If you work with me, you are going to get a good listening – empathy. My commitment is to provide a gracious and generous listening – empathy – as a stepping stone to transforming emotional pain into positive and productive engagement in relationships, career, and community.

Do you feel like you are an empath (a sensitive soul) who can’t get sufficient empathy? Having written three books on empathy, I specialize in delivering empathy that makes a difference.

During the coronavirus situation, if you have lost your job or your insurer or therapist will not reimburse for online therapy, then I will see you via Zoom or Signal (both encrypted) or similar Skype-like video-conferencing, and you can tell me what you can afford to pay and when. All the usual disclaimers apply – good faith, best effort during this national emergency. Please be sure to read the related blog post on the right below the videos “Empathy in the Age of the Coronavirus.”

It is my practice to have a complimentary phone conversation with a prospective client to understand how I can best be of service. Let’s talk!

Empathy is like oxygen for the soul. So if one is experiencing a shortness of breath, stress, or roller coaster emotions in one’s life, relationships, career, or commitment, maybe one is not getting enough empathy. Empathy – a gracious and generous listening – does not just mean “being kind” – it means meeting and engaging the other person (you) where the individual is at in life.

If you are struggling with issues in relationships, lack of emotional energy, unfocused energy, self-defeating behavior, under-achievement, or lack of satisfaction and meaning in a key area (or areas) in life, then an empathic conversation for what is possible can make a profound difference. I have made a profound, positive difference in working with clients recovering from domestic violence, date rape, abuses of psychiatry in the former USSR, and diverse traumatic, confronting, unintegrated experiences. 

The way things work best for me is to have an initial confidential complimentary conversation in which I gather confidential data about you and get a sense of what is the challenge(s). If I believe that I can make a difference (and if you agree), then we agree on a flexible fee and schedule, based on your income and our mutual schedule and availability. We get to work.

It sometimes happens that a person is stuck due to a lack of empathy in his or her life – at work, at home, at school, in relationships. I am committed to providing you with the empathy you need to get unstuck. I am able to help you master empathy lessons so that you can get expanded empathy for yourself and, should you choose to do so, even provide empathy to those in your world lacking empathy. Give you a fish in the short term to overcome a crisis or breakdown; but also teach you how to fish. The result is a positive feedback loop in which you flourish and are able to contribute to the community. 

Please allow me to say that I am familiar with all the hundreds of diagnostic categories in the diagnostic manual (and I might consider adding a few extra), but I find them to be of limited value in shifting emotional, behavioral, and relationship issues. If you want or need a diagnosis, I can work with you on one [really no problem]; however, experience has demonstrated to me that when all the diagnostic categories are implemented and all the labels applies, one is still in the presence of another human being.

Relating to that human being is one key to shifting out of “stuckness” using empathic methods as depicted in the graphic. My commitment to you is to relate to that human being and to do so with empathy.

Find your power and get it back in the fact of life’s challenges through empathic listening and responsiveness.  Contact: 1-773-203-0269 LouAgosta@gmail.com “On the Forward Edge in the Edgewater Community, Chicago, IL 60660” http://www.LouAgosta.com (c) Lou Agosta, Ph.D. and the Chicago Empathy Project