Meet The Specialists
Rachel Dunning, LCSW
Carol Trejo Kroeger, LCPC, C-DBT
Carol Trejo Kroeger, LCPC, C-DBT
As a Certified Grief Counselor, Rachel specializes in supporting individuals navigating loss in its many forms — including death, caregiving transitions, medical changes, infertility, adoption, and life stage shifts. With over a decade of experience in healthcare settings, she understands how grief can intertwine with anxiety, identity, and responsibility. Rachel provides a steady, compassionate space to process complex emotions and help clients move toward acceptance and resilience at their own pace.
Carol Trejo Kroeger, LCPC, C-DBT
Carol Trejo Kroeger, LCPC, C-DBT
Carol Trejo Kroeger, LCPC, C-DBT
Carol works with individuals experiencing grief connected to life transitions, relationship changes, career shifts, and the invisible losses that often accompany burnout and leadership roles. Her approach is thoughtful and grounded, helping clients make meaning of their loss while reconnecting with a sustainable sense of self. Together, you'll create space to honor what has changed while gently moving toward what comes next.
Vanessa Lowrey, LCPC, CADC
Carol Trejo Kroeger, LCPC, C-DBT
Vanessa Lowrey, LCPC, CADC
Vanessa supports adolescents and adults facing grief complicated by trauma, mood disorders, or substance use. Loss can intensify existing struggles, making emotions feel overwhelming or difficult to regulate. In a safe, non-judgmental environment, Vanessa help clients process grief while strengthening coping skills and restoring emotional stability.
Kelsey Johnson, LSW
Kanesha Walker-Amaro, LCPC
Vanessa Lowrey, LCPC, CADC
Kelsey works with children, adolescents, and adults navigating grief and loss, providing a compassionate and affirming space to process difficult emotions. Whether grief is connected to death, life transitions, identity, or relational changes, she helps clients better understand their feelings and build healthy coping strategies.
Using a strengths-based and integrative approach—including CBT, DBT, MBCT, and play therapy techniques for younger clients—Kelsey support individuals in increasing self-awareness, developing resilience, and moving forward with greater emotional balance and clarity.
Kanesha Walker-Amaro, LCPC
Kanesha Walker-Amaro, LCPC
Kanesha Walker-Amaro, LCPC
Kanesha specializes in supporting adolescents and adults navigating grief and loss, whether related to death, trauma, life transitions, or significant relationship changes. Her approach is collaborative and strengths-based, helping clients process difficult emotions while building resilience and self-understanding.
Kanesha provides a safe, non-judgmental space where you can openly explore your experience, develop healthier coping strategies, and begin to shape a more empowering narrative as you move forward.
Begin Grief & Loss Therapy
Our Approach
At Collaborative Healing, we approach grief with respect, patience, and deep compassion. There is no pressure to “move on.” Instead, we focus on:
- Normalizing the grieving process
- Creating space for complex emotions
- Exploring meaning and identity shifts
- Strengthening coping skills
- Supporting nervous system regulation
- Rebuilding connection and purpose over time
We use evidence-based and grief-informed approaches tailored to your individual experience.
Healing does not mean forgetting. It means learning to live alongside your loss with greater steadiness and support.
If you are seeking grief therapy in Illinois, Wisconsin, or Missouri, we invite you to schedule a consultation. We are here to walk with you through this season of your life.
Serving Clients Throughout the Northwest Suburbs
Collaborative Healing provides grief counseling in Inverness, Illinois and serves clients across the surrounding Northwest Suburbs, including:
- Palatine
- Barrington
- Schaumburg
- Arlington Heights
- Hoffman Estates
- Rolling Meadows
If you are seeking grief therapy in Illinois, Wisconsin, or Missouri, we invite you to schedule a consultation. We are here to walk with you through this season of your life.
Meet Rachel Dunning, LCSW
Grief, Anxiety & Life Transitions Specialist
Rachel is a Certified Grief Counselor with over 10 years of experience supporting adults and caregivers through aging, healthcare transitions, adoption journeys, and experiences of loss.
She specializes in grief, anxiety, depression, and life transitions, offering compassionate, collaborative care to help you process change and move forward with clarity and resilience.
✨ Now accepting new clients
📍 In-Person (Northwest Suburbs of Illinois)
💻 Virtual (IL)