Ilkmen

April Nisan Ilkmen, Ph. D., LMFT is a Clinical Training Director and Assistant Professor at Northern Illinois University. Her therapeutic style is gently reflective, providing clients an in-depth understanding of their emotional processes and attachment needs.She believes that everyone experiences emotions in life that can be overwhelming and anxiety-ridden. Many of these symptoms reflect inner conflicts and desires, but also early attachment injuries. She helps her patients work toward alleviating the symptoms they bring to therapy while also encouraging them to take an intimate look at what is contributing to their struggles so that long-term change becomes possible.

Dr. Ilkmen’s teaching and clinical interests are related to attachment in romantic relationships and issues of social justice in the field of psychotherapy. Dr. Ilkmen grew up in Turkey, has lived in Canada, and now resides in the U.S. Her immigration experience, and multi-cultural background allowed her to become a culturally sensitive clinician and professor. Dr.Ilkmen identifies as a social justice qualitative researcher with a focus on the experiences of families across identities and dimensions of culture. She is currently affiliated with the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute and in ongoing psychoanalytic supervision.