Tiffany Fang, LPC, NCC
Therapist
Licensed Professional Counselor and National Certified Counselor
Hi, I'm Tiffany. I help people balance work and life.
I’ve always had a hard time putting down work. Between my job, school, and life, it feels like I have an endless to-do list. I found myself consumed by working so much that I couldn’t savor my life. I felt disconnected from my relationships, my community, my hobbies, and my career. It wasn’t until I balanced my work and life that I began to live again.
Growing up as a woman of color, I felt like I had to constantly perform at 100% to get where I wanted to go in my life and career. Even though I knew this was unsustainable, I kept feeling like if I stopped, I would lose everything. My partner eventually stopped me and said he was very concerned about how I was stretching myself beyond my limits. It was then that I knew I had to recalibrate. I loved where my career was going but I didn’t need to perform perfectly all the time. Since then, I’ve learned there is room to put energy and love into my relationships and self-care. Today, I help people balance work and life.
In our fast paced world, it is very hard to slow down and enjoy life. It feels like we can’t stop working towards our goals, or else we will lose progress. It’s the American Dream, right? You have to “earn” your dream with blood, sweat, and tears. It feels lonely working this hard since you don’t have the time or energy to connect with people you love or even yourself. If poor work life balance is affecting your ability to enjoy life, it may be time to start counseling.
The path towards healing starts by working together to clarify your values, setting boundaries to protect those values, and creating good structures for you to thrive. My goal is to provide a safe and responsive relationship where your agency and voice is encouraged and accepted. For many clients, this in itself can feel healing and refreshing.
You can expect a calm and encouraging ally in your work with me. Let’s see how I can help. Call me at (312) 715-8234, or email [email protected] to get started.
On Being a Counselor
My approach to counseling is truly collaborative. You are the expert on your own experience. I bring skills and strategies to help you navigate challenging life circumstances. As we engage in the therapy process, you are the one who identifies what works, what doesn’t work, and which interpretations make sense. I ask powerful questions to clarify my understanding and help you identify how to move towards your goals. Together, we will work towards helping you create a more fulfilling life.
As a counselor, I am inspired by my clients' honesty and emotional strength in exploring what may be difficult areas of their life. In turn, I am committed to honoring this sacred partnership by taking time to understand your experience of counseling to ensure we are on the right track. Throughout our work together, you can expect genuine and direct feedback.
Practitioner Background
I decided to become a counselor after personally experiencing how transformative therapy could be. As a woman of color who often navigates societal disempowerment, I was skeptical that any counselor could understand the dynamics of marginalization. Instead, I discovered the power of responsive, collaborative counseling that directly named and addressed these dynamics. I found a passion for helping others who have felt helpless and devalued heal and grow from those experiences.
Today, I offer counseling to create space for people to discover their inner voice, as well as the strengths that may have been overshadowed by oppressive experiences. It takes a lot of courage to move from a place of “comfortable turmoil ” to an unknown place where health is possible. Too often, people aren’t given space in their relationships to really “go deep.” As a counselor, I help people discover their inner wisdom through conversations that move from surface topics to a deeper, more meaningful realm.
That doesn’t mean I’m big on jargon - quite the opposite! I’m here to help you name the realities of your life, free of therapist-speak. My past experience as a creative writer helps me appreciate the nuances of how people see the world differently. I offer counseling to help people understand where they are in their own story and when they are ready, helping them sketch a healthy next chapter and walk into it.
You can reclaim your agency and voice. Reach out today to get started. When you call our scheduling line, our Intake Coordinator can answer any questions you might have. To schedule your first appointment, call 312-715-8234, or email [email protected]. I'm here for you.
More About Tiffany
Key Philosophical Beliefs
- People heal and grow best in the context of relationships
- Pain should be listened to - it gives us helpful information about ourselves and the world around us
- The way we tend to behave carries with it a history of how we’ve had to behave in the past to survive
- Everyone needs to tell their own story, apart from the ones that others tell us about ourselves
Counseling Training
- Master's of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling (MA), Wheaton College Graduate School
- Bachelor of Arts in Psychology (BA), Magna Cum Laude, Northwestern University
- Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Interpersonal Process Therapy (IPT)
- Humanistic Approach
- Strength-Based Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Teletherapy and telehealth trained
Specializations and Experience
- Work/Life Balance
- Young professionals and college students
- Racial Identity & trauma
- Sexism
- Spiritual concerns & trauma
- Depression/anxiety
- Life transitions
- Grief and loss
- Family of origin issues
- Relational difficulties
Tiffany as a Person
I am very rooted in the Chicagoland area and have a deep love for this city and the people who live in it. I was born in Chicago and raised in the suburbs, but enjoyed visiting the city every weekend. I stayed in the area for both my undergraduate and master's degree and am now a proud resident of the city.
There are so many things I like to do for fun here: eating Filipino brunch at Uncle Mike’s, browsing around independent bookstores, watching the Joffrey Ballet perform, and going to musicals. The Art Institute has always been an inspiring place to me and I find a lot of pleasure meandering around the exhibits (and especially the Monet bridges). I also love writing on my personal blog and find it an artistic way to make sense of my experiences. My partner and I have a lot of fun taking salsa dancing lessons and more recently, biking the lakefront trail.
