Build the Love Life Deserve with Wendi Lev, LCSW, ACSW, CADC
Dating and relationships can be a source of immense joy and connection, but they can also be the most painful, leaving us feeling unsatisfied, rejected, and distraught. Whether you’re fumbling through the maze of online dating, longing for marriage, recovering after heartbreak, or navigating relational challenges, relationship therapy can enable you to define what you want most out of a relationship, mend emotional wounds, and create the connections you deserve.
For over 25 years, I’ve been helping individuals overcome relational challenges, heal emotional wounds, and discover tools (secret weapons) to build healthy partnerships. Using proven, evidence-based techniques such as psychodynamic therapy, CBT, emotionally focused therapy (EFT), and attachment-based approaches, I provide a space for exploration and growth. Whether you’re battling heartbreak, loneliness, or fears of rejection, I’m here to help you shift from pain to empowerment and create the fulfilling relationship you deserve.
Why Dating and Relationship Therapy?
Relational struggles often touch our most vulnerable wounds and can bring up powerful emotions, such as loneliness, rejection, or fear of being unlovable. You might feel:
- “I’m the only one of my friends who is still single.”
- “Why do I keep picking people who don’t treat me well?”
- “What’s wrong with me? Will I ever be loved?’’
- “Why does this breakup still hurt so much?’’
Breakups, heartbreak, and the struggles of singlehood often leave people feeling hopeless. For some, these experiences lead to depression, anxiety, and even substance misuse. Watching people around you settle into marriage can amplify feelings of isolation, self-doubt, or panic, especially when you feel stuck or left behind.
If societal expectations, biological pressures, and pain from past relationships are overpowering you, you don’t have to carry this alone (I get it-I have been there). Dating and relationship therapy offers a path to process the pain, reframe negative patterns, and build the emotional strength to create healthy, secure relationships.
Why Dating and Relationship Therapy?
I incorporate proven evidence-based techniques to meet each client’s unique needs to navigate relational issues:
- Psychodynamic Therapy – How it helps: We’ll uncover hidden emotional wounds or unconscious patterns that shape your relational life, allowing you to attain clarity and control over your choices moving forward.
- Attachment-Based Therapy – How it helps: Together, we’ll identify your attachment style and work to create emotional security in your current or future relationships. This approach allows you to address fears of rejection or abandonment holding you back and build healthier dynamics.
- Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy – How it helps: By identifying thought patterns (such as “I’m not good enough or “I’ll always be alone”), you’ll learn to replace fear-based beliefs with more realistic perspectives. CBT also provides tools to manage anxiety, panic, and self-doubt during dating and relational transitions.
- Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) – How it helps: If you are in a relationship, EFT helps partners identify and repair harmful cycles, repair miscommunication, and foster trust, love, and understanding. If you are single, these skills enhance your future relational success.
- Relational Self-Awareness: Drawing on Dr. Alexandra Solomon’s methods from The Dating Crucible, relational self-awareness helps you explore your inner world—your fears, patterns, and unmet needs—in the context of relationships. How it helps: This framework turns relational pain or dating stress into opportunities for self-exploration and meaningful growth.
Navigating Heartbreak and Singlehood
It’s essential to acknowledge just how heavy breakups and singlehood can feel. These experiences aren’t just “phases” – they can touch on some of the deepest longings we have as humans: a desire for love, connection, and belonging.
Navigating Heartbreak and Singlehood
Breakups are often heart-wrenching, leaving you overwhelmed by sadness, rejection, or regret. For some, heartbreak spins into thoughts like, “What’s wrong with me?” or, “What if I’ll never find love again?” Relationship Therapy can help you:
- Process your grief and find meaning in the loss.
- Let go of self-blame, isolation, or unresolved emotions.
- Address deeper feelings, such as rejection or inadequacy.
- Attain powerful tools to rebuild self-worth and hope.
What if You’re Battling the Pain of Being Single?
Being single can bring a unique kind of distress, especially if marriage or family-building feels out of reach. Watching your friends get married, fielding questions about “when are you going to settle down,” or living with a ticking biological clock can be formidable. You might spiral into fear-based thoughts:
- “Am I falling behind?”
- “Something must be wrong with me?”
- “I am running out of time.”
PLEASE DO NOT PANIC-I am here to walk alongside you. Panic impairs decision-making. Trust me, being single is not a death sentence, permanent, nor as devastating as it may seem at the moment. Hey, it is becoming more prevalent every day.
The good news is that these feelings can be explored, understood, and reframed. Relationship therapy helps you:
- Find confidence in yourself. Independent of relationship status.
- Quiet the panic and create purposeful action around your dating goals.
- Rewrite painful patterns (such as choosing unavailable partners).
Your worth is not defined by whether you are in a relationship. Through relationship therapy, you’ll learn how to embrace this chapter of your life as an opportunity for empowerment, mastery, and healing while preparing for the love you desire and deserve in the future.
The Gottman Seven Principles for Singles: Lessons in Love Workshop
In addition to therapy, I am proud to offer the Gottman Seven Principles for Singles Workshop—a hands-on program designed for individuals seeking to enhance their
relational skills.
What You’ll Learn:
- Skills to strengthen connection and emotional intimacy
- Tools to identify and avoid unhealthy relational patterns
- Ways to prepare for lifetime commitments based on trust and mutual
- understanding
This workshop normalizes singlehood, providing a supportive environment where you’ll work alongside other individuals committed to personal growth. It’s a powerful opportunity to break the stigma of being single and build skills for healthy relationships at any stage in life.
Why Choose Wendi Lev, LCSW, ACSW, CADC for Dating and Relationship Counseling in Chicago?
With over 25 years of experience as a therapist specializing in dating, relationships, and relationship pain, combined with a plethora of life experience in this area, you will not be disappointed.