Therapist Spotlight: Taylor Pettway, AMFT

CCRC is proud to periodically spotlight one of our staff therapists so as to give you a chance to get to know their unique qualities and interests. Today's spotlight is on Taylor Pettway, AMFT.

1. Tell us a bit about yourself!

My name is Taylor Pettway, born and raised in the South, specifically in Alabama and Georgia. I hold my Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Creative Writing from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia and my Masters of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Additionally, I am a fellow with the New Writers’ Fellowship with Family Process, a creative writer, and provide case management and therapeutic services to foster and adoptive families as an IPS/MAC Clinician with Jewish Child and Family Services here in Chicago,

2. Do you have a specific focus or interest in your clinical work?

Specifically, my areas of clinical focus include relational conflict, parenting and family sculpting with blended and single-parent families, men and women’s issues, intergenerational trauma, attachment, self-development, development, systemic racism and oppression, and mindfulness body practices. My current research is focused on the impact of intergenerational trauma in African American communities and culturally-nuanced healing through Integrative Systemic Therapy (IST). I am working towards my licensure as a Marriage and Family Therapist here in Illinois and am certified by the Alabama Department of Education in Secondary English Language Arts Education, grades six through 12.

3. Where do you see yourself professionally over time? Do you have any particular goals as a therapist?

Professionally, it is my goal to place a mental health clinician in every existing community center in the Southeast region of the United States. I would like to provide holistic healing, such as mental and nutritional health, to disadvantaged communities and specifically communities of color. Currently, I am developing my skills as a community consultant and exploring communal healing within the Chicagoland area and Chicago Park Districts.

4. How do you think change happens?

The change that we all seek lies within our stories being validated and understood. Once we feel witnessed to and connected, it is easier to accept collaboration with others to improve our individual conditions and realities.

5. Do you have any favorite books or movies or music? Why those in particular?

I strive to be a lifelong learner and reader, two of my favorite books are Songs of Solomon by Toni Morrison and If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson. Because Toni Morrison is a Black woman literary titan, Songs of Solomon continues her legacy of elegantly displaying the immense complexity of the Black woman and man experience. Also, though If You Come Softly is a young teen novel, Woodson intricately explores the intersections of race and love that provide necessary pieces of the blueprint for existing with our differences in today’s world.

Taylor currently sees clients at our South Loop and Northside locations.

She can be reached by phone at 312-375-9664, and by email at TaylorPMFT@gmail.com.