Practitioner record · Checked 9 Oct 2026

Stephanie Czarnecki has been in practice 10 years and is licensed in Illinois. Stephanie lists stress, Anxiety, addictions and trauma and abuse among 68 subjects on the BetterHelp roster.

Everything below is either quoted from Stephanie's own BetterHelp listing, taken from public licensing records, or written by Maker Therapy and labelled as such. Nothing here is an availability promise, a review, or a rating.

10years in practice
68subjects listed
12approaches listed

01 · Who Stephanie works with

Stephanie works with stress, Anxiety, addictions and trauma and abuse

Stephanie lists 18 specialisms and 50 further focus areas. Specialisms are the subjects Stephanie chose to list first, which is the closest a listing gets to “this is my actual practice”.

Specialisms
  • Stress, Anxiety
  • Addictions
  • Trauma and abuse
  • Anger management
  • Depression
  • LGBT
  • Relationship issues
  • Family conflicts
  • Grief
  • Intimacy-related issues
  • Parenting issues
  • Self esteem
  • Career difficulties
  • Bipolar disorder
  • Coping with life changes
  • Coaching
  • Compassion fatigue
  • ADHD
Also experienced with
  • Abandonment
  • Antisocial personality
  • Attachment issues
  • Avoidant personality
  • Blended family issues
  • Body image
  • Chronic pain, illness, and disability
  • Co-morbidity
  • Codependency
  • Commitment issues
  • Communication problems
  • Control issues
  • Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
  • Dependent personality
  • Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
  • Dissociation
  • Divorce and separation
  • Domestic violence
  • Drug and alcohol addiction
  • Emptiness
  • Family problems
  • Fertility issues
  • First responder issues
  • Forgiveness
  • Guilt and shame
  • Impulsivity
  • Infidelity
  • Isolation / loneliness
  • Life purpose
  • Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
  • Money and financial issues
  • Mood disorders
  • Narcissism
  • Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
  • Panic disorder and panic attacks
  • Paranoia
  • Personality disorders
  • Phobias
  • Postpartum depression
  • Post-traumatic stress
  • Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
  • Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
  • Self-harm
  • Self-love
  • Sexual assault and abuse
  • Social anxiety and phobia
  • Somatization
  • Traumatic brain injury
  • Women's issues
  • Workplace issues

02 · In Stephanie's own words

What Stephanie says about the work

Reproduced in full and unedited - not summarised, not tightened, not rewritten in a house voice.

I am an accomplished Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over 10 years of experience providing direct patient care and clinical therapy. I specialize in Crisis Management, trauma, substance abuse, co-occurring, and various other mental and behavioral health concerns. I have experience in comprehensive patient care services, including case management, individual therapy, group therapy, marital and family therapy, anger management, medication management, long-term recovery, and suicide prevention education and intervention. I am skilled with clients with a wide range of concerns from depression, anxiety, addiction, trauma, OCD, ADHD/ADD, and many others. I have also assisted those with serious mental health issues such as schizophrenia, bipolar, dissociative disorder, traumatic brain injuries, and those on the spectrum. My approach is often friendly and collaborative. I believe in meeting the client where they are in the moment. I believe it’s imperative everyone is treated with respect, compassion, and understanding. I don't believe a diagnosis makes a person, but I do think that if we can understand a diagnosis and the symptoms, we can identify more individualized solutions. Since no one strategy works for everyone, my approach is eclectic and frequently customized for each scenario and each person. My therapy style is typically warm, and interactive, and believes in meeting the client where they are currently at. I believe that everyone should be treated with dignity, respect, compassion, and understanding. I don't believe in labels but that in understanding a diagnosis that fits the symptoms we may be able to find solutions and peace while moving forward. My approach is eclectic in that not one approach is right for all and therefore my approach is often tailored to the situation and the individual. I often use cognitive behavioral techniques to assist in processing and furthering treatment. Treatment plans will be completed collaboratively as it takes courage to seek counseling and look inside; therefore what you wish to accomplish or where you wish to go is up to you. I want to help you achieve the best version of you that you can be! I look forward to meeting you and taking this journey with you.

Stephanie Czarnecki, on the BetterHelp listing · read 9 Oct 2026

03 · How Stephanie works

The 12 approaches Stephanie lists, in plain English

These are the clinical methods Stephanie lists. The descriptions are Maker Therapy's, not Stephanie's - a general explanation of what each method is, so the list means something before you have spoken to anybody. They are not a claim about how Stephanie runs a session.

Acceptance and Commitment TherapyACT
Rather than trying to argue a painful thought away, ACT works on loosening its grip and getting on with what matters to you anyway. Sessions spend real time naming your values, then building action around them while difficult feelings are still present.
Client-Centred TherapyPerson-centred · Rogerian
The therapist does not steer toward a technique or a diagnosis. They offer sustained, non-judgemental attention and reflect back what they hear, on the premise that people find their own direction when they are genuinely listened to. Often what people mean by “someone who just gets it”.
Cognitive Behavioural TherapyCBT
Structured, present-focused work on the loop between what you think, how you feel and what you then do. Usually means noticing a thought pattern in the room, testing it against evidence, and practising something different between sessions. Among the most heavily researched talking therapies for depression and anxiety.
Dialectical Behaviour TherapyDBT
A structured skills-led adaptation of CBT built around holding two things at once: accepting yourself as you are and working to change. Teaches concrete skills for distress tolerance, emotion regulation and relationships. Developed for people whose feelings arrive at overwhelming intensity, and strongest-evidenced there.
Eye Movement Desensitisation and ReprocessingEMDR
A structured trauma protocol in which you hold a distressing memory in mind while following a repeated side-to-side cue. The mechanism is still debated; the outcome data in post-traumatic stress is strong enough that it appears in national treatment guidelines.
Mindfulness-Based TherapyMBCT
Trains attention on what is happening right now - body, breath, the thought as it arrives - so distress can be observed rather than automatically acted on. Strongest evidence is in preventing depression from recurring, and it is usually taught as a practice you keep doing outside the session.
Motivational InterviewingMI
A way of talking about change with somebody who is genuinely in two minds about it. The therapist does not argue for the change; they help you say your own reasons out loud, which is the part that predicts whether it happens. Common around substance use and health behaviour.
Narrative Therapy
Treats the story you tell about your life as something that can be examined and retold rather than as the plain facts. Separates the person from the problem - “the anxiety” rather than “your anxiety” - to make room for the parts the current story leaves out.
Psychodynamic Therapy
Works on the assumption that current patterns - in relationships, at work, in how you treat yourself - have a history, and that seeing the history loosens the pattern. Less structured than CBT, usually longer, and more interested in what comes up unbidden than in a weekly agenda.
Solution-Focused Brief TherapySFBT
Starts from where you want to end up rather than from how you got here. Sessions look for the times the problem is already smaller and work out what is different about those, so the number of sessions tends to be short and the work concrete.
Trauma-Focused TherapyTF-CBT · trauma-informed
CBT adapted for people whose difficulty is rooted in a frightening or overwhelming event. Pacing is the point: safety and stabilisation come first, the memory itself is approached gradually and only when you are ready, and the aim is that recalling it stops hijacking the present.
Internal Family SystemsIFS
Treats the mind as made up of parts - the critic, the one who withdraws, the one that keeps everything running - each of which is trying to protect you. The work is getting to know them rather than overruling them.

04 · What happens next

From this page to a first session

Stephanie practises through BetterHelp, so the route in is BetterHelp's. This is that sequence, written by Maker Therapy from the platform's published process - not a description of Stephanie's own practice, and not a promise about how quickly anything happens.

  1. A questionnaire, not a booking form

    BetterHelp opens with a set of questions about what you are dealing with, what you want from therapy, and any preferences on the therapist. You are not booking Stephanie at this point.

  2. Naming Stephanie specifically

    BetterHelp matches algorithmically by default, so asking for Stephanie is a step you have to take. There is a field for requesting a specific therapist during sign-up, and you can switch afterwards from your account. Starting from a link on this page does not by itself assign you to Stephanie.

  3. If the caseload is full

    You will be offered somebody else rather than put on a waitlist. Worth knowing, because it is easy to assume a match is the person you asked for.

  4. The first conversation

    A first session is typically history and orientation: what brought you, what has been tried, what you want to be different. It is also where the questions in the next section belong.

  5. If the fit is wrong

    Changing therapist on BetterHelp does not need a reason. A first session that does not click is common and is not a verdict on therapy. That option existing is the main practical difference between a platform and a private practice.

05 · Before you commit

3 questions worth asking Stephanie

Built from what Stephanie actually lists, so they are answerable and specific rather than generic. Maker Therapy's, not Stephanie's - Stephanie has not seen them and is under no obligation to answer any of them.

  • “You list both Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Client-Centred Therapy. Which do you lean on with someone like me?”

    Those two point in different directions - one structured and led by the therapist, the other led by you. The answer tells you what the sessions will actually feel like.

  • “How do you decide when someone is ready to work on a traumatic memory itself?”

    Pacing is the biggest safety question in trauma work. A clear, unhurried answer here matters more than any credential.

  • “How do you handle the gap between sessions if something comes up?”

    On BetterHelp this varies a great deal by therapist. Better to know the rhythm now than to discover it on a bad week.

06 · Practical details

Credentials and licensing

Credential
LCSW
Licensed in
Illinois
Licence
IL LCSW 149025655, MO LCSW 2022025574
Licence number
2022025574
Licence expires
30 Sep 2027
NPI
1285250282
Years in practice
10
Gender
Female
Languages
English
International clients
Not accepted
Listed since
15 May 2026

07 · Provenance

Where every line on this page came from

Stephanie's name, credential, state, subjects, approaches and biography are read from BetterHelp's therapist roster, which Maker Therapy re-reads once a day; this page reflects the reading taken on 9 Oct 2026. The licence number and NPI are cross-checked against public registers.

The plain-English method descriptions, the first-session walkthrough and the questions are written by Maker Therapy and labelled as such wherever they appear.

Maker Therapy is not BetterHelp, does not take bookings, and has not met Stephanie. There are no reviews or ratings on this page because we have no way to verify one. If you start therapy through a link here, we may be paid a commission - it does not change your price and it does not affect who appears here or in what order.

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