Susan Buss, LCSW

Therapy that helps you feel better, solve problems, learn tools, lets you be seen and feel heard, and find your joy again!

I have been practicing social work since 1986 with adults and teens in the Midwest. However, I work with folks on both coasts and all areas of the country.
My specialities include boundaries, interpersonal communication, coping, life balance, clarity, trauma healing, loss resolution, job stress, caregiver fatigue, parenting support, life transitions, spirituality, inner child work, self worth/esteem and body positivity.
I embrace cultural diversity and am committed to deepening awareness of my privilege and inherent biases.
I identify as part of the queer community and embrace work with LGBTQ individuals and families especially transgender folx, including polyamory.
I respect and honor each person’s unique spirituality, be that a traditional religion, alternative spiritual practice or humanism. For those interested, I offer Reiki and provide education about energy work and how the chakra’s and aura relate to health and life areas.
For those interested in theory, I primarily lean toward CBT(Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), Solution Focused Therapy, Empowerment and Feminist Theory and IFS(Internal Family Systems.) My work is trauma- informed.
My training in social work began at Valparaiso University in Indiana where I was taught by the incomparable, social justice-oriented Lou Jeanne Walton. I then attended the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago. My career began with county child abuse and neglect work in Wisconsin before moving to Chicago where I continued with survivors of partner violence and their children. Over the next 2 decades, I worked in the areas of disability, hospital rehabilitation, youth and senior services, violence prevention, and program administration.
I taught as an adjunct professor at the Jane Addams School of Social Work at the University of Illinois in Chicago. I have also facilitated workshops for NASW(National Association of Social Workers) in Illinois and Wisconsin in the areas of Hoarding, working with Transgender folx, and dating coaching for therapists.
My private practice, Big Sky Consulting Inc., began in 1997 in Oak Park and now operates in Forest Park, Illinois.