Angie Rush, LCSW, provides therapy for children, adolescents and their parents. She has a warm, inviting and casual style of interacting with families. Her approach is to treat the child within the context of the family. She believes that parents are an integral part of the treatment and encourages active participation in the therapy. She utilizes a relational approach that is integrated with other forms of treatment that may be applicable, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, play therapy and trauma focused interventions. She believes that change occurs when the child or adolescent feels connected to their family and community and grows individually as their sense of self further develops. Angie truly enjoys helping parents understand their children based on child development and temperament and helping children to regulate their emotions and behaviors in productive ways, resulting in a stronger relationship with more laughter and greater enjoyment.
Angie joined the practice in August 2015 and has over 17 years of experience working with children and families. She earned her Master of Social Work degree from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign in 1998. She has worked in various outpatient settings, including a children’s hospital focusing trauma focused treatment for victims of abuse and neglect. She has extensive experience working with children and adolescents who have experienced various forms of abuse, trauma and traumatic loss. Angie has particular expertise in addressing anxiety and is trained in Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE). She works with parents to reduce parental accommodations related to their child’s anxiety and increase supportive reactions to their child/teenager’s anxiety.
At Rooted Connections, Angie is a therapist and clinical supervisor. Angie provides individual therapy to children, adolescents and their parents. She treats a wide variety of symptoms, including anxiety, depression, grief/loss and trauma. In addition to SPACE treatment, another area of specialty for Angie includes consultation services for parents related to healthy sleep habits and sleep interventions for infants and young children. She provides evaluations of sleep disturbances and interventions to eliminate sleep disturbances, such as frequent night wakings, difficulty remaining in the bedroom and bedtime refusal.
Angie enjoys being outdoors and loves to garden, hike and enjoy the peaceful serenity of nature. She is also a spiritual person and has an immense wonder related to the world and the interconnectedness of all living things. While participating in a spiritual gathering, she was struck by the leader’s discussion about the root system of redwoods. Redwood trees are centered and strong because their roots are robustly intertwined with each other. The roots often go only five or six feet deep, but they extend outward up to a hundred feet from the trunk. Each tree is deeply sustained by the larger, wider system of roots that provides stability, enabling them to grow high in the sky. This example in nature perfectly exemplifies the name of Rooted Connections.
Services Angie provides:
Angie’s Contact Information:
773-417-6342 ext. 2000