Betsy Nettleton

Betsy Nettleton is a licensed psychologist in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Nettleton is passionate about working with individuals who are wanting to heal and grow from challenging life circumstances and troubling symptoms. She works from the assumption that clients have already tried a number of coping strategies prior to therapy and are now wanting a holistic and depth-oriented understanding of their emotional difficulties. She listens closely to both the conscious and unconscious communications embedded within clients’ narratives, helping them to gradually understand themselves in a deeper and more authentic way.

Dr. Nettleton is trained in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. She encourages clients to share their thoughts, feelings and physical sensations, and she offers nuanced feedback about these experiences. Dr. Nettleton helps her clients make use of the therapy relationship as a place to feel safe, seen and understood. She also uses the therapy relationship to help clients understand their difficulties within other relationships. She helps clients tolerate a wider range of emotional experiences and gain a deeper appreciation for their own idiosyncratic ways of being in the world.

Dr. Nettleton’s style is thoughtful and gently inquisitive. At a first session, she works to understand what a client is needing to share. She is aware that a first session is a uniquely vulnerable time, wherein a client is taking a leap of faith and not so certain that opening up feels safe. Throughout the course of therapy, she offers clients a way to use their own strengths to find the courage to grow and change.