“Therapy, to me, is relational. Which means this has to feel like a good fit”
Your Therapist
Kara Thompson-Miller
Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW)
Truly, I’m so glad you’re here.
I’m Kara, founder and therapist at Sonder Therapy Group. Being a therapist, to me, is the practice of creating and holding a beautifully relational and empowered space. So often, clients come to therapy believing they understand themselves, but are struggling to truly engage with those insights… having a hard time going deeper than just “knowing.” It’s in the therapy space where we, together, explore these ideas with curiosity to encourage real change, even among the perceivably established narratives and familiar parts of ourself that we may feel like we already “know.”
I absolutely love this work. And while you’ll probably hear me say it again and again, I believe the relationship between the client and therapist really matters. I feel especially passionate about walking alongside folks in their journey through trauma, interpersonal relationships, life transitions, and anxiety.
I, also, am a human living a life as vivid and complex as your own. I believe its wildly important to own my “humanness,” while working to create a therapeutic space that is all yours. That being said, here are a few nuggets about me…
I am a wife/friend/daughter/sister who believes relationships are hard and that relationships can heal
I am a cis, hetero white woman who is a lgbtqia+ advocate and ally
I am a social worker who believes in the complexity and diversity of human needs, working to develop, support and nurture impactful connections where people feel seen and valued
I am a therapist who believes it’s important for therapists to go to therapy
I am someone who feels deeply connected to friends/family over a meal, who will drive (some would say too far) to try a new coffee shop and who has a soft spot for the stories/history of antiques
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Relational, trauma-informed, empathetically challenging... those are some words I'd use. I don't see myself as one singular "kind" of therapist, because I've found that its important to have theoretical guides in this work, while being flexible. That being said, if you're looking for a more manualized approach to therapy with weekly homework assignments and and a strict timeline to follow, I may not be the therapist for you!
To give you some of the fancy words: I integrate a mixture of trauma-informed modalities, often pulling from psychodynamic, IFS-informed, and ACT-based approaches. Learning how to hold simultaneous yet opposing emotions/thoughts (known as dialectics), exploring self narratives and the practice of accepting all parts of ourselves can be incredibly powerful work.
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I received my Master of Social Work degree at the University of Illinois Chicago Jane Addams and a Bachelor of Social Work degree at Miami University, with a minor in Family Relationships. I initially started my career working with young adults in the behavioral health hospital and non-profit sectors, specifically, working with complex trauma and sexual violence. After a few years, I then took the jump to providing individual therapy at a group practice, and now… Sonder Therapy Group.
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As you may have already realized, there are a lot of different types of licenses that therapists can hold. For me, I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (Illinois License No. 14902438)