Our staff is highly qualified, with the most up-to-date training and education. We can guarantee it, because we are one of the premiere sources of training and education for professional counselors!
Dr. Giordano has selected each Veduta Consulting staff member from the hundreds of professionals and students she has mentored over the years. Only the best are asked to work with her.
Scroll down and meet our Counselors and Staff…
Counselors
DJ Blackwell,
MA, LPC
dblackwell@vedutaconsulting.com
“There is no timeline for healing. Together we can build a safe and collaborative space for growth. I aim to bring wit and good humor to our sessions, where we will achieve your goals for therapy.”
“The one person who will never leave us, whom we will never lose, is ourself.” – Bell Hooks
DJ Blackwell is a licensed counselor and consultant at Veduta Consulting. As a therapist, she strives to bring joy and creativity into the therapy space. Through her core values of authenticity, compassion, and humor, she creates a unique and trusting relationship with each of her clients. DJ’s direct and curious approach helps build a tailor-made therapeutic alliance.
Counseling Specializations
Attachment and childhood trauma
Complex PTSD
Religious deconstruction
High-stress careers
Military service concerns
LGBTQ+ issues
Sex and intimacy
Consulting and Coaching
Neurodiversity
Career transitions
Boundary-setting
Stress management
Team building
Experience: Background in clinical therapy, project management, and higher education. Uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy alongside relational, structural, narrative, and existential approaches.
Licensing: LPC, Illinois.
Education: MA in Counseling Psychology (2021) and BA in Politics and Government (2018), North Park University.
Rick Calabrese,
MA, LCPC
rcalabrese@vedutaconsulting.com
(312) 809-8533
“Facing our challenges is part of the human experience, but you don’t have to face all your challenges alone. Working together, through kindness, compassion, honesty and even humor, we can clear a way for you to move forward. Together we can build a more fulfilling path for your life.”
Rick Calabrese is a licensed counselor and consultant at Veduta Consulting. Rick specializes in treating anxiety and depression, and has extensive experience working with older adolescents (ages 17 to 18) and their parents. He is also an experienced couples’ counselor.
Counseling Specializations
Depression and anxiety
Relationship issues and life changes
LGBTQIA+
Personal and career transitions
Executive functioning
Consulting/Coaching Specializations
Life coaching
School counseling
Career coaching
Grief work
Organizational learning and development
Experience: Rick Calabrese has broad experience helping families, couples and individuals cope with anxiety, depression and conflict, as well as adjusting to life changes including school, career, personal relationships and loss. Rick’s work as a high school counselor for 3 years makes him keenly aware of the challenges older adolescents and parents face during this important and often difficult transition. He is an avid advocate for and member of the LGBTQIA+ community. Rick combines his strong foundation in psychodynamic and interpersonal-process approach with practical application of ACT, IFS, and EFT therapy models, providing a broad range of tools to best help his clients.
Licensing: Rick is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC) in the state of Illinois. He received his license in 2021.
Education: Rick holds an MA in Counseling from Northwestern University (2018), and an MA in Industrial Organizational Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology (2009).
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Affiliates
Affiliates are separate businesses and independent professionals who have partnered with Veduta Consulting, extending our services and availability. Each has passed our careful screening and review process, and we are pleased to present them to you here.
Rebecca Bunn, MA, LCPC
RB Counseling and Consulting
Rebecca Bunn is a licensed therapist and mindfulness instructor. She works with individual adult clients on issues of emotional regulation, stress management, chronic illness and pain, trauma, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).Rebecca specializes in mindfulness-based interventions, including:Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) Radically Open Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (RO-DBT)
For an appointment or further information, contact Rebecca Bunn at:
E-Mail: rebecca@rbcounselingandconsulting.com
Jessica Dyrek, LCPC, CADC
Counseling and Consulting
Jessica Dyrek is a professional clinical counselor, licensed in Illinois (LCPC). She specializes in individual therapy for adolescents, adults, and those in between, helping with issues like life changes, stress, anxiety, and depression. She has specific experience treating women with ADHD and has helped many clients with more general needs for self-exploration and personal growth. Jessica is also Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor (CADC). She has extensive training and experience in assisting family members and loved ones of people suffering from addiction and personality disorders.
Jessica sees clients in person at her office in Hinsdale, Illinois, and offers appointments online.
For an appointment or further information, contact Jessica Dyrek at:
Website: jessicadyrek.com
E-Mail: jessica@jessicadyrek.com
Phone: 630-272-4966
Donna Gluck, LCPC
DG Counseling, Inc.
“The power to be healed. The strength is in you.”
Dr. Gluck specializes in individual and couples counseling, using a solution-focused and client-centered therapeutic approach.
For an appointment or further information, contact Dr. Gluck at:
Website: dgcounselinginc.com
Phone: (630) 353-0697
Jenny Z. Lake,
LPC, MA, MFA
Jenny Lake is a licensed professional counselor (LPC) specializing in career counseling for adults navigating career change, job searches, burnout, workplace trauma, and difficult career decisions. Drawing on 15 years of experience in higher education, she has experience supporting career changers, college students and recent graduates, helping professionals, and first-generation college students curious about a master’s degree. Jenny combines practical career guidance—including support with résumés, cover letters, interviewing, and graduate school—with counseling for the emotional challenges of work and career, helping clients navigate uncertainty, understand the systems shaping their experiences, and build greater self-trust along the way.
Jenny offers virtual sessions for clients living in Illinois. For a consultation or more information, contact Jenny at:
Website: sohailcounseling.com/jenny-lake
E-Mail: jenny@sohailcounseling.com
Pamela Smith,
MA, NCC, LCPC
Trace Counseling and Wellness
Pamela Smith is a clinical counselor, career coach and consultant at Trace Counseling and Wellness. She specializes in multicultural family counseling and executive business coaching. She is certified in EMDR, a first-line treatment for PTSD, as well as Anger Management (NAMA) and trained in perinatal therapy (PSI). Pamela works with adults, couples, and families.
For an appointment or further information, contact Pamela Smith at:
pamela@tracecounselingandwellness.com
Jessica Thompson
MS, LCPC
Jessica Thompson is a Licensed Professional Counselor with extensive experience in clinical mental health counseling, crisis intervention, supervision, consultation, program development and analysis, and addiction treatment. Since 2018, she has worked with diverse populations across various settings, helping clients navigate mental health challenges, overcome trauma, and develop effective coping strategies. She is committed to providing compassionate, evidence-based care tailored to each client's unique needs and circumstances.
jessicathomasphd@gmail.com
Deanna Chrones,
MA, LCPC, CH
Deanna Chrones is a licensed clinical counselor, consultant, and certified hypnotherapist at Veduta Consulting. She comes to Veduta with additional experience in organizational development and marketing. Deanna is certified in EMDR--eye movement desensitization and reprocessing--a first-line treatment for PTSD. Deanna has developed a new, eye-movement-based treatment for traumatic, depressive, and anxiety disorders; her new treatment is now under study at Northwestern University and the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater. As a therapist, she brings creative insights and cutting-edge techniques to her warm and inviting presence. Deanna works with adults, adolescents, and children, and she specializes in treating trauma, depression, and anxiety.
You can contact Deanna at: https://chronescounseling.com/
Joan L. Fefferman MS MS LCPC CADC NCC
JF Counseling Services, PLLC
Explore the difference with someone who has experience in solving problems!
Joan Fefferman is a Licensed Clinical Therapist and Addictions Counselor that specializes in individual, couples and family counseling. She is the sole practitioner of her practice in a confidential, calm, private office in downtown Wheaton, IL. She works face to face and also over the computer with Telehealth.
Joan is exploring T-counseling which means combining her previous life in STEM, as an educator at the University of Chicago and her counseling profession. She strives to work with clients that experience work issues, educational issues, substance use issues, relationship and family issues, anxiety, depression, grief and mood disorders using education and psychological tools (CBT, DBT, ACT, and many humanistic approaches) that present a clear logical framework for healing.
For an appointment or further information, contact Joan Fefferman at:
Phone: (630) 868-3920
E-Mail: joan@jf-counseling.com
Dr. Tanqueray Hart
SPHR, MBA, PhD
Dr. Tanqueray Hart specializes in helping clients with work-related stress and trauma. Her unique insight into the emotional and professional needs of employees of corporate and other large organizations is a product more than ten tears of personal experience and formal research in the corporate world. Dr. Hart helps her clients overcome trauma, recover from workplace exhaustion and avoid burnout. She creates a safe counseling environment where clients can feel secure, shed their defenses, and share their stories.
Tanqueray brings her consulting expertise to Veduta, with an emphasis on talent and performance management strategy for organizations. Her goal is to educate and empower the next generation of organizational leadership.
To contact Dr. Hart: thart@vedutaconsulting.com
Nellie McCarthy,
LCPC, MA, MBA
Nellie McCarthy is a licensed clinical professional counselor. Nellie specializes in working with adults, couples and older adults going through relational changes and stress as well as grief and loss. She helps clients facing career challenges and supports clients managing care of older family members. Nellie has experience in many business endeavors. Her MBA in entrepreneurship [from DePaul University in 1998] enhances her keen awareness of and ability to connect with working professional clients.
For an appointment or further information, contact Nellie McCarthy at: nellie@nuthinkcounseling.com
Cia Souleles,
MSCP, MSCC, LCPC
“I believe that many of the emotional challenges we face as adults are rooted in how we were treated as children. Childhood and adolescent traumas can remain with us as adults, bringing confusion and a lack of self-control. Anxiety, depression and relationship issues often unconsciously stem from such experiences. I look forward to helping you understand your feelings, overcome the problems that have disrupted your life and achieve resolution and serenity.”
Cia Souleles is a clinical counselor at Veduta Consulting.
E-Mail: Counseling@souleles.com
Nerissa Tucker,
MHA, MA, LCPC
Collette Counseling and Consulting
Nerissa Tucker is a licensed professional counselor specializing in couples and relationship counseling. She is a Level II Gottman-trained therapist and a Premarital Counselor certified through Prepare-Enrich. Nerissa works with adults, adolescents, couples, and families.
For an appointment or further information, contact Nerissa Tucker at:
Website: collettecounseling.com
Phone: 312.685.1796
Executive
Francesca Giordano Ph.D., LCPC
fgiordano@vedutaconsulting.com
Dr. Giordano is the founder and principal partner of Veduta Consulting. Veduta brings a new vision to the clinical and educational practice of counseling, bringing together expertise in these areas to create new approaches, and provide expert consulting services to a broad variety of organizations.
Counseling Specializations:
Couples conflict
Sexuality problems in couples
Infidelity and other breaches of trust
Low desire in women
Anger management
Career exploration and job search issues
Personal and mental health concerns affecting career success
The quest to live an authentic life
Organizational Experience:
From working with mental health centers in the areas of effective treatment planning, ethical issues, anger and therapeutic change, Dr. Francesca Giordano has expanded her practice into program development for higher education. Her areas of service include the accreditation process, online education and the future of behavioral healthcare. In the last seven years, she has brought two counseling programs to full accreditation, and successfully launched an online counseling partnership incorporating a behavioral health institution, a university, and an education technology firm. She is especially interested in the integration of program innovation, transformational leadership, and entrepreneurial techniques to promote growth and change in the field.
Licensing:
Dr. Giordano has been a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor in the state of Illinoissince 1992. For the past 25 years, she has worked as a counselor educator and counseling education administrator, specializing in mental health, consultation and ethics. She is a board member for the Illinois Mental Health Counselors Association (IMHCA), has served as Vice-Chair of the Illinois Professional Counselor Licensing and Disciplinary Board, and is a Past President of the Illinois Counseling Association
Teaching and Education:
Dr. Giordano has held full professorships in counseling education at Adler University, Northwestern University and Northern Illinois University. She recently served as the Online Curriculum and Teaching Associate Department Chair for Adler University. Previously, she was the Program Director for the Master of Arts in Counseling at the Family Institute at Northwestern University for seven years. Prior to joining the Family Institute, she was a professor of counseling in the Department of Counseling, Adult and Health Education at Northern Illinois University.
Awards and Distinctions:
In 2013, Dr. Giordano received the Robert J. Nejedlo Distinguished leadership award from Illiniois Counseling Association. In 2009 she received the C.A. Michelman award for Outstanding Service to the Counseling Profession from Illinois Cousneling Association. In 2006 she received the Counselor Educator of the Year award from the Illinois Counselor Education and Supervision Association. In 2002 she received the Distinguished Service award from the Illinois Mental Health Counselors Association. In 1998, she received the Counselor Educator of the Year Award from the American Mental Health Counselors Association. Dr. Giordano is a Diplomate in Couples and Family Counseling with the American Mental Health Counseling Association.