Dr. Laufer is an experienced clinician, evaluator, speaker, and researcher. She communicates clearly and effectively, and in addition to private practice, has served as a consultant to physicians, lawyers, and mental health professionals.

Dr. Laufer’s expertise is:

• Domestic Violence/Intimate Partner Violence

• Perinatal and Reproductive Psychology

• Postpartum Anxiety

• Depression in Pregnancy

• PTSD

• Infanticide

I am an IL licensed clinical psychologist, working with people - providing therapy, family counseling, teaching, and consultation - for over 15 years.  I graduated from University of Wisconsin at Madison, earning my B.A. with honors in the disciplines of Political Philosophy and Women’s Studies. I earned both my Masters and my Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies, where my doctoral research focused on the treatment of Schizophrenia.

Here is an article I wrote about Psychosis and the Countertransference.

Here is a piece I wrote about my relationship to my schizophrenic brother.

My training began with the severely mentally ill at San Francisco General Hospital and then the worried well at Haight Ashbury Psychological Services. After moving to New York City, I completed a certification at the Manhattan Institute For Psychoanalysis. Upon completing my doctorate, I fulfilled my postdoctoral internship at Midtown Counseling Services, an all female group private practice, where I treated adults and couples, focusing on trauma and anger. I then moved to Maine where I began my work with families, adolescents, and issues of addiction.

Before launching into private practice, I worked at PEER Services Inc. in downtown Evanston and at Evanston Township High School, treating adolescents who struggle with substance use. For several years I taught a Life Strategies class at Evanston Township High School to freshman through seniors who needed behavioral and academic support.  

My memberships include Postpartum Support International, the American Psychological Association, The International Marce Society for Perinatal Mental Health, The International Association for Jungian Studies and The International Society for Psychological Approaches to Psychosis,

Background:  I was born and raised in Wisconsin, but I have lived on both coasts. After 11 years away from the Midwest, I returned home to practice psychology, continue my training, write, speak and raise my two wild children.