Elaine Gordon, AM, LCSW, CADC, A-CBT is the owner and founder of Elaine Gordon Wellness. She is a solution-focused therapist with a collaborative, non-judgemental, and client centered approach to treatment. Elaine provides a safe and supportive environment for individuals to explore their challenges and make progress towards creating meaningful and sustainable changes in their lives.

Clinical Experience and Specialties
Elaine specializes in the evidence-based treatment of mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and substance use disorders. She has extensive training in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), including exposure-based treatments (ERP), and motivational interviewing, as well as contextual behavioral therapies such as acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), and mindfulness-based therapies. Elaine has experience working with diverse populations in a variety of settings providing treatment to individuals suffering from depression, generalized anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), panic disorder, social anxiety, phobias, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and substance use disorders.

Elaine is also a certified alcohol and drug counselor with experience treating substance use disorders, as well as co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders. She specializes in working with those for whom conventional forms of substance use treatment have been ineffective or do not match with clients goals regarding their substance use. Elaine approaches substance use from a harm reduction perspective, using stage based interventions and incorporating motivational interviewing.  She supports her clients right to choose the course and nature of their recovery.

Background, Education, and Training
Prior to starting her own psychotherapy, clinical supervision, and consulting business, Elaine completed an advanced and intensive CBT fellowship training program at the Depression and Anxiety Specialty Clinic of Chicago (DASC). After completing her year long fellowship, she remained with the practice for 11 years in various roles including Director of Training, Student Placement Coordinator, and supervisor to social work graduate students and early career clinicians, as well as serving on the Leadership team at DASC. Before joining DASC, Elaine spent many years working as a clinician and clinical supervisor in a number of different settings, including community mental health, outpatient addiction treatment, and the criminal justice system, providing services to individuals with severe and persistent mental illness, substance use disorders, co-occurring disorders, and those re-entering the community following incarceration. In these settings, Elaine also gained significant experience with program development, program and administrative oversight, and clinical supervision.

Elaine completed a year long Contextual Behavior Therapy Fellowship Program through The University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration. As ongoing training is a priority to Elaine, this program provided her with opportunities in which she could further expand her grasp of third-wave behavioral approaches to facilitate meaningful change within a radically accepting therapist-client partnership.

Elaine earned her Master's degree in Social Work from The University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration with a concentration in clinical practice. She specialized in mental health, substance use, and evidence-based practices.
 

Supervision and Consultation Experience
In addition to being a psychotherapist, Elaine offers clinical supervision to licensed clinical social workers employed by Chicago based community agencies, masters level social workers seeking clinical supervision towards their clinical license, and those who serve in various professional clinical roles. 

Elaine served as a member of the Statewide Women's Justice Task Force of Illinois working to build the nation's first plan to cut the number of women in state prisons by at least 50% using a gender-specific lens. She has also provided program consultation to a local non-profit agency regarding their counseling services. Elaine has consulted for the Cook County Jail, assisting in creating mental health programming and treatment for individuals identified with mental health needs, both while detained and post-release.


Affiliations and Membership
Elaine is a member of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS), and the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA). Elaine is a Certified Diplomate with the Academy of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies (A-CBT).

Outside of the Office
When not working, Elaine enjoys spending time outdoors, exploring new restaurants, getting back into playing tennis after a very long hiatus, partnering with her husband to play NYT wordle and connections, and connecting with good friends. She lives in the city of Chicago with her husband and 14 year-old dog, Basel. Elaine also frequently travels to Colorado to get her much needed fixes of sunshine, dry mountain air, hiking, and the stunning landscape.