IFSTherapists

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LCSW

Leah Renfro, LCSW

  • Experience14 years
  • LocationIllinois
  • Focus areasStress and Anxiety, Relationship, and Family
  • Therapy approachesInternal Family Systems and Client-Centered Therapy
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About Leah

Leah Renfro is a licensed clinical social worker with 14 years of experience. She focuses on helping people manage stress, anxiety, depression, relationship struggles, and major life changes.

Background and approach

Leah aims to create a calm space where people can talk honestly about what they are facing and start making practical changes. Leah often uses Internal Family Systems alongside client-centered and cognitive behavioral approaches.

She helps people understand the parts of themselves that get in the way of feeling connected, calm, and clear. Sessions focus on small, manageable steps that feel realistic for daily life.

Her background includes long-term work with adoptive and foster care concerns, blended family adjustments, attachment issues, and neurodevelopmental differences such as autism and Asperger syndrome. She also supports individuals coping with caregiver stress, grief, body image, and relationship pain such as infidelity and separation.

Leah has experience addressing mood disorders including bipolar presentations and disruptive mood challenges. She works with parents who need help with parenting stress and people facing career transitions or feelings of emptiness and isolation.

Her approach tends to be practical, compassionate, and tailored to each person’s situation. Leah practices in Illinois and uses her clinical training to guide clear, step-by-step work.

She encourages collaboration about goals and keeps conversation focused on what will help most right now.

How Leah blends approaches for online work

Leah often draws on Internal Family Systems to help people notice and speak with the inner parts that influence behavior and emotions. IFS can be useful for stress, anxiety, and relationship patterns because it highlights internal conflicts and offers a way to relate to those parts differently.

She also uses Client-Centered Therapy, which centers the conversation on the person's own goals and timing, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and testing small behavior changes. These approaches help with mood, coping, and practical problem solving.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. Leah will talk with each person about their goals and preferences and pick methods together. That collaborative step helps make sessions feel relevant and doable.

Confirm the specific session options before booking so you know what formats are available. Online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions into busy days, allow shorter check-ins when needed, and remove travel time. It also lets people choose setups that work for them, such as audio-only for lower bandwidth or video when visual connection helps the work.

Frequently asked questions

What kinds of concerns can Leah help with?
She helps people with stress, anxiety, depression, relationship and family concerns, grief, parenting strain, career changes, bipolar mood issues, and intimacy-related problems.
What is her therapeutic style like?
Leah combines a warm, practical approach with focused techniques. Sessions often blend listening, reflection, and real-life strategies to try between meetings.
How much experience does she have?
She has 14 years of clinical experience working with a range of life transitions, mood concerns, and relationship difficulties.
What credentials does she hold and where does she practice?
She is an LCSW licensed in Illinois and provides services from that state.
Can I work with her if I live outside the United States?
Sessions are offered in English and she is not accepting international clients at this time.
Which session formats are offered?
Please confirm current session options before booking so you know whether remote or in-person formats are available for scheduling.
How are fees and payment handled?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability; sessions use a subscription that can be canceled at any time.
What do I do to get started?
Click the Start Therapy button, complete the short matching questionnaire, and then schedule according to therapist availability.

Areas of expertise

Primary focus

Stress, AnxietyRelationship issuesFamily conflictsDepressionCoping with life changes

Also works with

GriefIntimacy-related issuesParenting issuesCareer difficultiesBipolar disorder

Additional focus areas

Adoption and foster careAttachment issuesAutism and Asperger SyndromeBlended family issuesBody imageCaregiver issues and stressCommunication problemsDisruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)Divorce and separationEmptinessFamily problemsForgivenessInfidelityIntellectual disabilityIsolation / lonelinessJealousyLife purposeMoney and financial issuesMood disordersPersonality disordersPostpartum depressionPregnancy and childbirthSocial anxiety and phobiaWomen's issuesYoung adult issues

Therapeutic approaches

Client-Centered TherapyCognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)Gottman MethodMotivational InterviewingTrauma-Focused TherapyInternal Family Systems

Experience

14+ years

Licensed

Illinois

Languages

English