Kasey Messner, MSW, LSW, received her Master’s of Social Work Degree from the Jane Addams College of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is a Licensed Social Worker. Kasey works part-time at ECFA’s Wheaton office doing individual, couple, and family therapy, as well as play therapy with children. Kasey’s areas of clinical strength include working with children, adolescents, and their parents around issues of anxiety and depression, grief and loss, communication, conflict resolution, and adjustment to various life stages. Kasey is certified to administer the Prepare/Enrich premarital or marital inventory. Kasey has a passion for women’s mental health issues, including post-partum anxiety and depression. When asked about counseling, Kasey states, “Counseling provides a supportive environment for individuals and families to partner with a caring professional. From this partnership, people can work through life’s challenges, learning more about themselves and those around them.”

Gay Lynn Patton, MA, LPC, received her Master’s of Clinical Psychology from Wheaton College, and is credentialed as a Licensed Professional Counselor and a Board Certified Professional Christian Counselor. She works part-time at ECFA Counseling Centers in the Wheaton office doing individual therapy across all age groups, as well as couples therapy, family therapy, and parent coaching. Gay’s approach is often to use evidence-based treatments. For example, when appropriate, she uses an approach for parent coaching which is proven to change parent-child interaction patterns and improve the quality of the parent-child relationship. Also, she is certified in Prepare/Enrich premarital and marital counseling, and is interested in relationship reconciliation and conflict regulation within families. She believes it is possible for everyone to tap into their God-given creative nature to find new ways of coping with traumatic life experiences, and also to begin recapturing their true identities. When asked about counseling, Gay states, “For me, the goal of counseling is to facilitate processes of renewal and also deep restoration of hope with souls that are weary and wounded.”