Emily Kissner, LCPC

Emily Kissner is an LCPC (Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor) who blends talk therapy with expressive art-making. She brings 12 years of experience and frames work through a feminist lens. Emily is LGBTQA+ affirming and aware of polyamory, kink, and sex work contexts. Emily helps people manage depression, anxiety, and complex trauma using practical, evidence-based techniques alongside art-based activities. She supports people navigating personality concerns, substance use, and self-esteem struggles. She also assists with career questions and coaching-style skill building. Her practice pays attention to relationship patterns such as attachment difficulties, abandonment, and commitment issues. She works with people facing blended family stress, adoption and foster care concerns, and caregiving strain. Body image, chronic illness or pain, and co-occurring conditions are also part of her focus. In sessions she mixes talking and creative exercises to build coping skills and increase self-understanding. Her approach is collaborative; clients set goals and try methods that feel workable. Emily aims to make therapy practical and relevant to day-to-day life. She trained in art therapy at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and uses that background to offer visual and hands-on options when helpful. Her clinical title is LCPC, and she practices in Illinois. If someone wants help with midlife questions or transitions, she includes that area among her concerns and can explore it with clients

How therapeutic techniques and online work can fit together

Emily uses evidence-based psychotherapy methods alongside art therapy practices. Evidence-based psychotherapy involves focused conversations that teach skills for managing mood, anxiety, and trauma symptoms. Art therapy brings drawing, collage, or other creative exercises to help people express feeling and reflect on patterns when words feel limited.

These approaches can help with attachment issues, abandonment worries, body image, and trauma-related concerns by offering different ways to notice thoughts, practice new behaviors, and try out coping tools. Work is collaborative: the therapist and client pick methods that match the person’s goals and comfort level. That means trying talk-based skills, experimenting with simple art prompts, or blending both to see what helps.

If you are considering online therapy, confirm which session formats are offered before booking since the biography does not list them. Online work can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy day, reduce time spent traveling, and allow shorter check-ins when schedules are tight. It can also let people try a creative exercise during a session without needing to commute. A clinician will discuss what will work best based on needs, goals, and practical concerns before scheduling ongoing sessions.