Luanne Maniacek

Luanne Maniacek is a licensed clinical social worker practicing in Illinois with 40 years of clinical experience supporting people through stress, anxiety, grief, depression, addictions, family conflicts, relationship and intimacy concerns, parenting challenges, anger management, self-esteem issues, career difficulties, bipolar disorder, coping with life changes, and compassion fatigue.

She holds an Illinois clinical social work license (IL LCSW 149001067), a credential that reflects advanced professional training and licensure, and she is also a certified alcohol and drug addictions counselor. Over her career she has worked successfully with a broad range of ages, cultural backgrounds, sexual orientations, and belief systems.

Ms. Maniacek has supervised graduate-level therapist interns and counselors in community mental health settings and has led crisis intervention teams. Her therapeutic approach is strength-based and grounded in interpersonal and humanistic modalities. She aims to help clients identify existing strengths, build new resources and skills, and move past obstacles that interfere with their goals.

When working with people who struggle with addictions, she supports either a disease model or harm reduction approach, using whichever is clinically appropriate. Her style is empathic and supportive while also offering challenge when needed to foster growth and positive change. She is skilled in motivational interviewing and attentive to the nuances she calls “listening between the words.”

Her first priority is developing a full understanding of a person’s perspective, history, needs, expectations, and goals for therapy. Open, ongoing communication about progress is an essential part of how she works. She welcomes those ready to begin doing this work together.