IMPROVing Life Counseling — Counselor in Chicago, IL

I just “graduated” from OCD therapy after a year of weekly sessions with Sarah Boyd. I knew I had OCD previously but I didn’t know how many layers to my compulsions there were. She helped me kick my most consuming compulsions and taught me how to recognize/curb when new ones develop in the future. I highly recommend Sarah, she’s patient, caring, and has such effective methods!

I have consulted with Sara Boyd and found her to be an exceptional therapist! She’s very thoughtful, kind, and considerate in how she visualizes case conceptualizations and works with her clients. I can say with full confidence that she is an excellent therapist who cares compassionately for the success & well-being of her clients!

This review is for the wonderful results I’ve received from the collaborative work of Nick Skasa and Felix Laevsky. For several years, I have been having severe mind/body connection and anxiety issues that had begun to affect every aspect of my life. I have been a runner my entire life, completing 25 marathons, including many Boston marathons. In order to perfect my running, I used to obsess about my form, breathing, and every body movement. Over many years this obsession, combined with a very stressful job, began to affect my ability to run. I even began having issues with walking, sitting, breathing, and even smelling. I had been to several different kinds of doctors, none of whom could find anything wrong with me, but one diagnosed me with generalized anxiety disorder. A practitioner of the Trager Approach (a mind/body connection methodology) whom I’d gone to see, recommended I see therapist Nick Skasa. I began seeing Nick Skasa in October 2021 and he, along with Felix Laevsky, a biofeedback therapy expert, are literally saving my life. Nick Skasa is an excellent therapist who deals with anxiety and trauma. Nick believed my symptoms were similar to PTSD and said that I was experiencing dissociation potentially caused by my nervous system being stuck in sympathetic (fight or flight) mode. Nick really understands the relationship between mind and body and has provided me with many tools to calm myself down. He said that we needed to get my body to experience a relaxation response so that my nervous system could spend more time in a parasympathetic (rest and relaxed) state. Nick is a great listener, very patient, kind, not judgmental, and so easy to talk to. He has made himself available to me on short notice when I was in crisis mode. In June, Nick recommended I see Felix Laevsky, who specializes in biofeedback therapy. I scheduled appointments with Felix who took my recovery to another level. Felix used biofeedback techniques which supported Nick’s diagnosis with objective metrics. Felix also introduced me to his 5 GOs strategy for muscle tension awareness, reduction, control and relaxation of muscles. He has coached me on the benefits of focused and diaphragmatic breathing to help trigger a relaxation response. Felix is very data driven and frequently uses the Nijmegen Questionnaire to measure my progress. This questionnaire is used for patients with dysfunctional breathing patterns. When I first saw Felix in June, my symptom score was 47 (64 being the worst). After 12 sessions with Felix, my symptoms improved significantly and my score on the questionnaire had dropped to 13. I am so grateful for the help Nick and Felix have given me. I had almost given up hope of ever getting better and was spiraling into a dark place. I did not realize how much work this would be on my part. But by trusting in the process and putting in the hard work with the coaching and support from Nick and Felix, I now have hope and am looking forward to the future. I have even begun running again, albeit at a much lower level. While it’s still a struggle, I am seeing progress. If you are experiencing similar anxiety or mind/body connection issues, I would highly recommend the collaborative work of Nick and Felix.

I found Dr Nicholas Skasa sort of by accident. I had been seeing a hynotherapist for a few months to deal with some sleep issues that I had been experiencing. He referred me to Dr Nick. Due to my stressful job and my personality, I was having trouble and felt I needed a more active approach to getting better. As I have been treated by Dr Nick for close to a year, we uncovered a number of underlying things that we have been working on. Anhedonia, racing mind and some obsessive tendencies. I write that now and it sounds like a mentally ill person, but far from it. I do very well at work and life, but not getting much satisfaction out of anything lately. When we ultimately 'stopped the bleeding' with those, we were able to see big improvements in my enjoyment with my job, my experiences in life, and me being present in the moment. Those weren't why I came to him, but they are excellent outcomes and I'm really thankful Dr Nick helped me. Dr Nick also had some super impactful strategies that I'm using every day to calm my nerves and mind and be able to function at a super high level at work. They are some things I would have never considered before this, but I'm glad he introduced me to those tools. I honestly can't say enough thanks to Dr Nick and the outcomes from our therapy sessions. After some time being treated, I kind of feel like he's more of a coach than a therapist. Year over year my commissions at work are up 50% and I'm enjoying work much more than before. Thanks Dr Nick!