Kasia Wereszczynska, MA, LCPC, RYT

Founder & Executive Director

Kasia Wereszczynska, MA, LCPC, RYT, co-founded and is clinical director of counseling speaks, LLC, a multicultural group practice serving the Chicago metropolitan. She has an extensive training and 15+ years’ experience in crisis intervention, cognitive-behavioral therapy and positive psychology. She has provided counseling to a culturally diverse population serving the South Side of Chicago and the North Shore area. She has a history of working in various settings including the mental health court system, hospital emergency rooms, community mental health agencies, schools and both inpatient/outpatient psychiatric hospital settings. Wereszczynska graduated with her Master’s from the Illinois School of Psychology and serves on the Chi Sigma Iota (CSI) International Counselor Community Engagement Committee, Illinois Diversity in Leadership Task Force Committee, and the Argosy University Counselor Education Advisory Board. She is past President of both the Chicago Counseling Association (CCA) and the Illinois Association of Multicultural Counseling (IAMC). In addition, she teaches psychology classes at the University of St. Francis and Oakton Community College.

Within and among the aforementioned roles, Ms. Wereszczynska has received due recognition. In late 2017 she received the Distinguished Service Award for Outstanding Service to Mental Health Counseling as a Profession awarded by the Illinois Mental Health Counselors Association. In early 2017, she earned the Women You Should Know Award via She Rocks It, an organization that celebrates women leaders. In 2016 she was nominated for the Beauty Inside Out Reflection Award, which “celebrate(s) and honor(s) the life-changing and life- affirming contributions and success of beautiful women everywhere”. In 2015 she received the University of St. Francis College of Arts & Sciences Alumni Award due to her contributions in the counseling and psychology field. In 2014 she received the Women Who Change the World award, namely for her work with In Her Shoes Foundation. And in 2013 she received the Leading Ladies International Award, noting her efforts toward educating and empowering multicultural individuals.

She is an international speaker with noted presentations in the US, Poland, Italy, Canada, Switzerland and Hungary, based on her areas of expertise: “Compassion Fatigue, Vicarious Trauma and Burnout-The Cost of Caring” and “Rising above: A multicultural approach to mentoring women towards successful careers in counseling and psychology.” She is the founder of In Her Shoes Foundation, a 501c(3) nonprofit organization that brings together women of all ages and backgrounds to inspire, connect, educate and support the development and maintenance of a healthy and positive lifestyle.

Kasia's passion in life, giving hope to others, is what she has done throughout her years of experience as a crisis worker on the Southside of Chicago, which led to her founding of In Her Shoes Foundation. Hope is the most important thing in the world. It allows people to still see the light when they are so shackled in darkness. Accordingly, the vision of the foundation is to provide women and girls with the tools necessary to live a positive and healthy lifestyle, which led toward an initiative that fostered monthly professional development workshops, after-school mentor programs, group retreats, and group volunteer community events. Not only does the foundation provide hope for those who participate in its activities, it provides hope to all the volunteers--allowing each one to see that their actions truly do make a difference. As such, In Her Shoes Foundation brings together women of all ages and backgrounds to inspire, connect, educate and support the development and maintenance of a healthy and positive lifestyle.

Through In Her Shoes Foundation those involved continually lift up and support one another every day. They are an anchor and inspiration. They keep one another going and on course to their dreams to make this world a better place than when they first entered into it. Their drive and dedication manifests itself with a delightful manner that is key in working with a wide variety of personalities and situations. Without their dedication, this work would never be possible.