Hello my name is Alexus Lee. I am a recent graduate from Northwestern’s Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program. I attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for my bachelor’s degree in psychology. I’ve always known I wanted to work in mental health because of my deep desire to understand myself and others. I grew up in the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago where I still reside today. I faced many challenges growing up in a white community as a black girl and woman. These external challenges created internal ones of identity and worth that affect many marginalized communities, which I resolve to address and advocate for, in my work with clients. I believe everyone can benefit from reflecting on their many identities (race, gender, ethnic, religious, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, age etc.) and how they shape their everyday interactions.
My approach when working with clients is one of open mindedness. I always want to meet my clients where they are. I take a lot of time getting to know my clients and understand what brings them to therapy. I value collaborating with clients to acquire insight and understanding to these problems as well as devising a game plan to address and manage them. I take a strengths-based approach in my work meaning I like to build upon skills and assets clients already have.
Gender identity and sexual orientation are very important aspects of an individual’s identity as a whole. While these are deeply personal aspect of self, they can often be political which can become an obstacle to discussing what is a personal, individual issue. It’s important to me to support my clients in exploring these aspects of self in a safe place and to minimize additional obstacles of shame and guilt, in order to allow for the needed individual exploration itself.
