About Mary
Dr. Mary Ann Dier-Zimmermann is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC) in Illinois with 35 years of experience. She frames therapy as a personal journey toward greater balance and wellbeing.
She listens closely and works with each person respectfully and without judgment. Her style is warm and steady. She focuses on the real things that make life hard - anxiety, stress, depression, grief, relationship strain, and the effects of trauma and loss.
Background and approach
She also addresses concerns related to addiction, self-esteem, caregiving stress, and career or life transitions. Dr. Dier-Zimmermann combines a few different approaches to match what each person needs.
She uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to help people clarify values and act on them. Attachment-based ideas guide conversations about how early and current relationship patterns affect feelings and choices. Client-centered listening creates space for people to be heard and understood.
Her background includes study in religion, spirituality, and psychology, and she works with people who want their faith or beliefs considered in therapy. Practical steps such as assessments and collaborative planning are part of her approach, so people leave sessions with clear next steps.
Sessions aim to strengthen coping skills, repair important relationships, and reduce the overwhelm that comes with anxiety and life change. The focus is on small, concrete moves that fit into daily life.
Therapeutic approaches for online care
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice difficult thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them, then choose actions that fit their values; it is useful for anxiety, stress, and life transitions. Attachment-Based Therapy looks at how early and current relationship patterns shape emotional reactions and closeness, which can help with relationship conflict, intimacy issues, and healing from past hurt. Client-Centered Therapy centers on listening and respect so people can explore what matters most and build their own answers; this approach supports grief, depression, and self-esteem work.Finding the right mix of these approaches is part of the work. The therapist will talk with each person about goals, preferences, and needs, and then try methods that fit. That process is collaborative and may change as progress is made.
Online sessions are offered by video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to make care more reachable. Video is good for in-depth conversation and nonverbal cues. Phone sessions work well when bandwidth is limited or a shorter check-in is needed. Live chat and text messaging can support quick check-ins, between-session coaching, or people who prefer writing. These options provide flexibility to fit therapy into a busy life.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- LGBT
- Relationship issues
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Avoidant personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Post-traumatic stress
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexuality
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 35 years
- Licensed
- Illinois
- Languages
- English
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