Helping clients feel safer within themselves.
Janell has worked as a social worker since 2011, with experience in school social work, private practice, and psychiatric hospital settings. She specializes in supporting adolescents through adulthood using an integrative, trauma-responsive approach.
Her work focuses on nervous system regulation, attachment wounds, anxiety, trauma, relationship patterns, and meaningful life transitions. She integrates Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, somatic therapy, polyvagal theory, and attachment theory to help clients understand their experiences and create sustainable change. Janell is also certified to administer the Safe & Sound Protocol as a supplement to therapy to enhance autonomic nervous system safety.
Janell received her bachelor’s degree from Northern Illinois University as a double major in psychology and sociology, and went on to earn her Master of Social Work from Aurora University.
In addition to her clinical work and experience in school settings, Janell serves on the DuPage County Youth Mental Health Subcommittee and the Illinois Northern Region Permanency Enhancement Team, where she collaborates with professionals across the region to improve permanency outcomes for youth in foster care.
Outside of work, Janell enjoys hanging out with family and friends, being outdoors, and staying active.