therapist in oak park il
Meet Kelly Owen, LSW
Helping children feel understood, teens feel less alone and parents feel less lost
Your child is having a hard time - and so, quietly, are you.
You know your child. So when something feels off, you notice. Maybe they're struggling at school, falling out with friends, or saying harsh things about themselves that stop you in your tracks. Maybe the feelings have got bigger, the reactions louder, the mornings harder.
You can see they need something, you're just not sure what will actually help them.
Sometimes families need a little extra support, not forever, just someone to step in, take a careful look, and think it through alongside you. Someone who can see your child clearly, and help you do the same.
That's exactly what I'm here for.
Your child deserves to feel happy, to surprise themselves with how strong they can be, to know that who they are is enough and to have the tools to navigate whatever life throws at them.
That's what we're working toward together.
How therapy works
Work with me and your child will feel genuinely seen. So will you.
Sessions with children are warm and unhurried — often play-based, because that's how kids make sense of the world. I follow their lead, build real trust, and create a space where they can show up exactly as they are.
Through that connection, children often find things they didn't know they had, words for big feelings they couldn't explain before, a kinder voice toward themselves, a resilience that was always there but needed room to grow. Slowly, a stronger sense of who they are begins to take shape.
For parents, I'm a thinking partner. Someone who helps you understand your child more deeply, not to tell you what you're doing wrong, but to figure out together what your child might need more of.
I also work with couples, because sometimes the most important thing a parent can do for their child is tend to their own relationship too.
get started
First, let’s make sure we’re a good fit. I offer a free consultation to talk through what’s going on and see if we click. If it feels right, we’ll schedule your first session and I’ll send over some quick online paperwork.
Connect.
Our first few sessions are all about getting to know each other and figuring out what’s holding you back. We’ll look at patterns, experiment with new tools, and start making real change.
Collaborate.
Through our work, you’ll start to see big shifts—not just in your child, but in your whole family. Over time, you can begin to feel more confident in your role as a parent, more in control, and ready to tackle the challenges together.
Transform.
My Specialties:
Children & Play Therapy
Your child might not have the words for what's going on, but they don't need them yet. Play is how children make sense of their world, process what's hard, and figure out who they are. It's their language, and I'm fluent in it!
In our sessions, I follow your child's lead. We move at their pace, build real trust, and create a space where they can show up exactly as they are, without pressure to explain themselves.
Tweens & Teens
The middle years and teenage years can feel like the ground is constantly shifting, for your child, and honestly, for you too. Identity, friendships, pressure, the voice in their head that's gotten a lot louder lately. It's a lot to navigate.
I work with tweens and teens in a way that takes them seriously. No worksheets, no lecturing. Just a space where they can think out loud, be contradictory, be uncertain, be themselves, with someone who isn't going to panic or judge.
When young people feel genuinely heard, something usually starts to shift.
Parent Support
You don't have to be in crisis to benefit from support. Sometimes you just need a thinking partner, someone who understands child development, who can help you make sense of what you're seeing, and who isn't going to tell you what you're doing wrong.
Parent support sessions are for you. We might focus on a specific challenge, a pattern you keep running into, or simply the weight of trying to get it right. You'll leave with more clarity, more confidence, and a deeper understanding of your child.
Family Transitions
Divorce. Bereavement. A new school, a new sibling, a house move. Even changes that are ultimately positive can quietly knock a child or a whole family off balance. Children don't always show us directly when something has shifted inside them. Sometimes it comes out sideways, often messy and loud.
If your family is in the middle of something big, or still finding your footing after it, this work can help. We slow down, look carefully at what each person in the family might be carrying, and find a way through together.
Couples Work
Every relationship has seasons. Some are easy and connected; others feel like you're speaking different languages, repeating the same arguments, or simply moving through life without quite meeting.
You don't have to be in crisis to seek support. Some couples come to me in the middle of real rupture, conflict that has become a familiar pattern, distance that has quietly grown. Others come because they want more: more ease, more intimacy, more of the partnership they know is possible.
I work with couples in a relational, attachment-informed way — curious about what each person brings to the relationship, and how those two worlds have learned to fit together. We work on the conflicts that keep cycling, yes. But we also make room for the friendship, the tenderness, and the shared life you're trying to build.
My Background
I came to this work through two paths: years alongside young children and families as an educator, and my own experience as a parent navigating hard moments with my own children.
My background in child development means I don't just see a child who is struggling, I see a child at a particular moment in their development, with a specific set of experiences, relationships and circumstances shaping how they move through the world. I notice their strengths alongside their difficulties. I notice the clever, creative ways they've learned to cope, even when those strategies have started to work against them.
I think systemically. Your child doesn't exist in isolation, and neither does the hard thing you're navigating. I hold the whole picture.
Holding a Master's in both Child Development and Social Work means I understand not just how children grow, but what can get in the way of that and how family, environment and relationships are always part of the story.
Families often leave our first conversation feeling lighter than they expected, not because anything has been fixed, but because someone has finally seen the whole picture with them.
Education & Licensure
MSW, Erikson Institute
MS in Child Development, Erikson Institute
LSW, Illinois
Training & Certifications
Relational, psychodynamic & attachment-informed approaches
Play-based therapy
Narrative therapy
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
You've been thinking about this long enough.
Reach out, no pressure — just a conversation.
Sessions available in Oak Park IL