealth?
Yes. Virtual career counseling sessions are available for clients anywhere in Illinois via secure, HIPAA-compliant video. Most busy professionals find telehealth easier to fit into a demanding schedule than in-person appointments.
How many sessions will I need?
It depends on your goals and starting point. Some clients complete their work in six to eight sessions. Others working through deeper career identity questions or significant transitions prefer longer engagement. We will discuss this with you early so you have a clear picture going in.
Does insurance cover career counseling?
It may, depending on your plan and the clinical focus of sessions. We accept Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO. Visit our fees page or contact us directly to discuss your specific situation.
How do I get started with career counseling at 2nd Story Counseling?
Call us at (773) 528-1777 or use our online contact form. We will match you with a therapist whose background fits your career counseling needs and get you scheduled for an initial consultation.