About Athena
Dr. Athena Porter brings more than two decades of clinical experience to her work as an Illinois-licensed LCPC clinician.
Background and approach
She holds a doctorate in Clinical/Community Psychology and has spent 21 years supporting people through mood disorders, anxiety, trauma-related concerns, addiction, relationship and family challenges, and life transitions. Her background includes community outreach, public education campaigns, and mental health presentations both locally in Chicagoland and in other U.S. cities as well as Ghana.
Her practice blends evidence-informed methods with humanistic sensibilities, favoring cognitive-behavioral strategies alongside existential and mindfulness-based perspectives. She also integrates hypnotherapy and dialectical behavior ideas when appropriate, aiming to reduce symptoms while promoting personal growth and resilience.
In addition to therapy for conditions such as bipolar disorder, depression, and post-traumatic stress, she offers coaching-oriented support for wellness, career concerns, and smoking or vaping cessation. Dr.
Porter communicates in English and provides services through multiple remote formats. Her approach emphasizes collaboration, practical skills, and attention to cultural and contextual factors that shape each person’s experience.
Therapeutic Approaches and Online Options
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying and changing unhelpful thought and behavior patterns. It is practical and skills-oriented, often useful for anxiety, depression, panic, and mood-related concerns. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) emphasizes emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness skills, which can help when strong emotional reactions or relationship difficulties are prominent. Mindfulness Therapy brings attention to the present moment and teaches techniques to reduce reactivity and increase self-awareness, supporting coping with stress, grief, and ongoing mood challenges.
Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will work together with each person to understand goals, preferences, and life context, and will tailor methods from CBT, DBT, existential ideas, hypnotherapy, or mindfulness practices to fit individual needs rather than prescribing a single model from the outset.
Online therapy offers flexibility through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging, making it easier to fit sessions into busy schedules or to continue care from different locations within Illinois. These formats support ongoing skills practice, timely check-ins, and access to licensed professionals who can adapt techniques to remote settings while focusing on practical tools and personal growth.
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Anger management
- Self esteem
Also works with
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Coaching
- Communication problems
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Grief
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Post-traumatic stress
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 21 years
- Licensed
- Illinois
- Languages
- English