Ellen Zimmerman on Custody Evaluations, Anxiety, and 25 Years of Counseling the Full Human Story cover art

Ellen Zimmerman on Custody Evaluations, Anxiety, and 25 Years of Counseling the Full Human Story

Ellen Zimmerman on Custody Evaluations, Anxiety, and 25 Years of Counseling the Full Human Story

Listen for free

View show details

About this listen

 What happens when a special education teacher follows her instincts all the way through school counseling, higher education leadership, custody evaluation, and finally a thriving private practice that has been serving people for 25 years? In this episode of the Trustcast Show, Zane Myers speaks with Ellen Zimmerman, licensed clinical professional counselor and founder of Comprehensive Counseling in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, about her extraordinary career arc and what it really means to sit with people in their hardest moments. Ellen shares what drew her from teaching kids with special needs toward understanding the inner lives of all people, what it felt like to make custody recommendations that judges sometimes ignored, and why she believes family court is broken. They also discuss the college textbook she co-wrote to transform first year experience courses, why anxiety is the number one presenting issue she sees across every age group from 13 to 85, how cognitive behavioral therapy and polyvagal theory work together in the room, and why the one tip she gives every client is simply to breathe. Ellen Zimmerman is a licensed clinical professional counselor and founder of Comprehensive Counseling in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. She is also a clinical supervisor for the Masters in Counseling program at the University of Illinois and a former certified custody evaluator in the Cook County Family Court system. She can be found on Psychology Today and Headway, or by searching Ellen Zimmerman LCPC. Connect with Ellen Zimmerman: Search: Ellen Zimmerman LCPC Psychology Today, Therapist Finder, or Headway Champaign-Urbana, Illinois Chapters00:00 Introduction to Ellen Zimmerman 00:38 What it means to be a wise soul 01:07 From special education teacher to school counselor 02:01 Getting a master's degree when she never saw herself as academic 02:49 How teenagers carry pain differently than adults 04:05 Building mental health services as Dean of Counseling 05:10 Co-writing a college textbook that actually worked 06:59 Seeing the impact of the first year experience curriculum 08:10 The weight of being a certified custody evaluator 09:18 Working in the Cook County family court system 10:21 What kids hear that parents think they don't 11:26 Making recommendations in court and testifying 12:01 When the judge goes the other way 13:08 The subpoena she tried to avoid and what she found 14:01 Why 50% of custody recommendations get ignored 15:39 Why she stepped away from custody evaluation work 17:12 What the first session at Comprehensive Counseling looks like 19:28 Who her clients are and what they're dealing with 20:58 The one tip for anxiety that everyone can use right now 23:26 How CBT and polyvagal theory work together in practice 26:11 The client success that means the most to her 27:29 Positive thinking, affirmations, and changing mindset 28:52 Why college and grad students are her favorite population 30:30 Are Gen Z really that different or just human? 32:09 Rapid fire questions 33:40 Running a private practice and staying booked 35:49 How shoe leather marketing keeps her practice full 36:34 How to find and contact Ellen Zimmerman #EllenZimmerman #Counseling #MentalHealth #Anxiety #CBT #CustodyEvaluation #FamilyCourt #TherapyWorks #TrustcastShow #LicensedCounselor
No reviews yet