About Rita
Rita Porter is a licensed clinical professional counselor with 32 years of experience in Illinois. She focuses on helping people manage stress, anxiety, addictions, and the emotional fallout from life changes. Rita speaks plainly and listens closely to what matters most to each person.
She supports people coping with depression, grief, anger, self-esteem concerns, and relationship difficulties. Rita also helps with parenting stress, career challenges, and attention-related concerns such as ADHD.
Background and approach
Her practice includes work with family of origin issues, blended family adjustment, caregiver strain, and substance-related problems. Rita uses approaches that encourage practical steps and self-awareness. She draws on cognitive behavioral techniques to break unhelpful thinking patterns and on mindfulness practices to reduce reactivity.
Client-centered methods guide the pace, so each person sets the focus and moves at a comfortable speed. Her style is collaborative and respectful. Sessions typically involve talking through specific problems, trying out manageable skills between sessions, and checking progress together.
Rita aims to help people build routines that support calmer days and clearer decisions. People often come for help with transitions like divorce, retirement, immigration stress, or changes in caregiving roles. Rita pays attention to the practical sides of those changes, such as communication problems, control issues, and feelings of emptiness or guilt.
The work combines emotional processing with actionable steps to improve daily functioning. Rita practices in Illinois and conducts sessions in English. Her long experience shapes a steady, pragmatic approach designed to help people feel more capable in their everyday lives.
How Rita’s Approaches Work Online
Rita uses cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness in ways that fit well with remote sessions. Cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and trying small, practical experiments to change behavior. It helps with anxiety, depression, and stress by teaching concrete skills to manage reactions and routines.Mindfulness therapy helps people notice their thoughts and bodily reactions without immediately acting on them. Practicing simple breathing or attention exercises can reduce reactivity and support clearer choices during stressful moments. Rita pairs these skills with client-centered listening so each plan matches personal goals.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. Rita treats the choice of methods as a collaboration and will review what helps and what doesn’t. Together the therapist and client adjust techniques, timing, and priorities based on needs, preferences, and progress.
Online therapy offers practical benefits for people with busy or changing schedules. Video calls enable face-to-face conversation when a deeper check-in is needed. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited, while live chat and text-based messaging support brief check-ins, homework review, or quick problem-solving between sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy into the rhythm of daily life.
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What this therapist works with
Most often
Also listed
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Blended family issues
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Immigration issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Parenting issues
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-love
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 32 years
- Licensed
- Illinois
- Languages
- English
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