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Charlie Pekarek

MSW, LSW
psychotherapist

Charlie enjoys working alongside clients to support their connection — or reconnection — to their favorite version of themselves. They will meet you with warmth and sensitivity to your needs, while gently challenging you to find your growing edge. Stepping into a therapy space that asks for vulnerability may challenge a lot of the walls and coping mechanisms that were constructed just to get by. Charlie meets clients wherever they are in this process, and works with them to identify patterns throughout their lives, past harms, boundaries, and how these factors make themselves known in day-to-day life.

 

Charlie comes from a background of trauma-informed and harm reduction-based practice. They enjoy working with trans and nonbinary folks and are knowledgeable in gender affirming healthcare, including hormones and writing letters of support for surgery. They have also worked with children and families, including youth on the autism spectrum, as well as people who are unhoused and in active crisis. Other areas of particular interest and expertise include working with sex workers, non-monogamy, and kink; challenges with executive dysfunction, self-harm, life transitions, and coping with past traumas and the ongoing traumas of oppression and capitalism.

Education and Training

 

MSW • University of Illinois - Chicago

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BA • Psychology - Human Services • DePaul University

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Areas of Specialization

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Mood disorders, trauma, sexuality, gender, children, substance use, grief, abuse, OCD, dissociative disorders, autism spectrum​

Theoretical Orientation​

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  • Psychodynamic

  • Trauma-informed

  • Feminist

  • Client-centered

  • Systems theory

  • Anti-oppressive

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