Alazandrea Thelen, MA, (she/her), earned her Master of Arts in Counseling: Art Therapy degree from Adler University Chicago.
Alazandrea views authenticity as a strength and encourages clients to do the same. She embraces the reality that life rarely comes with clear answers. While this unpredictability may be messy, she trusts that not knowing isn’t an endpoint but rather an invitation to be curious and keep growing. Alazandrea aspires to create a space where people can use art and other modalities to thrive among these uncertainties and unlearn outdated survival patterns.
Alazandrea completed her clinical training within the Expressive Therapies Department at Alexian Brothers Behavioral Health Hospital, facilitating individual and group therapy across inpatient, partial hospitalization (PHP), intensive outpatient (IOP), and Residential Treatment (RTC) settings, working with substance use disorders, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder, eating disorders, perinatal mood disorders, anxiety, depression, and more. She has extensive experience in a school setting, supporting children’s growth through relationship-building and social-emotional development using creativity, mindfulness, and play, which continues to shape her imaginative approach to therapy.
Alazandrea enjoys working with children, adolescents, the LGBTIA+ community, and individuals navigating maladaptive substance use. She has experience guiding clients through trauma, migration/immigration, identity formation, and life transitions. Her clinical style is collaborative, open-minded, and client-led integrating evidence-based therapies such as Art Therapy, Person-Centered, Adlerian, Narrative, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). She incorporates social justice principles through Harm Reduction, Trauma-Informed Care, Cultural Humility, and community intervention. Alazandrea believes that what connects us is our shared humanity, but no two stories are exactly the same, which means treatment plans shouldn’t be either. She hopes that, through expressive self-reflection, bravery, and a little bit of humor, goals and thoughts can be explored without judgment.
When she’s not in session, Alazandrea loves art-making, being outdoors, reading, live music, and attempting to bake.