Many of our Illinois clients come from the state's crowded map of campuses; the rest simply want an hour that needs no commute.
Currently accepting new clients
Request an Illinois appointmentIllinois concentrates universities the way other states concentrate industry, and a large share of the people who contact us are students, faculty, or staff wanting a confidential hour outside their own institution. The rest of the caseload has nothing to do with campus at all: families in Naperville, adults in Springfield, older clients in Peoria whose difficulties are the ordinary ones that have simply become too heavy to carry unaided.
A virtual visit lets one clinician stay with you through a move from Urbana-Champaign to Chicago, or through a summer back in Bloomington-Normal, so long as you remain in Illinois or another participating jurisdiction when the hour begins. That last condition is the one people forget, so tell us before an address changes. A relationship built in September is still there in March only when the authorization has kept pace with it.
These are the concerns Illinois clients raise most often, each of them treated under a plan written for the person rather than a sequence applied to everyone.
Persistent worry, social avoidance, and a body that will not settle all respond to structured practice. We work as much on the predictions underneath the worry as on the situations it has ruled out.
Low mood is easiest to see in what has stopped: the cooking, the phone calls, the walk that used to happen. Treatment starts there, with activity and contact, and works back toward the thinking that made stopping seem reasonable.
When school or work has been a long uphill struggle and nobody has ever said why, an assessment can answer the question properly. Dr. Lusk decides in consultation what part of it suits a remote format.
Questions about attention and about autism often arrive together, and years of partial answers usually precede them. Dr. Lusk's assessment work sorts one from the other; how much can be done by video is discussed before anything is booked.
Training that has gone on too long, a promotion that turned the job into something unrecognizable, a field that no longer convinces: these bring people in as often as symptoms do. We keep appraisal apart from the anxiety around it.
Partners attend together by video, which is often the only way two crowded calendars meet. The work is on the argument that keeps returning: what is being asked for, and what gets heard instead.
We draw on extensive professional experience to build a treatment plan that fits the week you actually have. For our Illinois clients, that might mean accommodating a demanding hospital shift, a long evening commute, or the academic calendar. Dr. Lusk brings extensive firsthand experience with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and its surrounding communities, giving us a grounded understanding of the local environment for students, faculty, and area professionals alike. Our core modality is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), applied with cultural awareness from the very first assessment. We spell out our clinical reasoning as we go, working collaboratively so you recognize the coping strategies as your own. While we do not offer a quick fix, we focus on helping you navigate life's transitions effectively.
Illinois clients work with Della S. Lusk, Ph.D., our Clinical Director, a bilingual psychologist whose clients range from schoolchildren to adults in later life and include couples and families.
Clinical Director · Bilingual Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Lusk holds the Authority to Practice Interjurisdictional Telepsychology (APIT™) granted by the PSYPACT® Commission, which authorizes her to provide telepsychology to clients located in Illinois.
Dr. Lusk's clinical doctorate was awarded by the California School of Professional Psychology–San Diego in a program accredited by the APA, and her undergraduate degree by Smith College. She has practiced for more than twenty-five years and is qualified by the State of Arizona as an expert witness. Illinois clients see her for therapy with individuals, couples, and families, for group work, and for psychological evaluations, in English or Spanish.
Request an appointmentFull biographies, training, and areas of expertise are listed on our providers page. You can also read Dr. Lusk’s licensure and credentials in full. You are welcome to ask any clinician directly about their qualifications and experience.
Illinois is a participating state in PSYPACT®. Dr. Lusk holds the Authority to Practice Interjurisdictional Telepsychology (APIT™), issued by the PSYPACT® Commission, which is what authorizes telepsychology with a person located in Illinois while she practices from Arizona. No registration is required from you, and nothing has to be arranged at your end. The Commission's published roster is the record of who currently takes part.
Authorization follows your body rather than your campus mailbox, and that matters more here than in most places, because a great many of our Illinois clients spend part of the year at a family address somewhere else. Sitting in Illinois when the hour opens keeps the appointment covered. A break spent in another state does not necessarily do so, which is why we ask in advance and check. A permanent move raises the same question and is far easier to settle before the truck is loaded.
Participating jurisdictions are published by the compact commissions and can change. You can review current psychology participation at psypact.gov, find the relevant psychology licensing board through the PSYPACT® board directory, or check counseling privileges at CompactConnect. If you are not sure which applies to you, call (844) 774-7997 and we will confirm before you schedule.
Our Illinois caseload includes students, faculty, and staff from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois Chicago, Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, Loyola University Chicago, DePaul University, Illinois State University, Wheaton College, Knox College, and the many other institutions listed below. Confidential care at a remove from your own counseling center is frequently the whole reason for calling.
Urbana-Champaign is where that experience is longest. We have worked with people studying, teaching and working on that campus for years.
Our Illinois clients join from Chicago, Urbana-Champaign, Evanston, Springfield, Naperville, Peoria, and Bloomington-Normal, and from a good many smaller places besides. The list records where people happen to be sitting, not any limit on who may telephone.
Adults make up the larger share, but we also see teenagers, younger children, and clients well into retirement, as well as couples and families. Concerns range from anxiety and low mood to attention and learning questions, grief, and relationship strain. Anything outside our scope we will name as such early on, and suggest a better direction.
Yes, and a large share of the Illinois caseload is academic. A weekly hour can hold through a semester and through the breaks, so long as the authorization still covers where you are. For graduate students in particular, a clinician with no connection to the department is often the point, since a counseling center may sit inside the very institution being described in the session.
Dr. Lusk provides psychological and academic evaluations, attention and learning questions included. Whether a particular battery can be administered remotely depends on the battery and on the question it is meant to answer, and that is worked out in consultation once the referral question is clear rather than promised beforehand.
Dr. Lusk is bilingual in English and Spanish, so an Illinois client who would rather work in Spanish can do so, including at intake and when evaluation findings are explained. In a family where one generation is more at ease in Spanish than the next, a session sometimes moves between the two languages.
Ring (844) 774-7997 or write to info@psychotherapy.com and our office will handle the rest. Staff take a few details, listen to what has been happening, send the fee agreement, and settle any out-of-network questions ahead of a first appointment, so that none of it has to be raised in the consulting hour.
We accept all major credit and debit cards, and we gladly accept HSA, FSA, and HRA cards so you can use pre-tax dollars toward your care. Our practice generally operates out-of-network. This allows us to protect your privacy, keep care highly personalized, and avoid insurance-mandated session limits.
Our rates are sent in a fee agreement when you schedule an appointment. Please check with your insurance company regarding your out-of-network benefits. As a courtesy, we will submit claims on your behalf upon request, and any reimbursement will be sent directly to the insured. Call (844) 774-7997 or email info@psychotherapy.com if you have questions.
Our services are by appointment only, during normal business hours. Evening, weekend, and early morning appointments are sometimes available for established clients.
Ring (844) 774-7997 or write to info@psychotherapy.com to ask for a confidential appointment. We will talk about what has been happening, check that Illinois is where you will be sitting at session time, and offer a first hour with Dr. Lusk.
We do not offer crisis, walk-in, or inpatient services of any type, and this page is not a substitute for emergency care.
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This page provides general information about telehealth psychotherapy and psychological services. It is not medical or psychological advice, does not create a clinician–client relationship, and does not diagnose or treat any condition. Whether a particular service is appropriate for you is determined with a clinician during a confidential consultation. Telehealth authorization depends on your physical location at the time of each appointment; participating jurisdictions are published at psypact.gov and, for counseling, at CompactConnect. Arizona Behavioral Health Associates, P.C., 710 N Beaver Street, BLDG 4, Flagstaff, AZ 86001-3139 · (844) 774-7997
