April Balzhiser
Family-focused counselor for parents and caregivers
- Credentials
- LCPC
- Experience
- 18 years
- Licensed in
- Illinois
- Languages
- English
- Format
- Online sessions
About April
April Balzhiser is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC) based in Illinois who focuses on family and parenting concerns alongside stress, anxiety, and relationship issues. She draws on 18 years of experience in social services and mental health settings. April works with adults and families affected by trauma, loss, addiction, caregiving strain, and life transitions.
She aims to make sessions direct and understandable for busy parents and caregivers. April prefers a straightforward, person-first style.
Background and approach
She listens closely and meets people where they are. Sessions prioritize practical steps that can be used at home with children or partners. She encourages small changes that build stronger family routines and clearer communication.
Her background includes long-term work in domestic violence response, sexual assault support, child welfare and foster care, and alternative schooling programs. That experience informs her approach to safety, boundaries, and family systems. It also shaped her work with blended families, adoption and foster care concerns, and attachment issues.
April uses methods that mix talking, skill practice, and gentle problem solving. Expect tools drawn from cognitive behavioral techniques, mindfulness, and motivational interviewing to manage stress and moods. She also draws on dialectical behavior therapy skills to handle intense emotions and improve relationships.
April offers sessions through video calls, phone, live chat, and text messaging. Fees vary with location and a subscription model is used that can be canceled at any time. To begin, a prospective client completes a short matching questionnaire and schedules a session.
Therapeutic approaches and online support for families
April commonly blends cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness approaches in online sessions. CBT helps people notice unhelpful thoughts and test new ways of thinking that change mood and behavior. Mindfulness practices teach simple ways to stay present and reduce reactivity, which can help during stressful parenting moments.She also uses dialectical behavior therapy skills when emotions run high. DBT offers short, usable tools for managing strong feelings and improving communication within relationships and family interactions. Each method focuses on concrete skills a client can try between sessions to see what works for their family.
Finding the right mix of approaches is part of the work. April collaborates with clients to choose techniques that fit their goals, needs, and daily routines. She adjusts strategies as progress is made or challenges shift, so therapy stays practical and relevant.
Online therapy options include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. These formats offer flexibility for parents balancing school runs, appointments, and work. They make it possible to keep momentum between meetings and to practice skills in real time where family life happens.
Client-Centered Therapy
The direction comes from you rather than from a set programme. The therapist offers a warm, non-judgemental space to think out loud and work at your own pace. Online, this rests on the relationship rather than on being in the same room.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT looks at the link between what you think, how you feel, and what you do. You work on noticing unhelpful patterns and practising steadier responses. It suits online sessions well, because much of the work happens between appointments and can be talked through from anywhere.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
Concrete skills for riding out strong emotion, tolerating distress, and handling relationships without things escalating. The skills are practised in daily life, so between-session support by message or phone fits naturally.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also works with
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Attachment issues
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating and food-related issues
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Personality disorders
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 18 years
- Licensed
- Illinois
- Languages
- English
Next step
Talk to April
- Takes a few minutes
- Nothing to set up just to look
- Stop at any point