About Dr. Brittany Sievers

I’m Brittany Sievers, PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist providing online therapy for individuals and couples in Illinois, Texas, and PSYPACT states.

My work focuses on helping people understand the emotional and relational patterns shaping their lives — especially when communication skills coaching and all the self help book insight alone hasn’t been enough to create change.

I’m drawn to work that is honest, emotionally engaged, and brings humor to the heaviness that our life histories can sometimes hold. Therapy with me is not passive. I listen carefully, ask direct questions, and help interrupt patterns that keep people stuck so new ways of relating can emerge.

I pride myself on the fact that humor and relatability are essential to our work together. We will take our work seriously but we won’t take ourselves too seriously.

Who I Work With

I work with individuals and couples who:

  • feel overwhelmed by recurring conflict or emotional distance

  • grew up around emotional unpredictability, substance use, or difficult family dynamics

  • find themselves overextending, shutting down, or reacting in ways they later regret

  • feel shame about struggling in their relationships despite trying hard to “get it right”

  • want deeper emotional connection, not just better communication

  • are ready to look honestly at how they contribute to the relationship dynamic instead of staying stuck in the blame game

  • are trying to build something healthier than what they experienced growing up

My Approach

I believe relationship struggles rarely exist in isolation. They develop through lived experiences — early environments, emotional learning, cultural expectations, and the ways people learned to cope when connection felt uncertain or overwhelming.

My work focuses on helping people understand what is happening beneath conflict, distance, and reactive patterns so change becomes possible at a deeper level.

I take an active role in therapy. I help slow conversations down, notice patterns in real time, and guide clients toward new emotional experiences rather than simply discussing problems.

My approach integrates:

  • Emotionally Focused Therapy for couples

  • trauma-informed care

  • evidence-based treatment for substance use

  • harm reduction and Motivational Interviewing

  • a social-contextual framework that considers identity, culture, and power dynamics

This means we look not only at individual behavior, but also at how relationships are shaped by broader experiences and social context.

Training and Professional Background

My clinical and leadership experience has been shaped by residential and outpatient treatment programs, university counseling centers, group practice, trauma-focused fellowship training, and the Veterans Health Administration in Illinois. Across these settings, I’ve worked with individuals and couples carrying the impact of domestic violence, sexual assault, abusive or chaotic childhoods, substance use, chronic depression, suicidality, anger, complex mental health diagnoses, and the coping patterns people develop around painful histories.

I began clinical training in 2015 and have continued to deepen my work in couples therapy, trauma treatment, and substance use intervention. This background helps me stay grounded in emotionally intense work while helping clients make meaningful, lasting changes.

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The Details

    • Certified externship in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) for Couples

    • Advanced coursework and live supervision in EFT for Couples

    • Level 1 Training in Relational Life Therapy (Terry Real)

    • Certified in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Substance Use Disorders

    • Training in Motivational Interviewing and harm reduction approaches

    • Two-year postdoctoral fellowship in trauma psychology

  • Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Illinois (071.010909)
    Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Texas (39808)
    PsyPact License (18507)

    Postdoctoral Fellowship in Trauma Psychology, Chicago, IL (2022)
    APA-Accredited Predoctoral Internship,
    University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Counseling Center (2020)
    PhD in Counseling Psychology,
    Southern Illinois University Carbondale (2020)
    Graduate Certificate in Substance Use Counseling,
    University of Illinois Springfield (2015)

  • Veterans Health Administration

    University of Texas at Austin

    Trauma Fellowship at Bridgepoint Psychology Center, Chicago

    Residential & Outpatient Substance Use Treatment

    Group Practice

What Makes My Work Different

Many couples come to therapy focused on the argument, mistake, or crisis happening right now.

While those conversations matter, my focus is on the deeper relationship patterns underneath them. The conflict you’re having today is often connected to lessons learned long before you met each other.

I help couples understand how family history, trauma, substance use, culture, and past relationship experiences continue to shape the way they communicate, trust, and connect. I help couples say the things that feel too scary, painful, or vulnerable to say out loud. And if the hard conversations are only coming out through criticism, shutdown, or explosive fights, I’ll help you communicate the message without the patterns that keep causing harm.

My style is active, direct, and engaged. I won’t sit back and watch the same fight play out week after week. I’ll help you identify what’s happening in real time, challenge patterns that aren’t working, and create space for conversations that usually feel impossible. I also have a knack for helping people open up when they aren’t sure how to put their experience into words.

My work recognizes that relationships are influenced by power, culture, and larger social systems. I don’t ignore experiences of oppression, overlook cultural strengths, or assume every relationship problem is shared equally.

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