About Thomas
Dr. Thomas Kadela offers a straightforward, respectful approach for people facing stress, anxiety, sleep problems, depression, trauma, substance concerns, and related life challenges. He is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, LCSW, with about 30 years of experience.
He writes in a direct style and treats each person as an equal partner in the work. Sessions are shaped around what the person wants to address, whether symptom relief, coaching, or skills practice.
Background and approach
He draws on several practical methods to help people manage emotions, rebuild routines, and reduce distress. That can include cognitive behavioral strategies to change unhelpful thinking, acceptance and commitment ideas for living around difficult feelings, and mindfulness skills to calm the mind. He also offers approaches useful for sleep problems and anger concerns when those are the focus.
Dr. Kadela has a long clinical and teaching background and has worked in inpatient, outpatient, and residential settings. He has held leadership and training roles and has published and presented professionally.
His experience includes work with veterans and military service, and he currently balances that full-time work with limited practice in an online setting. In sessions he seeks a practical balance of conversation, skill teaching, and homework when appropriate. People can use him for coaching, problem solving, or more structured therapies that include between-session practice.
He aims to blend attention to body, mind, and what matters most to the person. He practices from Illinois and offers English-language care online. He does not take international clients.
Session formats include video calls, phone, live chat, and text-based messaging. To begin, someone completes a short matching questionnaire and schedules according to availability.
Therapeutic approaches and online care
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice painful thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them, then take steps toward a life they value. It is useful when someone wants to live more fully despite anxiety, depression, or chronic pain. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on changing patterns of thinking and behavior that keep problems going; it is commonly used for anxiety, depression, and sleep issues and often includes clear homework tasks.Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist treats this as a collaboration - they will talk about goals, try a method, and adjust based on what helps. That means some sessions may focus on skills practice, others on coaching or problem solving, and the plan can change as needs evolve.
Online therapy options include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video allows face-to-face conversation and visual cues, phone may fit when bandwidth is limited, live chat can suit brief check-ins, and messaging supports ongoing connection and short reflections between sessions. These formats make it easier to fit therapy into busy schedules and to keep momentum between meetings.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Trauma and abuse
- Sleeping disorders
Also works with
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Coaching
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- First responder issues
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Narcissism
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 30 years
- Licensed
- Illinois
- Languages
- English