Specialties

ANXIETY IMPOSTER PHENOMENON PERFECTIONISM EATING AND BODY IMAGE WOMEN’S ISSUES

Get to know Dr. Keramidas

Dr. Keramidas earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and completed her master’s and Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at the University of Missouri – Kansas City. Dr. Keramidas worked extensively with college students during her generalist training, completing her doctoral internship at UW Madison’s University Health Services and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Illinois Chicago’s Counseling Center.

Through these professional experiences, Dr. Keramidas developed special interest in working with anxiety, perfectionism, “impostor syndrome,” women’s issues, relationship issues, and self-confidence. She also works with body image and mild disordered eating concerns from a Health At Every Size® approach.

Working with these concerns in therapy, Dr. Keramidas believes that many of our “symptoms” are coping mechanisms that once helped us survive traumatic circumstances such as abusive relationships, oppression, or poverty. Although these coping strategies once allowed us to meet our needs under less-than-ideal circumstances, they may no longer serve us once our circumstances change. In her work with clients, Dr. Keramidas values exploration of impactful early experiences where these patterns may have formed to help clients better understand themselves and their challenges. In addition to exploration of the past, Dr. Keramidas emphasizes the importance of fully experiencing present emotions to process the information they are trying to communicate. Equipped with this insight, Dr. Keramidas works with clients to honor the way in which their old coping kept them safe in the past and create space to explore new ways of approaching their problems. One of Dr. Keramidas’s goals for all her clients is that through the therapeutic process, they learn to foster the same genuine compassion toward themselves that they so readily offer to their loved ones.

In the therapy room with clients, Dr. Keramidas strives to create a space where all clients feel validated, heard, and empowered. Above all, Dr. Keramidas values the development of a genuine, therapeutic relationship in which others feel safe to show up authentically, even in moments when that may feel especially messy or vulnerable. Dr. Keramidas has received feedback from past clients that therapy has felt consistently compassionate, warm, informal, and sensitive to the impact of various cultural identities. Previous clients have also remarked that Dr. Keramidas is quite easy to talk to and that therapy often felt similar to confiding in a close friend.

Outside the therapy room, Dr. Keramidas is a proud parent of three cats. She enjoys cooking, dancing, running to music, relaxing in front of a good TV show, and exploring new restaurants and coffee shops across the city.