Cultivate Your Essence — Counselor in Chicago, IL

I’ve been seeing Lauren at Cultivate Your Essence for years now, and honestly it has truly been a blessing. Lauren has helped me through so many different seasons of life, and I’m beyond grateful for her. She is professional, intelligent, caring, and very communicative. She creates such a safe space where I always feel comfortable being open and honest. You can tell she genuinely cares about her clients and the work she does. The entire experience with Cultivate Your Essence has been amazing across the board. I’ve always felt supported, respected, and cared for. I recommend them to my friends and family all the time because the level of care is really that good. I honestly couldn’t imagine going to another therapist. 10/10 highly recommend.

I have been a client at Cultivate Your Essence for two or three years now and I love my Therapist. When I first came to Cultivate Your Essence, I was going through a lot, I had been through a divorce, lost everything, was a new single mother and I was trying to figure out how to navigate life. My therapist was warm, understanding, but most importantly a mirror. She showed me things about myself that helped me grow and mature into the woman I am now. I am truly blessed to have found such an amazing therapist to work with.

Cultivate your Essence has transformed my life. I was able to discover my self-worth. I found my Voice after years of not speaking up. My counselor, Lauren Jackson, helped me to set boundaries with my love ones. I am forever grateful.

I have been a client of CYE for two years now and I absolutely LOVE my therapist. I truly appreciate that I was able to find an amazing professional who looks like me, didn’t make me feel like I was wasting her time and understood me for me. She has and still provides the safest emotionally/mental space for me. I was at the lowest point in my life battling severe anxiety once the pandemic hit. I was stuck in the bed for almost 2 months , waking up with multiple panic attacks, work was super scary so my job was ready to fire me because of my crying & shaking outbursts, barely ate, internal vibrations, black outs, night mares the whole nine. I was almost discouraged to continue my search for a therapist because the 1st two I had didn’t go so well. Experiencing anxiety the way that I was, it lies to you so much so I was almost convinced to just give up! I was referred to this business and struck gold in terms of my mental health. I saw the light again even from my very 1st session. I began to understand my anxiety for what it was and myself for that matter. I healed (& still healing) from suppressed trauma I didn’t realize I was carrying around. I am SUCH a better person/woman because of it. The entire staff at CYE is a force to be reckoned with, if you are looking for mental health professionals THIS is the place you want to be.

When seeking therapy a person is expecting compassion and a certain level of care with their sensitive situation. After going through the necessary steps and securing a much needed appointment I was met with disappointment and unprofessionalism. The therapist didn’t show up to our scheduled visit. I didn’t hear from her until I wrote an email that she wasn’t at our scheduled call, there wasn’t even a simple “I apologize for the delay or time mixup.” I declined rescheduling with her and my email to her office was met with the same disposition and was only wished well in my journey to find a therapist. Rude and unprofessionalism has no place in this sort of field, I was so upset she made my day worse as I looked forward to my appointment that entire day. Many people struggle with accepting that they need therapy and this place was of no assistance. Avoid. In response to their reply is completely false! I have screenshots of me sitting in a empty meeting until 7:24 pm I was never late she never logged on. That’s terrible to try to change it around on a client it’s proves how unreliable and unprofessional this place is.

I find the staff at Cultivate Your Essence to be professional and courteous, providing great therapeutic services in an environment of sisterhood that motivates women to be their best. I have reached out to them after hours and they have been right there for me. The staff is knowledgeable and encouraging. We’ve all had a difficult time navigating life in the midst of a pandemic and I can say that I am truly grateful to have found Cultivate Your Essence.

This practice has truly cultivated the essence of black girl magic. Being able to go to a place that embodies a "safe space" has been the absolute best. It was probably one of the best decisions I've ever made!!

I just wanted to say it’s really neat to get therapy from women who look like me and who understands me, who knowledgeable and honest. If your looking for people who know what they’re doing and can help you with direction and just figuring it out then this is the place to go.

This practice has a team of professional, high quality clinicians who are experienced in women issues and cultural competence. Highly recommend.

Really wanted to support this place but the staff members were extremely unprofessional. They would show up late to appointments or cancel without much notice, but if clients did the same they would be charged ridiculous fees. Patients' wellbeing was not prioritized or even valued, it was evident they just cared about making money instead of supporting patients' growth.