About Susan
Susan Hoffstetter is a licensed clinical professional counselor in Illinois with 16 years of experience. She works with people dealing with stress and anxiety and offers steady support when life feels overwhelming. She also helps people who are coping with addictions, trauma and abuse, bipolar mood concerns, depression, and relationship strain.
Susan believes each person knows their own story best and brings that perspective into sessions. She encourages clients to notice their strengths and use them to handle difficult moments.
Background and approach
Susan aims to make the first steps feel manageable and acknowledges that reaching out takes courage. In sessions she listens carefully and helps clients name what matters most to them. Conversations focus on practical ways to manage strong feelings, reduce worry, and build routines that feel doable.
She also works with grief, anger, self-esteem struggles, and obsessive or compulsive behaviors. Susan has experience assisting people after natural or human-caused disasters and in the aftermath of sexual assault and abuse. She supports those dealing with trichotillomania and other focused behavior concerns.
Her approach centers on clear communication and collaborative goal-setting. Clients can expect a calm, direct style that pairs active listening with practical strategies. She aims to help people make small changes that add up over time.
Susan encourages anyone curious about therapy to take the next step toward feeling better.
Evidence-based approaches and online care that fits your life
Two common evidence-based techniques she uses are brief problem-focused strategies that teach concrete coping skills for anxiety and mood swings, and trauma-informed supports that help people process difficult events at a pace they can handle. The first approach emphasizes practical tools for reducing worry and building routines, while trauma-informed work focuses on safety, pacing, and rebuilding a sense of control.She also uses behavior-focused methods to address compulsive actions or repetitive habits like trichotillomania, helping clients identify triggers and try new responses. These techniques are aimed at small, testable changes rather than quick fixes and work well alongside other supports for depression or substance concerns.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. She collaborates with each person to pick strategies that match their goals, concerns, and comfort level. That means checking in together and adjusting plans as progress unfolds.
Online therapy formats available include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video sessions let people talk face to face and use visual cues, phone sessions can be easier when lower bandwidth or not being on camera helps, and messaging or live chat suit brief check-ins or flexible scheduling. These options make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life and to continue care when in-person visits are difficult.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Also listed
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Family conflicts
- Grief
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Trichotillomania
- Experience
- 16 years
- Licensed
- Illinois
- Languages
- English
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