- Emotion-focused work
- Client-centered approach
- CBT techniques
About Tamela
Tamela Polanin, LCPC, is a licensed clinical professional counselor in Illinois with 20 years of experience. She works with people facing stress, anxiety, depression, trauma and abuse, addictions, grief, relationship and intimacy concerns, parenting strain, and life transitions. Tamela presents in straightforward terms and aims to help clients find practical ways forward.
She draws on Emotionally-Focused Therapy alongside Client-Centered therapy and cognitive behavior techniques to address emotion and relationship patterns. Sessions focus on identifying painful feelings, improving communication, and building clearer choices. Tamela also uses elements of Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing where appropriate.
Her background includes two decades in mental health and experience supporting people with abandonment, attachment, adoption and foster care issues, blended family concerns, and forgiveness work. She lists help for body image, codependency, communication problems, dissociation, domestic violence, and fatherhood issues among her focus areas.
Tamela emphasizes practical skills alongside processing difficult memories. Clients can expect a mix of reflective conversation and strategy - things to try between sessions and ways to notice what shifts. She notes experience with reproductive loss counseling and offers support for compassion fatigue and ADHD-related concerns.
Those considering work with her complete an intake process through the service and schedule a first session after a brief matching questionnaire. Sessions are provided in English and she accepts international clients.
How Tamela integrates EFT and practical therapies online
Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) focuses on identifying core emotions and how they shape relationship and attachment patterns. It helps people name painful feelings and try new ways of relating to themselves and others. Client-Centered Therapy emphasizes the person’s own goals and perspective, with the therapist following the client’s lead and reflecting what matters most in the moment. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at unhelpful thoughts and habits and offers specific steps to change thinking and behavior, which can be useful for anxiety, depression, and coping skills.Finding the right mix of methods is part of the work. Tamela collaborates with each person to decide which approaches to use based on needs, goals, and preferences. She combines emotion-focused reflection with practical exercises when that suits the client, and adjusts the plan as progress is made.
Please confirm the current session formats before booking since the biography does not specify formats. Online sessions can make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life - for example a shorter check-in during a lunch break, or a video meeting when travel would be difficult. Therapists and licensed professionals often use online work to keep momentum between sessions and to practice skills in real time, while adapting pace and homework to each person’s circumstances.
Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Also works with
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
20+ years
Listed in
Illinois
Languages
English
Frequently asked questions
What concerns does she address?
She works with stress, anxiety, depression, trauma and abuse, grief, addictions, relationship and intimacy issues, parenting strain, anger, self-esteem, career questions, bipolar disorder, and coping with life changes.
What therapeutic style does she use?
She uses Emotionally-Focused Therapy as one of her approaches, alongside client-centered work and cognitive behavioral techniques. She also incorporates DBT and EMDR elements when helpful.
How much experience does she have?
Tamela has worked in mental health for 20 years, bringing long-term practical experience supporting people through trauma and life transitions.
What are her credentials and location?
She is an LCPC licensed in Illinois and practices from that state.
Which languages and international options are available?
Sessions are offered in English and she accepts international clients.
What session formats are offered?
Please confirm current session options before booking since formats are not specified in the biography.
How does pricing work?
Cost varies with location; sessions use a subscription that can be canceled at any time.
How do I get started?
Start by selecting the See online therapy options button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and then schedule your first session.
Profile details come from information the therapist supplied to BetterHelp. Credential and registration rules differ between the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.