Head Heart Therapy

Head Heart Therapy "The longest journey that a man must take in his lifetime is the 18 inches from his head to his heart." -Anonymous

Head/Heart Therapy is a group therapy practice specializing in the treatment of adults and adolescents struggling with shame, addiction, mood/anxiety disorders, and many other difficulties of life. We aim to increase our clients’ capacity for self-compassion, empowerment and efficacy by helping diminish unnecessary suffering. We use an eclectic variety of modalities to address the unique needs of each person who seeks our support, whether they stem from psychological, emotional or spiritual dis-ease. Head/Heart Therapy provides a foundation of serenity, understanding and balance. Our therapists offer a unique set of skills to provide integrative, holistic care in a healing environment. Sarah Buino, LCSW, RDDP, CADC, CDWF is a speaker, teacher, therapist and the founder of Head/Heart Therapy in Chicago. She is a licensed clinical social worker, registered dual diagnosis professional, certified addictions counselor, NARM Therapist and a Certified Daring Way facilitator. She holds a masters degree from Loyola University in Chicago and specializes in shame, trauma, and substance use disorders. She has trained in a variety of therapy modalities including: NARM (neuro-affective relational model), sensorimotor psychotherapy, comprehensive energy psychology, psychodrama/experiential therapy, and shame-resilience. She uses these modalities as a framework to support resilience within her clients and create a space for self-knowledge and growth. Sarah is a member of the adjunct faculty at Loyola University Chicago, Fordham University and presents on topics such as shame, trauma and addiction to therapists all over the country. She’s also the host of two podcasts: Conversations With a Wounded Healer which examines the role of one’s own healing while being a care-giving professional. And Transforming Trauma, a podcast by the NARM Training Institute about thriving after trauma. Sarah integrates her knowledge of complementary healing modalities such as music, yoga, reiki, and the chakra system into her clinical practice to help clients enhance connection with their authentic selves. From an early age, Sarah began to share the stage with her mother who was a professional singer. She sings in a local Chicago band and has utilized her musical skills in therapy interventions at various addiction treatment centers in the city.

04/11/2026

Kindness is often the quiet choice.

It shows up in moments where it would be easy to rush, judge, or look away.
Most people are carrying more than they know how to name.

This is a reminder that how we speak, move, and respond can either add weight or offer relief.
You don’t need the full story to choose care.

If someone comes to mind who leads with kindness, tag them.
And if that someone is you today, let that be enough.

You're not broken. You're just made up of parts that have been doing their absolute best to protect you, sometimes in wa...
04/09/2026

You're not broken. You're just made up of parts that have been doing their absolute best to protect you, sometimes in ways that helped back then but hurt right now.

That's the heart of IFS therapy. Internal Family Systems is built on the idea that every behavior, every defense mechanism, every pattern you wish you could stop… is actually a part of you trying to keep you safe from something painful.

IFS doesn't ask you to fight yourself. It asks you to get curious about yourself. And that shift, from judgment to curiosity, is where the real healing starts.

Link in bio to connect with our team.

Happy birthday, Joanna 🎉Wishing you a year full of warmth, meaningful moments, and laughter that feels easy and real. Ho...
04/06/2026

Happy birthday, Joanna 🎉

Wishing you a year full of warmth, meaningful moments, and laughter that feels easy and real. Hope today reminds you just how loved and celebrated you are. 💛

Happy birthday, Sheila 🎉Wishing you a year filled with ease, bright laughter, and moments that bring you back to yoursel...
04/05/2026

Happy birthday, Sheila 🎉
Wishing you a year filled with ease, bright laughter, and moments that bring you back to yourself. May today be a reminder of how deeply appreciated, supported, and celebrated you truly are. 💛

Venting to a friend for three hours can feel like a temporary exhale, but that heavy weight in your gut is usually still...
04/02/2026

Venting to a friend for three hours can feel like a temporary exhale, but that heavy weight in your gut is usually still there when you wake up the next morning.

We truly value the importance of a solid support system, but for National Counseling Awareness Month, we have to be honest about why "just talking" can eventually start to feel like running on a treadmill. You’re putting in the effort and you’re exhausted, yet you’re essentially standing in the same place. Real, transformative healing requires a bit more than just a weekly gripe session; it takes a deep dive into who you actually are under all those layers of expectation and survival.

Here at Head Heart Therapy, we aren't interested in surface-level fixes that only last until your next trigger hits. We are a practice that prioritizes therapies of depth. When you work with our team specialists who understand the complex intersection of addiction, C-PTSD, and liberation-focused therapy, the conversation changes. We move beyond the frustrations of the week and start looking at how to rewire the way you actually experience your life. By using somatic therapies and experiential approaches, we help you move past the logic in your head so your heart can finally find some alignment.

You deserve a space that doesn't just hold your stories, but helps you dismantle the shame and guilt that have been running the show for way too long. Let’s get past the surface-level chat and start the work that actually shifts the narrative.

I’m so proud to serve on the board of Sista Afya Community Care, a Chicago nonprofit that provides culturally responsive...
03/31/2026

I’m so proud to serve on the board of Sista Afya Community Care, a Chicago nonprofit that provides culturally responsive mental wellness support for women and creates spaces where women can feel seen, supported, and connected.

On May 30, we’re hosting the Women Rising Wellness Festival at the Gary Comer Youth Center.

This is a full day designed for women to take a breath, reconnect with themselves, and access mental wellness resources, movement, and community in one place.

What makes this especially meaningful is that Sista Afya is committed to making sure cost is never a barrier, so women from across Chicago can be part of it.

I hope you’ll join us or support the event. ✨

Trans Day of Visibility is important. Representation matters. Joy matters. Being named and celebrated matters.And.For ma...
03/31/2026

Trans Day of Visibility is important. Representation matters. Joy matters. Being named and celebrated matters.

And.

For many trans and gender expansive people, visibility has come with consequences. Harassment. Family rupture. Workplace discrimination. Policy attacks. Chronic misgendering that slowly wears down the nervous system.

That is not just social stress. That is trauma.

When your identity is politicized, your body adapts. Hypervigilance. Bracing in public spaces. Reading every room before you exhale. That does not mean you are fragile. It means your system has learned to protect you.

As a Chicago trauma-informed therapy practice, we believe visibility without safety is incomplete. Gender-affirming therapy should address minority stress, relational trauma, C-PTSD, and the real impact of living in a body that has been debated.

Trans mental health deserves more than tolerance. It deserves attuned, anti-oppressive, liberation-focused care.

If you’re trans or gender expansive in Illinois and looking for affirming therapy, reach out. You deserve safety in your body and in your healing.

Some of you did not just “find yourselves.”You had to fight to exist.To say your name out loud.To correct someone.To com...
03/30/2026

Some of you did not just “find yourselves.”

You had to fight to exist.

To say your name out loud.
To correct someone.
To come out.
To stay.
To leave.
To choose yourself when it cost you something.

For many LGBTQIA+ folks, especially trans and gender expansive people, pride is not about aesthetics. It is about survival. It is about waking up in a world that debates your humanity and still deciding you deserve joy.

That kind of resilience does not come from nowhere. It comes from navigating family rejection, religious harm, systemic discrimination, relational trauma. It comes from building chosen family. It comes from learning how to regulate a nervous system that has had to brace for impact.

If you are carrying C-PTSD, shame, or exhaustion from constantly defending who you are, that makes sense. Your body adapted to survive.

In our Chicago therapy practice, we offer gender-affirming, trauma-informed therapy for LGBTQIA+ clients who are ready to move from survival into something steadier. Individual therapy. Relational therapy. Community rooted care.

You deserve more than visibility. You deserve safety in your body and in your relationships.

If you are in Illinois and looking for affirming trauma therapy, we are here.

03/26/2026

Listen.

Growth is real.
So are triggers.

You can have years of trauma therapy under your belt, understand your attachment style, practice grounding skills, communicate your boundaries… and still get activated when your food order is wrong or someone leaves you on read.

That does not cancel your healing.

It just means your nervous system is still sensitive to threat. Especially if you are working through C-PTSD, relational trauma, or anxiety. The body reacts fast. The insight shows up five minutes later.

Sometimes healing looks like:
– noticing the trigger faster
– recovering quicker
– not blowing up the relationship
– not turning it into a shame spiral

Progress is not becoming untriggerable. It is building capacity.

And if you are still getting taken out by “small” inconveniences, you are in very good company.

Trauma-informed therapy in Chicago exists for exactly this. We work on regulation, relational patterns, and the gap between head knowledge and heart reactions.

You are healing.
And you are human.

03/23/2026

Some stories do not come out in full sentences.

They show up as tight shoulders.
As a lump in your throat.
As colors you keep reaching for without knowing why.

Talking helps. Of course it does. We believe in depth therapy. We believe in insight. But trauma is not stored only in language. It lives in the nervous system. In the body. In the parts of you that learned to survive before you had words.

Creative Arts Therapy in Chicago offers another doorway.

Paint. Movement. Writing. Image. Texture. Breath. Expression that bypasses the inner critic and reaches the places traditional talk therapy sometimes cannot. This can be especially powerful for folks navigating C-PTSD, relational trauma, addiction recovery, or racial trauma. When the story feels too big or too fragmented, creative expression can gently organize what feels overwhelming.

This is trauma-informed therapy that honors the body.
This is expressive therapy that allows emotion to move.
This is space to create without performing.

If you are in Chicago and looking for creative arts therapy for trauma recovery, we would be honored to support you.

Ready to begin? Book a consultation today.

Let’s stop pretending racism is just a social issue.It is a nervous system issue.When you grow up navigating racial disc...
03/21/2026

Let’s stop pretending racism is just a social issue.

It is a nervous system issue.

When you grow up navigating racial discrimination, your body adapts. Hypervigilance. Guardedness. Scanning for threat. Managing tone. Managing facial expression. Calculating safety in every room.

That is not personality. That is survival wiring.

And when therapy ignores race, it misses the point.

Anti-oppressive, trauma-informed therapy acknowledges that racial trauma lives in the body. It impacts attachment. It impacts relationships. It impacts substance use. It impacts how safe you feel expressing anger or setting boundaries.

There is a difference between cultural competence and liberation-focused therapy.

Cultural competence says, I understand your background.

Liberation asks, how do oppressive systems shape your mental health, and how do we reduce internalized harm?

In our Chicago therapy practice, we work with racial trauma, intergenerational trauma, C-PTSD, addiction, and relational wounds that do not exist outside of context.

And sometimes the most powerful work happens in community. Group therapy for shared identities allows people to drop the mask. No explaining. No code switching. Just collective healing.

If this makes you uncomfortable, sit with that.

If it makes you feel seen, you are not alone.

If you’re looking for anti-oppressive, trauma-informed therapy in IL, we’re here.

Happy birthday, Kelly 🎉May this year invite in softness where you need it, boldness where you want it, and joy that feel...
03/19/2026

Happy birthday, Kelly 🎉
May this year invite in softness where you need it, boldness where you want it, and joy that feels fully yours. I hope today wraps you in love and reminds you how deeply appreciated and celebrated you are. 💛

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Chicago, IL

Opening Hours

Monday 7am - 9pm
Tuesday 7am - 9pm
Wednesday 7am - 9pm
Thursday 7am - 9pm
Friday 7am - 6pm
Saturday 8am - 5pm
Sunday 8am - 5pm

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