Rima Mickus , LCPC, LPC

Rima Mickus is a licensed counselor practicing with professional credentials in both Illinois and Arizona. She holds LCPC and LPC licenses - Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor and Licensed Professional Counselor - and brings 17 years of clinical experience, with private practice work dating back to 2013. Her academic background includes a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from Benedictine University in Illinois.

She focuses on helping adults navigate relationship challenges, anxiety, insomnia, grief, trauma and abuse, and other life transitions. Much of her work centers on improving communication, understanding personality and family-of-origin influences, and clarifying what healthy boundaries and respectful behavior look like. Rima has post-graduate training in couples counseling and relationship coaching, and additional training addressing domestic violence and non-drug treatments for sleep difficulties.

Rima also integrates health and wellness coaching into her practice to support mood, fitness, and weight-management goals. She is trained in evidence-informed approaches to insomnia treatment - including a structured CBT-I program learned from Dr. Gregg Jacobs of Harvard Medical School - which uses weekly sleep logs and a 5-6 week framework to improve sleep patterns and, when appropriate, coordinate with medical supervision for medication tapering. Rima maintains regular messaging contact as part of her therapeutic model and typically checks messages at least twice per day during her general hours of M-F 9 am-4 pm CT. She is not currently accepting new clients.

Evidence-Informed Approaches for Online Counseling

Rima uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to help clients identify and change thought and behavior patterns that contribute to anxiety, depression, and sleep difficulties. CBT breaks challenges into manageable steps and builds practical skills for coping and problem solving.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is another approach she applies to help people clarify their values, practice acceptance of difficult feelings, and take actions that align with meaningful life directions. ACT is useful for stress, life transitions, and avoidance-based problems.

For clients with trauma-related symptoms, Rima draws on EMDR principles to support processing of distressing memories in a paced way that can reduce emotional intensity and improve daily functioning.

Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. She works with each person to match methods to their goals, preferences, and needs, adjusting strategies as therapy progresses. Rima offers online sessions by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to increase flexibility. These options make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life, maintain continuity between meetings, and use structured programs like sleep-focused CBT across sessions and messaging support.