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About Us

Life Counseling Institute is a worker-owned cooperative, and we want to take a moment to explain what that actually means and why it might matter to you as someone seeking counseling.

As a worker cooperative, the practice is 100% employee owned. Our therapists have the opportunity to become co-owners of the practice: some of our clinicians are already co-owners and others have a clear path to ownership as they grow with us.

More and more, counseling practices are owned by an outside investor such as a private equity company, where outside investors make healthcare decisions motivated by profit. We believe your mental health care should not be in such hands.

Our our co-op structure also sets us apart from practices with a sole owner: Here, decisions are made collectively, by the workers who are genuinely invested in this community and who are accountable to each other and to you as clients. Our clinicians, as owners, care deeply about our practice, and we believe they should have a real voice in its future and share in its success.

We didn’t choose this model by accident.

A lot of what we do in counseling is help people reconnect with their own sense of agency–their voice, their worth, their ability to shape their own lives. It thus made sense for us to incorporate this belief into the very structure of our organization, to live out our values.

At the heart of how we operate, we believe that:

  • Equality, consensus, honesty, and openness are critical, both in our staff community and to the individuals we serve
  • Democracy and economic justice should be reflected in the way a workplace is structured, not just talked about
  • A healthy, supportive environment for our clinicians is the foundation for the best possible care for our clients
  • Social responsibility and caring for others extend beyond the therapy room, into our community and our world. Life Counseling Institute is a proud member of 1% for the Planet, which means we donate 1% of our gross revenues to environmental and climate causes. While we believe in helping the individuals and families we serve, we also believe it is our calling to tend to the world in which we live.

We believe that when clinicians feel genuinely valued–when they have ownership, agency, a voice, and a strong community around them–they show up differently in their work: They’re more present, grounded, and able to give to you as our clients. Research consistently shows that employee-owned organizations see higher engagement and a deeper sense of purpose among the people doing the work. We see that every day across our counseling teams in Willowbrook and Park Ridge, and it shows up in work with you.

As we’ve written in our own mission statement:

Equality, consensus, community, honesty, openness, social responsibility, and caring for others are central to our work. We value the ideals of democracy and workplace practices that are economically and socially just. Our aim is to create a healthy and supportive environment for ourselves so that we, in turn, can provide the same environment and the best care possible to our clients and our community.

That’s not just a tagline. It’s the reason we exist and do this work. We welcome you to call and learn more about how we can help.

Life Counseling Institute is proud to be one of only a small number of worker-owned counseling cooperatives in the country.