Dr. Wende Pannell
Compassionate counselor for life transitions
LCPC Illinois
- Experience
- 22 years in practice
- Focus areas
- Stress, Anxiety, Relationship, Trauma and abuse
- Approaches
- Gottman Method, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Languages
- English
About Wende
Dr. Wende Pannell is a licensed clinical professional counselor with 22 years of experience in Illinois.
Background and approach
She helps people who are feeling overwhelmed by stress, anxiety, depression, grief, and the effects of trauma. She also provides support for concerns like self-esteem, career shifts, ADHD, and compassion fatigue.
Her style is warm and straightforward. She creates a calm space where clients can talk through emotions and practical problems.
Conversations focus on what matters most now and on small changes that make daily life easier. Dr.
Pannell draws on a range of approaches to meet each person’s needs. She uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to help people live according to their values, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to spot unhelpful thinking patterns, and Attachment-Based ideas to repair difficult relationship patterns.
She also integrates the Gottman Method where it fits the goals of the person in therapy. She pays attention to practical coping skills and to how life circumstances shape feelings.
That might mean building routines, learning emotion regulation skills, or improving communication habits. Sessions balance emotional work with steps clients can try between meetings.
Many clients come for help with life transitions, chronic health challenges, or long-standing patterns of guilt, shame, or isolation. Dr.
Pannell aims to help people find steadier footing, clearer choices, and more resilience in everyday life.
Therapeutic approaches that translate online
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, helps people clarify their values and take small committed steps toward them despite difficult thoughts or feelings. It is useful for stress, anxiety, depression, and feeling stuck in life transitions. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, focuses on identifying unhelpful thinking patterns and learning practical strategies to change behavior and mood; it often helps with panic, mood disorders, and anxiety. Attachment-Based Therapy looks at how early relationship patterns affect current connections and emotional responses, and it can guide work on communication, trust, and emotional safety.Choosing the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will talk with each person about their goals, preferences, and what has or hasn’t helped in the past. Together they will try methods that suit the client’s needs and adjust the plan as progress unfolds.
Online formats make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and visual cues. Phone sessions can be helpful when bandwidth is limited or a quick check-in is needed. Live chat and text-based messaging work well for brief updates, coping support between sessions, and people who prefer writing to speaking. These options offer flexibility for different schedules and situations while keeping the focus on meaningful therapeutic work.
Frequently asked questions
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Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Also works with
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
22+ years
Licensed in
Illinois
Languages
English