Russell Silver

Russell Silver removes stigma, fear, and clinical jargon to make mental health care approachable and practical. He is passionate about helping others and values the courage it takes to seek support. His goal is to empower people to process emotions, understand how thoughts and actions influence behavior, and build more fulfilling relationships while emphasizing strengths rather than focusing only on problems.

He is a licensed clinical professional counselor in Illinois - holding LCPC license number 180.014313 - and is also a certified rehabilitation counselor. Over 12 years he worked as a hospital-based outpatient counselor in rehabilitation, mental health, and substance use settings, which contributes to a strengths-focused perspective on chronic disability and related systems and processes.

Russell has supported people adjusting to new disabilities such as serious mental health conditions and multiple sclerosis, navigating life challenges like anxiety and divorce, coping with serious mental illness including schizophrenia, maintaining substance use recovery, and working toward improved relationships and academic or workplace functioning.

His clinical approach blends client-centered care with top-down cognitive behavioral therapy and Solutions-Focused Brief Therapy, along with motivational enhancement and positive psychology and mindfulness techniques. He is trained in the Gottman Method for marriage counseling and is pursuing greater skill in bottom-up trauma approaches - such as somatic experiencing - to broaden support for clients with trauma histories.

Russell is based in Illinois and brings personal experience as a married professional in a blended family with four children, one of whom is on the autism spectrum. He is also a 24-year U.S. Army veteran and is knowledgeable about military and veterans culture as well as VA healthcare systems. He works with concerns including relationship issues, self-esteem, career difficulties, coping with life changes, coaching, stress and anxiety, addictions, family conflicts, intimacy-related issues, and parenting challenges.