Jennifer Forbes, LMFT

Jennifer Forbes is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) based in Illinois. She brings 14 years of clinical and leadership experience to her work and has built programs that respond to crisis and trauma.

Her style is straightforward and supportive. Sessions focus on practical steps families and individuals can take to manage stress, anxiety, grief, parenting challenges, and relationship strain. She uses talk-based methods that encourage honest reflection and concrete behavior changes.

Jennifer draws on cognitive behavioral approaches to help people notice patterns of thought and try new behaviors. She also uses client-centered techniques to keep the conversation rooted in each person’s priorities, and motivational interviewing when someone needs help finding the energy to change.

Her background includes program development, consulting, and service on regional behavioral health committees in Illinois. She trained at Northern Illinois University and holds a Master of Science in Applied Family and Child Studies with a specialization in marriage and family therapy.

Jennifer has worked in nonprofit and private settings since 2009. That work includes designing community responses to trauma, crisis, and ongoing clinical needs. She aims to create a calm, practical space where people can sort through complex life changes and plan next steps.

People often seek her help for relationship issues, family-of-origin concerns, parenting stress, trauma and abuse, addiction-related worries, sleep problems, career transitions, and feelings of emptiness or low self-esteem. She combines problem-focused work with attention to personal values and coping skills.

Using CBT and Client-Centered Work Online

Jennifer commonly uses cognitive behavioral therapy to help people identify unhelpful thoughts, test different beliefs, and try small behavioral experiments to change how they feel and act. CBT can be useful for anxiety, depression, sleep problems, and stress-related issues.

She also draws on client-centered methods that put the person’s goals and experience at the center of sessions. This approach focuses on listening, empathy, and helping people clarify what matters most to them. Motivational interviewing is used when someone needs support finding motivation and commitment for change.

Finding the right mix of methods is collaborative. The therapist will work with the client to choose approaches that match their goals, values, and day-to-day constraints. That plan can be adjusted as therapy progresses to keep work practical and relevant.

Online therapy offers flexibility through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging. Video is useful for in-depth conversation and visual cues, phone calls can be easier when bandwidth is limited, live chat allows brief check-ins during busy days, and messaging supports ongoing reflection between sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy into work, school, or family life and to continue steady progress when schedules are tight.